Page 40 of Prisoner of Steel and Shadow

His soft laugh was a gentle breeze ghosting over her. “What is?”

“You... knowing me.”

He gently skimmed her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. “I’m coming to learn that nothing is impossible.”

His head dipped.

Her heart stopped.

“Ronan? Where did you go? It’s rude to leave your date—oh!” A blond man in a silly feathered cap came around one of the hedges that had blocked them from view of the ballroom. He smiled, looking much like the cat who just ate the canary. “Do carry on, don’t let me stop you. I love a good tryst.”

Shadow jumped away so fast she nearly tripped over her dress in her haste.

“Sebastian,” the Butcher growled. “Fuck off.”

“I don’t think I will. Seems like the two of you were just getting to the good part.”

He finally looked away from her to pin the other man with his stare. “Leave. Now.”

“No, it’s okay. He can stay. I’m going,” she said, heat suffusing her cheeks as she tried to slip away.

He gripped her elbow, his touch gentle but unyielding. “Don’t. Stay with me. Let me help you remember.”

The earnestness of his plea had her considering it for all of a heartbeat. Then she remembered where she was—whoshe was—and the growing list of reasons the thing she’d just been wishing for with every fiber of her being could never happen. She needed to put an end to whateverthiswas. Right now.

Stupid full moon making me act like a complete and utter tit.

What the hell had she been thinking? If the High Lord had discovered them... Her eyes darted around the garden, all its secret corners now seeming ominous. Was that a flash of dark hair?

The possibility that Dovina or one of her spies might be lurking nearby was enough to put the steel back in Shadow’s spine. Her voice was notably cooler when she snapped, “The only thing I have to remember, Butcher, is that you’re the enemy.”

His face fell, only for a second, but it was all she needed to see that she’d cut him deeply. Good. Maybe if she reestablished the line between them, he’d finally stay on his side. She felt a pang of regret at the thought, but it was short-lived.

Schooling his expression, Ronan straightened. “Then I guess there’s only one thing left to say.”

“Good riddance?”

He held out his hand. “May the best man win.”

She rolled her eyes and brushed past him. “The bestwomanshall.”

The man in the feathered cap howled with laughter. “Well said, Lady Shadow,” he murmured, holding up a hand for her to slap.

“Bast, you have an annoying habit of forgetting whose side you’re on.”

“I may be on your team, Ronan, but you know I’m a sucker for a beautiful woman. Especially one who can put your grumpy arse in place.”

Shadow had to bite back a smile at the snarl of exasperation those words caused, giving Bast his high five as she sauntered past.

“See you around,Ronan.”

“Not if I see you first.”

The rumble of words caressed her ears, causing another involuntary shiver to roll down her spine. As she turned to duck around the hedge, she couldn’t resist a final parting shot.

“You will never see me coming.”

Erebos

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