Page 86 of Quicksilver

Ihadto stay in his bed.

I didn’t have a choice.

Five days.

Five long fucking days. I ate in Fisher's bed. Slept in Fisher's bed. Whenever I needed to go torelievemyself, as Fisher had so elegantly put it, my body allowed me to get up, but my feet carried me toward the discreet door over by the armoire and permitted me to enter the beautiful white marble bathroom there. I could do what I needed to do, and I could wash my hands, but as soon as I was done, my legs carried me back to the comfortable prison of his bed.

I had no idea what kind of magic kept the sheets so perfectly cool and clean, but it didn't take me long to decide that it was tricky and evil. The scent of Fisher never faded from the black silk. I could smell him—the complex scent of a cold winter forest—every second of every hour of every day, until he was literally all I could think about.

I wanted tokillhim.

And I was so bored, I thought I'd lose my mind. Onyx's presence was the only thing that saved me. The fox had arrived shortly after Kingfisher had left and had stayed with me most of the time since. He curled up next to me and slept. He madequirky noises that sounded like he was laughing whenever I petted him or gave him neck scratches. Three or four times a day, he hopped down off the bed and slunk out of the room, nudging the door open with his nose, presumably heading outside to go to the bathroom himself or to hunt. He always came back, though.

Whenever the fire sprites brought me my meals, I begged them to fetch Fisher, but they shrugged sheepishly and told me that he hadn't returned. After lunch, without fail, Te Léna, a Fae healer with beautiful bronze-colored skin and the most breathtaking amber eyes—came to check on me. She'd place her hands on my abdomen and 'read my blood.' I had no idea what that meant, but she did something all right. A shivery, not unpleasant sensation would skate through my veins, making my body hum a little. She'd smile at me apologetically and say, “Not yet,” then give me a new book to read. On the fourth day, her smile was brighter, though. More optimistic. “One more day,” she said.

“But I feel fine!” I'd felt good enough to run halfway across Zilvaren without breaking a sweat since Fisher had left for the camp, but there had been no reasoning with any of my visitors, least of all Te Léna.

“Even if I wanted to release you from his command, I couldn't. Theoathknows you're not fully recovered yet, so it won't let you out of this room.” She'd squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. “But not long now. There's so little poison left in your system that I can barely detect it. Only twenty-four more hours.”

On the final day of my incarceration, Carrion brought me my breakfast instead of one of the fire sprites. He'd visited before, but he'd annoyed me so much with his pacing and his questions that I'd screamed at him and made him leave. He hadn't returned after that. Not until now. He grinned at me over the topof the tray he set down on my lap, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.

“You look pissed,” he said.

That wasn't the understatement of the century. It was the understatement of the entire epoch.“Iampissed.”

Carrion threw himself down onto the bed, stretching out next to me. The disturbance woke Onyx from his nap; he snarled, baring his teeth at Zilvaren's most wanted man, flattening his ears against his head, but Carrion just ignored him. He grunted, fluffing Fisher's pillows, making himself comfortable.“You know what'd really pisshimoff?”

I knew he wasn't talking about Onyx. “Just don't, Carrion.”

“Revenge fucking on his bed.”

I shoved a piece of apple into my mouth. “Oh, yeah, sure. Sounds like agreatidea. Idiot. What do you think he'd do to you if youfucked someone in his bed?”

Carrion waggled his eyebrows. “I think he'd never know.”

I nearly choked on the apple. “Oh, he'd know.” The snarky comment Fisher had made in the dining room rose to the surface of my mind like he were here himself, laughing as if he were repeating it in person.I detected your scent from three miles away, plastered all over thatboy. Pheromones are signal flares to our noses, Little Osha.

“I'd be willing to risk inciting his wrath,” Carrion said. “Whatever his punishment was, it'd be worth it.”

Hah. Carrion hadn't seen Fisher decapitating that feeder with one ruthless flick of his wrist. If he had, he might reassess that statement. I gave him a pointed look.“No.”

Carrion swiped a piece of toast from my breakfast tray. He bit into it, creating a shower of crumbs that magically disappeared before they hit the bed sheets. “Just so I know,” he said, chewing. “Is that a no to fucking in your captor's bed? Or a no to fucking in general?”

“What doyouthink?”

He pointed at me with the corner of his slice of toast. “You could eviscerate a man with that expression. It's one of the things I love most about you.”

I snatched the toast from his hand and threw it down onto my plate. “I don't love anything about you.”

“Liar. There aresomany things you love about me.” He winked roguishly, attempting to steal the toast again, but I slapped the back of his hand.

“Get your own godscursed breakfast. This one's mine.”

“My hair. My eyes. My wit. My charm...” He counted them off on his fingers, making a list.

“You havezerocharm.”

“I'm a hell of a lot more charming thanKingfisher,” he sputtered.