Page 54

“Your attire for the night?” she managed to ask without a quaver, though she was talking to a half-dressed man.

“Not quite. I thought you might do something stupid, like try to leave this place.”

“Not without information. Unlike you and Enti, I still believe escape is possible.”

“Because you have to.” He leaned one broad shoulder against the doorway. Corded muscles and tattoos flexed from the movement, distracting her.

She murmured, “What do those tattoos mean?”

“They’re a secret that will die with me.”

Nothing could make her more curious.

“You look spellbinding, by the way,” he said. “Fancy, like aprincess. I’ll miss that T-shirt though.”

She let him change the subject. Aside from the signs of her illness, she was pleased with her appearance. Having bathed, she’d found an array of clothing laid out atop the sumptuous bed.

Though she’d always dressed demurely in Dacia, she’d decided on fitted pants and a royal-blue tunic with a collar that dipped to the swells of her breasts. She’d left her hair loose to flow over her shoulders.

Since he’d complimented her, she supposed she should return the favor. “You appear . . . hale.”

“I assume that means I look lessdissolute?”

“Looks can be deceiving.”

His eyes grew lively. “Still trying to match me to the descriptions of Sorceri you found in some library tome?”

By all the gods, the bruiser was sexy. “You prove unmatchable.”

He clearly liked that.

“Are you going to tell me why you rushed out in a towel?”

“I also feared for my bait in our new surroundings. Just because you’re a predator doesn’t mean you can’t be prey.”

“I told you I’ve never drunk anyone.”

“Wasn’t talking about that. Attempts on my life—what are we up to now?”

She smiled coolly. “Still one too few.”

His gaze fell to her lips, and his own curved. “You keep trying, but your heart’s not in it.” Flirtatious sorcerer. With his devastating grin.

He . . . might be right. Something had to have fouled her aim in the cave.

“Were you spying outside my door?” he asked.

“Yes. But I wouldn’t begrudge a lecher his lechering. You may get back to it,” she said with a queenly wave. “Enjoy what you can, while despairing of what you can’t.Me.”

“I like a challenge, maneater. You want my ‘magical’ blood, and I want your luscious body. I still think we could have something meaningful.” When he stepped closer, a larger drop of water caught her attention as it coursed down his chest, dipping between tattoos along his rigid torso.

When her focus wandered lower, taking in the places she’d kill to bite, he shifted on his feet. Before her eyes, the sizable bulge beneath his towel swelled.

She’d seen an outline of his member in his leather breeches, but the clinging towel revealed the edge of the crown and even—she swallowed thickly—a prominent vein. As she stared, her tongue flicked her parted lips, her fangs sharpening. . . .

“Kosmina?” His rumbling voice only fueled her stimulation. “Let’s make another bargain: my blood for your kiss.”

I want it from the tap. Want to punish that taunting vein. Fang it like prey.