Page 41 of Quicksilver

I braced against the workbench and said, “Elroy swears that a man will lie about the size of his cock every time a woman asks him.”

Kingfisher stilled. “Are you asking me how big my cock is, Osha?”

“I don’t care how big it is. I care about the way you answer.”

A slow, terrifying smirk spread across his face. “It’s big enough to makeyouscream and then some.”

“See.” I jabbed a finger at him. “You're not going to be honest.”

He looked around the forge, feigning confusion. “I'm sorry, I'm not sure that I understand your meaning.”

“Ask a man how big his dick is, and he’ll show you that he’s full of shit.”

“Maybe. But I'm not a man. I'm aFae male.” He paused. “And maybe I'm just well-endowed.”

“Or maybe you're just wasting my time, and we should get on with whatever you're going to attempt to teach me here,” I snapped.

Kingfisher's hands moved to the back of his neck. It took him all of four seconds to unfasten his gorget and slide the silver plate free. “Maybe the issue is that you asked me a question about mycocklike a hungry little bitch in heat and didn't ask me something that mattered.”

Gods, but he kept surprising me. Every time I thought I'd reached the limit of how much one living being could detest another, he went and proved to me that I was capable of so much more. “All right. Okay. Fine. I will ask you something that matters. You were banished from the Yvelian Court because you did something bad. Belikon said you razed an entire city to the ground.”

He crooked a dark eyebrow at me. “That was a question?”

“Did you do it?” I asked.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because I'm sharing a very small space with you right now. Because we're alone. Because I want to know if I'm breathing the same air as a mass murderer. And don't dodge a question by askingmea question.Did you do it?”

He surveyed me intensely. Even from a distance, I could see the trapped quicksilver swirling in amongst that sea of vivid green. “Yes.” The word came out abruptly. Defiantly. “I did.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn't have a choice.”

I slapped my hands against the workbench, my anger a clenched iron fist in my chest.“Why?”

“You're not ready for that information. You'll never be ready.”

“Why?”

“Because you're human, and humans are weak,” he snarled. “Because it's none of your business. Because it doesn't matterwhyI did it. Because no matter what reason I give to you, it won't be good enough. Now ask me something else.”

My voice shook when I spoke. “Renfis said that you've been suffering for the past century years because you were banished after you destroyed that city. Where did they send you?”

Kingfisher prowled toward the workbench. All of the armor was gone now. He was dressed in a simple loose black shirt and black pants again. At his throat, the silver chain hanging around his neck—the one he'd loaned to me when I was dying—glinted, catching my attention. I tried not to pull back as he drew closer, but he was huge. He towered over me, taking up so much room, invading my space, blotting out the damn light. He was all I could see. All I could smell. He was cold morning air, and smoke, and fresh-turned earth, and a thousand other complex scents I didn't even have names for.

Canines bared, he leaned in so close that barely an inch separated the tips of our noses. And he snarled,“Hell.”

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. He was so close. So angry. It was as if he was on the verge of breaking and only being held back by the thinnest of threads.

Out of nowhere, his composure snapped back into place, his canines disappearing in a flash. “Pray you never have to experience it firsthand, human,” he whispered. “Hold out your hand.”

“Hold out my...?”

“Yes, hold out your hand.”

Up this close, he could take my hand and the arm it was attached to if he wanted to. He could tear me limb from limb and there wouldn't be a thing I could do about it. Numb and trembling, I held out my hand, praying wholeheartedly that he wasn't about to start breaking my fingers for upsetting him. Something cool and smooth pressed into the center of my palm. Kingfisher closed my grip around it, then cupped his huge, tattooed hands tightly around mine. At first, I didn't feel it. I was too aware of his proximity and the wild array of different scents that kept rolling off of him and slamming into me.