Page 21 of Magick and Lead (Dragons and Aces #2)

CHARLIE

I placed the box of Kitty’s things in her arms, then stepped back.

“There you go. Everything is in there,” I said.

She glanced down at the array of lacy underwear, lipsticks, magazines, hair accessories, and other assorted junk she’d left in my apartment, then turned and set the box on a side table.

I sighed in exasperation. As much as I was glad to have her stuff out of my place, I was already regretting letting her inside.

I could execute a spiral dive at two thousand feet with three dragons on my tail and not break a sweat, but having Kitty here with me now was giving me a serious feeling of dread, though I couldn’t quite pin down why.

She was just a girl, I reminded myself. A girl who’d nearly lived here just a couple of months back. A girl I’d been engaged to, sure… but I’d broken up with plenty of women before and it never?—

She slunk over to me and reached up to put her arms around my neck.

“Come on, Charlie. Don’t be so mean,” she pouted.

“I’m not being mean, Kitty, I’m being direct,” I said, gently removing her embrace. “It’s not going to work out between us.”

“But why? What changed while you were over there in Maethalia?”

I crossed my arms. “Well, for one thing, I found out you’re a spy and you never told me.”

She made a frowny face. “That’s the thing about being a spy, silly. You can’t tell anyone. But now you know. Everything is on the up-and-up.”

I groaned, rubbing a hand over my forehead.

“Kitty, please leave. I’ve asked you nicely.”

Her face went expressionless for a second, the flirtiness draining out of it, replaced with a flat stare that was somehow a little scary. But an instant later, she was smiling again.

“Sure, Charlie. I’ll go. But there’s one thing I have to say first. It’s a secret.”

She moved toward me until her body was inches from mine, went up on her tiptoes, and grabbed my shirt front, pulling me down toward her until her lips brushed my ear.

I thought of Essa. Though she was hundreds of miles away, in my heart it felt as if she were right here, watching me.

“Kitty, no,” I tried to pull back from her, but her grip was so strong, she held me fast.

She whispered something, the words so quiet I couldn’t make them out. It sounded like: we could live forever.

“What?” I said.

Her lips traced down my earlobe until her lips were on my neck.

She kissed me there, and I felt her mouth slowly open until her teeth were against my skin.

A shiver went through me. My heart was racing, my eyelids were drifting closed, as if I were drunk, or drugged.

Images came into my mind of myself with Kitty.

Naked. Entangled. Slick with sweat. And spit. And blood.

I could surrender to her. And easy. As easy as falling… Easy as?—

No!

A voice rang out in my mind—Parthar’s voice—and I jerked away from Kitty.

She covered her mouth with a hand, as if embarrassed.

Heart thudding, body trembling, I stalked over to the front door and ripped it open.

“Go,” I said.

“Charlie, if you want to take things slow, we can?—”

“Kitty, leave,” I demanded, my voice low with menace. I didn’t know why I was so upset, why her attempts at seduction unnerved me so. But the urgency in Parthar’s warning had left me humming like a live wire.

Anger flashed on Kitty’s pretty face, a look as stark as a flash of lightning. Then her flirty smile was back. She skipped toward the door with a bounce in her step.

“See ya soon, Charlie,” she said as she passed me. As soon as she was out, I slammed the door shut, locked it, and leaned against it, catching my breath.

When I opened my eyes, I spied the box of her stuff still on the table.

“Dammit,” I muttered, picking up the box, ready to chase her down. If she left it, it would be another excuse for her to come back—and no doubt that’s exactly what she intended. But I couldn’t see her again. Not now.

I dropped the box back onto the table with a curse and turned toward the kitchen to pour myself a drink.

There, standing in the doorway, was a vision from a dream.

It wasn’t her.

Couldn’t be her.

She had two hands, one of her arms in a sling. She wore Admite clothing. And her eyes, as she stared at me, were hard as shards of flint.

But that face, its beauty so intimately familiar, as if I’d been dreaming it all my life…. Those eyes, their colors changing with her moods like shifting storm clouds…. Those lips. Lips that had haunted me ever since… ever since…

I’d searched. I’d prayed. I’d pined.

It couldn’t be. But it was. It was her.

I opened my mouth, but so much feeling flooded me that I could hardly form words. And yet I had to. I had to say her name out loud, to make her real.

“Essa…” I whispered, rushing forward to take her in my arms.

I saw the glint of the dagger a second too late.