“Only because you didn’t believe that I would,” she says, pacing a step back. “Are you going to lock the knives up now?”
“No,” I murmur, inching forward to close the distance.
“Really? You’re not worried I’ll try to—“
“I already told you I would appreciate that. As long as you make it quick, and just for the record, I’m not opposed to biting, but do try not to break the skin next time.” I lift her good arm before she can shuffle away and use my magic to propel her onto my back in one fluid movement. We need to move. I brace my hands around her legs and tug her tighter against me before heading back in the direction of the locket.
A small choking sound slips out of her, and it takes me a moment to figure out what it is she’s reacting to. She’s just realized the implications of my last statement—about the biting. I turn my head in her direction with a chuckle so she knows I know exactly what that noise is about.
Heading back in thedirection of the locket feels physically wrong, like heading back into a gloomy fog. She’s quiet for a good while. I can practically hear her thoughts churning in the absentminded way her fingers move against my chest.
“Do you even know where we’re going?”
“Yes. We’re close.”
“How do you know?”
“I can feel it.” I head closer to that fog and cut a sharp left. A sliver of the silver chain glints from under one of the pink leaves. I reach down and pick it up with every fiber of my being telling me to get far, far away from that blasted stone. I hastily hold it out for her to take. “Here. You hold onto it.” I pick up my pace, desperate to be out of the Blood Wood.
“So—“ That one word has my hackles rising with suspicions. Her tone is too friendly, too amicable. “If I didn’t have the locket tonight, I would’ve likely eaten you. Or vice versa.”
“I’m a lot bigger than you. I would’ve been the one to eat you.”
“Either way—it’s turned out to be quite useful.”
“Don’t even start,“ I grumble, immediately shutting that shit down. “You’re not keeping it.” She goes quiet. “If you hadn’t run off into the fucking Blood Wood of all places, none of this would’ve ever happened in the first place.”
“It’s my only protection.”
“No. It’s not.”
“What else do I have? The knives?” she complains. “Like those do me much good against magic.”
“I wasn’t talking about the knives.”
“What else do I have?”
“Me.”
She scoffs. “And, what protects me from you?”
“You don’t need protection from me because I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You—“
She breaks off. I already know what she’s going to say. I already have. And she’s right. My frustration still flames. “What you really need is protection from your own fucking self. I mean, of all the places you could go? You look at the map and say, 'the Blood Wood' that sounds like a nice place.' That seriously makes me question your intelligence, nought.”
“It really does affect you, doesn’t it?”
It takes me a beat to figure what she’s referring to. I lift a hand and drag it over my face with a growl. “It’s poison.”
“Because you weren’t being such a dick earlier before we got this locket—“
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, and yes, it affects me.” My eyes narrow. Didn’t expect to be called a dick by the sacred fucking virgin of all people. “Did they let you use words like that in Eden?”
“Well, they didn’tletme,” she specifies. “They didn’tletme do anything.”
“But you still did?”
