Page 34 of A Hunt Bound in Blood

She crouched down and wrapped her arms around the thick bushes along the wall. With one fierce tug, she hauled them with her and fell backwards onto her ass.

Beneath the greenery were two more rocks, balanced against each other on a sort of lever.

Three more pegs, that rolling marble creeping ever closer.

“Set it on the higher rock!” Glory called around the plant in her face.

Hoping with everything I had that she’d interpreted the clue correctly, I squatted and set the boulder down where she’d directed.

Something in the scale clicked. I looked up and found the rolling marble perched precariously over the vial with one peg to go. It stayed put, and I exhaled a heavy breath.

“Not bad, Buttons.” My voice was rough, and I cleared my throat to get rid of the terror that at some point had wrapped its tendrils around my neck.

“I don’t suppose you could”—she spat out some leaves—“help me up?”

I leaned over to grab her outstretched fingers and pulled her to her feet. She wobbled as she regained her balance, and I set my hand on her waist to steady her. Her cheeks were flushed red, her eyes shining, and she glanced at the stilled marble with a bright smile. “Not bad at all. Well done, princeling.”

She winked at me, and the gesture and the nickname pushed me to tighten my grip on her. How dare this woman be so captivating. She stiffened, and a wave of spiced desire tickled my nose and teased my taste buds. Her pupils dilated as she stared up at me, and her tongue, pink and glistening, slid over her lips.

“Right,” she said, stepping back. “We should—”

I snatched my hand away from her. “Go. Yeah. You get the clue and let’s get out of here.”

While she set to work grabbing the parchment that had been hidden under the other side of the scale, I turned my attention to the vial. The wise move would be to leave it in place, but we were heading into dragon territory. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to have a little fire to fight fire.

“You might want to take a few steps back,” I said. “Or a few hundred.”

She frowned. “What? Why?”

“Because if this goes badly, you’ll be little more than ash.”

She set her hand on her hip and arched an eyebrow, and I rolled my eyes.

“And so will your books.”

With the magic words uttered, she hustled out of the bramble and stood far to the side as I eased the vial out of its brackets. With the glass still intact, I wrapped it in a few of my extra shirts and stuffed it carefully in the middle of my pack to keep it safe, then returned to the road and raked my fingers through my hair.

“You got it?” Glory asked, walking around the reaching bushes to meet me on the road. “Can I see it?”

“No.”

She pouted. “Why not?”

“Because I know people like you, mage. You poke and you prod, and I like having eyebrows.”

Her gaze travelled upwards to land on the hair in question. “Hmm.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

She didn’t bother to answer, turning on her heel and starting down the road.

My pulse was slow to settle, and I was even slower to realize my racing heart had less to do with nearly dying and more to do with everything that had happened afterwards.

With every step closer to the amulet, the real challenge of this mission was becoming clearer: Glory and I would have to work together on these puzzles if we wanted to survive—and I was going to have to work fucking hard to keep my hands off her.

Glory

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