Page 15 of The Frost Witch (The Covenants of Velora #1)

“You already have the women flocking to you. How irritatingly predictable,” the female said, her dark eyes flicking over me from crown to toe and then dismissing me entirely.

The icy flame solidified. My fingers began to tingle with cold. I curled them into fists, stuffing down the power so I would not slaughter her then and there. For my mother. For Janessa. But mostly for myself.

The man kept himself angled between us, not so quick to dismiss me. Satisfaction bloomed in my chest. I’d fooled the fae female, even with her supposedly superior senses. But he knew .

“You will not consider what I said,” this directed to the fae female, though he did not phrase it quite as a question.

The corners of her mouth slid up her cheeks in a smile that lacked all joy. It was a challenge, and one she did not even bother leveling at me. It was all for the man between us. “Save your offers for others who need them,” she said.

She deigned to flash that menacing smile at me for half a heartbeat before she turned and strode away into the recesses of the temple.

Yet another reason to be wary of the behemoth before me.

I needed to learn his damn name. My mind wasn’t particularly creative with the adjectives.

He watched the female go, though it was only his eyes that followed her. He did not turn his back on me.

Then, just as quickly, he caught me in his gaze, just as he had in the courtyard hours before. “What do you want, witch?”

The offer I’d been about to make froze in my throat.

A smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth.

“Let me guess. You’d like me to keep that bit of information to myself.” His distinctive turquoise eyes flicked up to my forehead. “You’ve covered your dark master’s mark.”

“No one is my master,” I breathed, and I even half believed it. Maura might have given me the charge to pass through the Seven Gates, the Dark God might have resurrected me, but I was making these choices all on my own. For better or worse.

He huffed out a laugh. Damn, he was attractive.

No wonder the prostitute had been so interested in him the night before.

Elodie, I reminded myself. Not a real prostitute.

But even one putting on an act would always approach the most attractive man in the tavern in the hopes of passing a more pleasurable than usual night.

And there was something about the slash of a smile on his face that made me think he was capable of delivering on that prospect.

I bit down on the urges swirling through my body. I could use him as a fantasy in my mind later in the night, but right then I needed a clear mind. I stepped into the space between us, only then realizing just how vast the discrepancy in our size really was.

I was a short woman, but not a small one.

The leather belt at my waist did nothing but accentuate the width of my hips.

Beneath the corset that held my considerable breasts in place, my stomach was soft and ample.

Those soft curves could not have been more opposite to the hard lengths of the man before me.

He stood easily a foot above me, perhaps more.

As he crossed his arms over his wide chest, the linen of his shirt pulled tight over his forearms and biceps, outlining the corded blocks of muscle beneath.

I had to summon my frost to cool the heated desire that roared to life in my veins. I had to learn some control. Before, I’d had my coven to protect me from poor choices. Now, I was on my own with everything to lose.

I lifted my chin and prayed it didn’t quiver with nerves—or worse, lust. “I have come to offer you a bargain.”

“So, you are afraid I’ll turn you over to the other supplicants.” His eyes sparkled as he said it, that smile dangerously sensual. He was enjoying himself, I realized. He was actually deriving pleasure from watching me grapple with the fact that he had this sort of power over me.

“I understand that you could use what you know about me to your own advantage.” I gritted my teeth. “So, I’m here to offer you an alternative.”

He looked me over slowly, taking his time, letting his eyes linger on the spot between my eyes where I’d covered my coven mark. “And why should I trust you? There is no such thing as a good witch.”

The temperature around us dropped. “You trust the fae bitch.”

I watched the gooseflesh rise on his forearms where the cuffs of his sleeves had ridden up.

But he didn’t move to cover himself against the cold.

“Talking to her and trusting her are different things. I am not foolish enough to think that Alize won’t shove a knife into my back the first chance she gets. ”

I flinched at his casual use of what had to be her name. “You know her.” Yet another reason to be wary of this man. How had I wandered into such a deadly coterie of supplicants? Maura… she couldn’t have known… could she? But the thought disintegrated as quickly as it formed.

“We’ve met,” he said. He didn’t bother to deny it. “But she is not your problem, is she?”

I exhaled through my nose. If I’d died in a fire, I had no doubt that smoke would have poured from my nostrils. I’d rarely had occasion to thank the gods for the manner of my death, but in that moment I almost did. The last thing I needed was this man seeing how easily my emotions got out of check.

I would make myself the fae female’s problem. Alize. Now I had a name to add to my prayers of misfortune.

One problem now. One for later.

“A spell for your silence,” I said before I gave him any other bits of information about myself.

He tilted his head, the moonlight that cut through the stained glass turning the platinum blond to silver. “Why keep your power a secret? You could use it to your advantage.”

The way he watched me with those turquoise eyes was as forceful as a physical touch.

At a distance, the intensity had been noticeable, but close like this, it was almost painful.

An itch that demanded to be scratched. One that should have been easy to ignore, given the irritation the man was determined to stoke.

“I don’t need Garrick the fucking Red painting a target on my back.”

The light in his eyes shifted into something new. “I see.”

“He’ll be coming for you, too,” I pointed out. The sooner I had his agreement, the sooner I could find a bed and sate both the exhaustion building in my shoulders and the ache low in my belly. “A well-placed spell could disable him long enough for you to neutralize him.”

Was that a twinkle of amusement I saw in the corner of his eyes? Did he actually find my proposition laughable?

“And what spell will you save for yourself?”

I exhaled more steadily this time. He was going to accept my offer and keep my secret. “None. I’ve met enough of his kind over the years. I will stay well away from the bounty hunter.”

The corner of his eye crinkled in time with the tilt of his wickedly lush mouth. “Too late for that, witch.” He leaned down, closing the space between us too quickly for me to step back. “ I am Garrick the Red.”