Page 81 of Quicksilver

“You'll be eating here,” Fisher corrected.

“I don't get a say in the matter?”

“You'll poison yourself if you eat in the forge.”

“In my room, then.”

“You'll be eatinghere,” Fisher repeated. He continued before I could suggest any of the other one million places I'd rather take my meals. “As for the fire sprites, they like humans. Far more than they like the Fae.”

“Right. They treat you like you hung the moon.”

“I'm different,” he said, as if that were obvious. “Archer helped raise me. After my parents, he was the first of the lesser Fae to hold me. He has a soft spot for me, I suppose.”

A soft spot? It was more than that. The fire sprite loved Fisher. Me, on the other hand? “He looks at me like I'm unworthy to breathe the same air as you.”

Fisher's head rocked from side to side. “No, he doesn't. He'sinterestedin you. He wonders if you'll be staying.”

I picked up a roasted carrot from my plate with my fingers, biting the end off of it. “He'll be glad to hear that I'm not.”

Not a word passed Fisher's lips. He sat as still as can be, watching me eat the carrot, his jade eyes picking over my features. Eyes first, then the bridge of my nose. Over my cheekbones and then down to my mouth. His gaze lingered there for longer than seemed proper. When he didn't look away, I saidthe first thing I could think of to break the silence. “You should send Carrion home, even if you refuse to let me go yet.”

He looked surprised at this. “Should I?”

“He has family in Zilvaren. His grandmother. She'll be worried about him. And he can tell Hayden and Elroy that I'm okay if he goes back. That would probably stop them from doing anything regrettable for the time being.”

“Mm. We'll see what the boy has to say for himself.”

“He's twenty-six years old. He's hardly a boy,” I muttered.

“He's an infant with a smart mouth, as far as I’m concerned. But…you’re defensive of him,” Fisher mused. “I suppose that’s only to be expected. I’m honestly surprised that you would want him to leave.” He took a sip of his wine.

“Defensive of him?”

An unfamiliar tension radiated from Fisher. He seemed to be working very hard at nonchalance. “Mm. I wouldn’t have thought he was your type, but it explains a lot.”

Mytype?A weightless, falling sensation made me sit back in the chair. I felt so dizzy all of a sudden. “What are you talking about?”

“He mentioned that you were infatuated with him. Back in your room.”

“Well, he was lying!” I spluttered. “Carrion’s a pain in the ass. He's known for making up stories on the spot.”

“When I went to Zilvaren to fetch him—”

“When you went to Zilvaren, you were supposed to fetchHayden.” My stomach stopped rolling, replaced by a prickle of anger. I set down my wine. “Which reminds me, you didn't hold up your end of our bargain. Not properly. How is it that I'm still expected to hold up my end of our oath, but you're free to walk away from it?”

It was so easy for him to dismiss me. One flick of his wrist and a roll of the eyes, and anything I said was renderedinconsequential. It was infuriating. “I'm not walking away from anything. I swore I would try to bring your brother back. I tried to bring your brother back,” he said. “Oath fulfilled.”

“You couldn't have tried very hard.”

“I didn't say I would tryvery hard, did I? And anyway, you'll find that I did the best anyone could have, given the circumstances.”

“You said you could find my brother because we had the same parents. That it'd beeasysince you were covered in my blood.”

Fisher paused. I'd spent enough time around him now to know when he was about to say something I wasn't going to like. The unholy delight in his eyes promised that I wouldhatewhatever he was about to say next. “That's right. But I wasn't just covered in your blood, was I? I was wearing another of your...perfumes.”

Perfumes. He deliberated over the word. Luxuriated over it. The dark, suggestive way he said it left nothing to the imagination. He had no mercy, so there was little point in begging for it, but I had to try. “Don't. Donot,Fisher. Please. Just...”

“When you were grinding yourself all over my lap, you marked me up very efficiently,” he purred.