Page 34 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

Adopting her usual waspish tone, she snapped, “Close your eyes. I don’t want you playing Peeping Tom while I undress.”

He groaned. “You’re no fun.”

She made her eyes as big as she could before batting them at him, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she pressed her palm to her chest. “Whatever gave you the idea that I would be? My talent for killing people or my love of a good knock-knock joke?”

Ronan snickered but surprised her with the intensity of his answer. “It’s the way you come alive when you take shots at me. All fiery eyes, fierce words, and heaving breaths.” He gave an excited little shiver, matching her own exaggerated pantomime. “Reeks of a good time.”

She swallowed, scrambling to regain her unaffected posturing. “Ah, so the killing people, then. Figures you’d be a masochist. Now, cover your eyes so I can get these pants off.” He waggled his brows. “I didn’t mean it like—” She sighed heavily. “Will you just close your damn eyes?”

With a pout, he pressed a hand to his eyes only to immediately spread his fingers, his ice-blue gaze unrepentantly meeting hers.

“Ronan, darkness help me, I will blindfold you if I have to.” The threat would have sounded better if it lacked the undercurrent of laughter.

“Now you’re just being cruel. Don’t make promises you aren’t going to keep, kitten.”

Thankfully he covered his gaze as he said it, so he missed the way her knees wobbled and her whole body flushed. Why did he have this effect on her? No one else had ever turned her insides liquid with a few well-aimed comments. But he did it without even trying.

Quickly pulling off her boots and wiggling out of her leather pants, Shadow eyed her shirt and decided it was best to leave it on. It fell to about her thigh, covered the majority of her bruises, and would give her a little protection in case someone got handsy in the middle of the night. She was going to have to figure out what to do about clothing come the morning, though. There was only so long a single pair of pants and a tunic were going to last at sea.

Crawling beneath the blankets on her side of the bed, she softly called, “Okay, I’m decent.”

He peeked over at her from his side of the pillow wall she’d erected. “Hmm, I don’t know about that. I’d say you’re practically indecent.”

She reached out and grabbed a pillow, thwacking him in the face with it before returning it to the lineup and rolling onto her side. “Goodnight, Ronan,” she singsonged, lifting the protective glass casing and blowing out the candle beside her bed.

“Goodnight, killer.”

His disgruntled tone had her shoulders shaking with quiet laughter. If he wasn’t so aggravating, he might have made a great friend. Sometimes, when she forgot she hated him, she quite enjoyed his company.

You don’t hate him, Shadow. And you don’t want to be his friend.

Tucking her hand under her ear, she frowned into the darkness. It was rare for her instincts to be so divided. Her gut told her Ronan was safe, and there was no denying she was attracted to him, but she couldn’t ignore the instinct to keep him at arm’s length either.

Just once, she wished her heart, mind, and body would align. Things would be so much easier if she could just decide whether she wanted to fuck him or kill him.

Fuck him, the perky bitch chirped in the back of her mind.You definitely want to fuck him.

Despite her earlier concerns about not falling asleep, she drifted off almost immediately. The still awake part of her brain distantly realized all the back and forth with Ronan had calmed the restlessness that had been hounding her since dinner. She wondered if that had been his intention. If he’d allowed himself to be a sort of punching bag while she worked through her unease.

She wanted to ask him why he bothered. There didn’t seem to be anything in it for him, but his steady presence and the sound of his even breaths lured her deeper into sleep.

Everything was peaceful until a familiar seductive voice called out from the void.

“Ah... there you are.”

Erebos’s voice in her mind should have frightened her, but she wasn’t capable of drumming up more than a ripple of confusion.“High Lord?”

“Oh, yes. Now that I can definitely use.”

“What... what do you mean?”She looked around, but there was nothing to see. As always, her dreams were nothing more than a hazy mist.

“You’ve been a naughty girl, Shadow mine. But that’s okay. I’ve got you now.”

Sleep no longer felt safe. She wanted to wake up. She wanted... Ronan.

“Tell him...”

Fear skated along her veins, filling her with icy dread.“Tell who, what? What am I to say?”A slight whimper slipped into the question. “I-I don’t understand.”

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