Page 52

He forced himself to knock on her door. “A heat sink?”

“I’m busy, Vampire.”

“With your potatoes?”

A sigh. “It’s open.”

She didn’t look up as he walked in, something she’d perfected now after a few days in the manor. Aidan knew the Witch went out of her way to do the opposite of what was expected of her as his Odalik, just to piss him off.

“The potato draws the heat away from any parts of the silver I don’t want to melt. See?” she explained as he made his way over to her workbench. She’d pushed her goggles up to her head, a mask pulled down to her neck, though he doubted she’d been using it given that her joint sat half-finished on the bench beside her. Her lilac hair was tied back, a few curls falling down her back, the cut of her vest low and exposing the back band of her lace bralette. A scrap of fabric that could barely be called a skirt had ridden high on her thighs, and in the back of his mind Aidan wondered at the safety of exposing so much skin around hot metal, but Rae didn’t seem to care.

His eyes lifted reluctantly to the scorched potato and the piece of metal wedged inside it. “Faction order?”

Rae stiffened, lighting her joint with the extended flame from her torch like she’d done it a hundred times before, and took a drag before handing it to him. “For Bax,” she said on an exhale, pulling down her goggles and turning her back to him.

“A gift.” It wasn’t a question, and again the fucking scar she’d given him heated.

“The only piece of jewellery I’ve ever gifted was to Nim,” Rae said quietly. “This one is imbued with a tracking spell.”

“You don’t trust him either,” Aidan murmured. Rae merely dipped her chin as she continued her work with the torch, solderflowing onto the band of the ring before she set down her tools, picked up a pair of tweezers, and dropped the metal into a dish, a sizzle filling the empty quiet of the room. “Did you know Vampires have taken to wearing your jewellery?”

She snapped the goggles off at that. Tossed them onto the bench and stepped away from it. Displeasure rippled from her, perhaps even a little disgust. She didn’t know. Aidan handed the joint back, a temporary peace offering, and he realised more than anything he wanted to watch her bring it to her lips just for an excuse to stare at her mouth again.

“What do you want, Vale?” She was flustered, but not from the news about the Vampires wearing her jewellery, and the realisation made Aidan’s mouth turn up at the corner.

“Baelin has your PAD tapped.”

“Tell your Ascendant I hope he enjoyed Bax’s dick pics as much as I did.”

A sound halfway between a laugh and a grunt left him at that. “You wanted him to see.”

“You still underestimate me, even now.”

“Not even for a second,” he told her, letting a little of his sincerity brush against the bare skin of her shoulders.

“Don’t,” she warned him, a little of her exhilaration slipping out with the word. She’d leaned back against the bench and pulled her mask over her head to discard it behind her, the slip of fabric exposing more of her thigh as she did so.

He should have been pressing her for updates about his magic, demanding that she fulfil her end of their bargain, but his anger had simmered enough for him to remember to tread carefully. That if she wanted to disappear, to take away his only chance at getting his magic back, she could do so at any moment, so instead, he filled her in on the news Cormac had delivered as he watched her tidy up her workbench.

“You think Nim could be there? With Scarlett?” Rae asked when he’d brought her up to speed.

“It’s a possibility.”

She turned to face him, resting against the bench as she untied her hair and ran a hand through it. “But you don’t think we should go yet.”

Aidan’s silence was answer enough. “We go to the facility now, and we risk everyone involved. We were all on that list. Or we try to smooth things over with the council, bolster our numbers.”

“So you can get what you want.”

Irritation rose to the surface, and Aidan ground his jaw tight. “I promise you, the alternatives are not interested in Demesia, in Mazyr. Only what life can be like for Vampires.”

She studied him, a lock of hair falling over her shoulder that he wanted to wrap his fist around as she blew out a breath. “Fine. Council. But I’m coming with you.”

Aidan stepped into her space, his eyes searching hers. He’d tasted her blood, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted her mouth. Wanted those thick thighs wrapped around his head, his tongue buried deep inside her. “They’ll try to corner you again.” He didn’t know why he offered her the warning. To make her change her mind? Because she might expose him? In the back of his mind, he knew those were just excuses.

He still hadn’t figured out what it was she truly needed, what the purpose of this game was she’d been playing, but the longer it went on, the more he found he wanted to know the answer for all the wrong reasons.

Rae angled her head, assessing him. “Let them,” she murmured. “Look how well that worked out for them last time.”