Running my hands nervously down the front of my gown, I nodded and threaded my arm through his. Tonight would either bring me one step closer to rescuing Imogen or end in my death. “Let’s go.”
Chapter
Thirteen
Despite his velvet finery, Kaden still smelled faintly of leather and the cool night scent that pervaded his home. It clung to him just as insistently as the dark whisper of magic that he wore like a second skin.
With my soft slippers and Kaden’s eerily silent footsteps, the only sound was my slightly ragged breathing and the frantic thundering of my heart. I’d expected Kaden to lead us back down the opulent staircase, but instead, he turned me toward a large half-moon balcony that I hadn’t noticed before.
The hunter in me cursed at overlooking another exit point. These were the sort of details that had kept me alive in the Quarter.
It wasn’t that I felt unsafe with Kaden. Alarmingly, I felt the opposite. But Kaden was still dark fae, and faeries couldn’t be trusted.
“Are you armed?” he asked.
I stiffened. “Always.”
“I would have been disappointed if you weren’t hiding something sharp and pointy under there, but do not make the mistake of thinking that you will be any match for our host or any of his guests should things” — he grimaced — “go sideways.”
I bristled. “I think I’ll be the judge of that,” I snapped, insulted that he thought I couldn’t take a faerie.
Kaden tilted his head to the side, his expression part warning, part amusement. “I have no doubt in your ability to dispatch even the most formidable vampire, but you, little huntress, are no match for the oldest of my kind.”
I scoffed in annoyance, but the sound had barely whooshed out of me when I felt a rush of cool air against my thighs. The layers of my dress billowed around me, and half a heartbeat later, I found my back pressed against Kaden’s chest and his arm locked around my waist.
I sucked in a gasp but froze when I felt the kiss of cold steel at my throat. Kaden held me in an iron grip, the warmth of his body seeping through our clothes, and the edge of a blade —myblade — was pressed to my throat.
“As I said,” he murmured, his warm breath stirring my hair, “you are no match for my kind.”
Fury and terror streaked through me, igniting my blood and heating my skin. At least, I told myself that was the reason I suddenly felt too hot all over. It certainly had nothing to do with the crackle of Kaden’s dark magic humming over my skin or the feel of his hard body pressed against my back.
“The fae do not possess the sort of power that we wield in our own realm,” he continued, his voice rumbling up my spine. “But you must still be on your guard at all times.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. Who did he think he was talking to?
“The most powerful among us could disarm you without so much as lifting a finger.” He removed the dagger from my throat, and my breath hitched as the humming tendrils of his magic parted the slit in my dress and slid my weapon back into its sheath at my thigh. “Don’t eat the food. Don’t drink the wine. It won’t be true faerie wine, but it could still be enchanted. I wouldn’t put anything past Caladwyn.”
Caladwyn. That must be the name of our host — the faerie we’d be stealing from.
Kaden released his grip on my waist, encircling my wrist with those long fingers and spinning me so that I faced him. “Don’t reveal any more than you have to, but try not to lie. Many older fae can smell deception, and we don’t want to raise suspicions.”
I glared back at him, still enraged that he’d disarmed me just to prove that he could. Did he really expect me to waltz into a room full of fae and not lie about why I was there?
“And what am I supposed to say when they ask how we met?”
“The truth.” Kaden’s silver-gray eyes twinkled. “That I heroically saved you from a horde of demons.”
This time, I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes. “Likethat’snot going to attract attention.”
Kaden chuckled. The sound made my toes curl in my slippers, but the light winked out of his eyes. “Trust me. Most of us are hundreds of years old. Very little surprises us anymore.”
Us.
I was still marveling at how young he seemed despite his years as he unlatched one of the huge French doors. A cool breeze danced over my skin as Kaden turned and extended a hand.
With the moonlight gleaming off his hair and his arm outstretched in invitation, he stole my breath away.
He’s dangerous, I chided. His little display with my dagger had proven as much.
