Page 12 of The Sunbound Princess
Nikolas tucked the knife away, his sleight of hand so impressive that I wasn’t certain where he’d stashed it. “That’s not what you told the sheriff.”
“A necessary lie,” she said, and a knowing glint entered her eyes as she looked between us. “I suspect that’s not a foreign concept to you.”
The tug between us intensified, its grip like a tight, hot fist lodged in my chest. The strange heat radiated through me, and it should have been impossible. Elves lost their magic when they crossed the Covenant. And yet, this one seemed to possess hers.
“Are you doing this?” I demanded, wariness rising.
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “No, but…” Her expression mirrored my unease. “You feel it too?”
Nikolas gave me a look that let me know he’d already guessed something was afoot.
“Yes,” I said, fighting the urge to rub my chest. “What is it?”
She licked her lips. “I’m looking for something. I don’t know why it’s in Saldu Kuum, but it is, and…” She put her shoulders back, a determined glint entering her eyes. “I need it. I believe you can help me find it.”
“What is it?” Nikolas asked.
“That’s my business,” she said.
I folded my arms. “How do you expect us to find something if we don’t know what we’re looking for?”
She looked between us. “I don’t think I need both of you.”
Nikolas shook his head. “Dain and I come together. We’re what you call a package deal.”
The woman frowned.
“Take it or leave it,” Nikolas added with a shrug that looked careless and was anything but—not when it came to this. “Where Dain goes, I go.” He smiled one of his crooked smiles that had charmed females from the Eastern Ocean to the southernmost inlets of the Iron Sea. “And trust me, my lady, it’s better this way. You’ll have two protectors.”
“I thought you were thieves,” she said, apparently immune to his smile.
Nikolas deepened the expression until a dimple appeared in his cheek. Then he added a wink that had dropped panties throughout the kingdom. “Don’t believe the sheriff’s slander. Dain and I are businessmen.”
The elf didn’t look in danger of dropping her panties. “What kind of business?”
“Imports and exports,” he said smoothly. “We specialize in rare goods and luxury items. If you’re looking for treasure—and it sounds like you are—you couldn’t have happened upon a better pair of companions.”
Chapter
Four
NIKOLAS
The woman absorbed my statement with the same air of skepticism she’d worn since we fended off the villagers.
“If you work with luxury goods,” she said, “why did the sheriff want to hang you?”
“Because he’s crooked,” Dain said. “You heard that attacker. The sheriff set us up.”
The woman—and I really needed to get her name—looked between us. “Sounds convenient.”
“The truth usually is,” I said, letting my smile spread. It didn’t seem to work on her, though. But, damn, I wasn’t tired of trying. I’d spent all of forty-five minutes with her, and Ineededto see her soften.
Dain continued talking, his low rumble quiet in the hushed forest. I let him go so I could study the elf. She was delusional if she thought the cloak could hide what she was. No one with half a brain would mistake her for anything other than a noble from Ishulum. She was gorgeous with her dark hair and honey-gold eyes flecked with tiny specks that looked like a star had burst inside her irises. Her beauty was otherworldly.
Her mouth was sinful.
She pressed her lips together when she was irritated, and I had to wonder if she was aware of the tell. Probably not, and if I were a better man, I would have told her. But that meant losing the privilege of seeing the pink, plump flesh folded inward while her smooth forehead furrowed.
