Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
I make an excited noise, cup his face, and make him kiss me again. Is it a little awkward? Yes. Is his tongue much bigger than mine? Yes. Is it the best kiss ever? Also yes. He licks into my mouth as if he wants to devour me, and it sends a bolt of heat straight between my thighs. Moaning, I grab his horns and—
Hot pain flashes through my wrist. I jerk backward. “Shit!”
Raptor recoils. “What’d I do wrong?”
“It’s my wrist.” I cradle my hand against my chest even as he lowers my dangling feet to the ground.
“Oh, thank gods.” At my annoyed look, he explains. “I thought I’d been too enthusiastic and nearly choked you with my fat tongue. Your mouth is quite small. Hot and delicious and wet…but small.”
“For what it’s worth, I would never complain about the size of your tongue,” I tell him loftily. “But perhaps a dark alley isn’t the best spot to kiss.”
“You’re right. It’s far better for under-the-skirt touches.” He grins at me, and then winces, holding up a bandaged hand. “But perhaps that needs to wait, too.”
“Surely there’s some part of you I can ride that isn’t too beat up,” I tease.
He taps his long nose with his bandaged hand. “I know just the seat for you, sweetheart.”
Heat scorches through me, and I want to wriggle with arousal. I’m forgetting all too quickly about how tired I am, especially in light of his playful flirtiness. “Your knot must be aching something fierce right now,” I coo at him. “I’m happy to be of assistance.”
Raptor just gives me a long, hard look that makes me shiver with delight.
I wait for him to do something, to say something. If he pushed me against this wall and jerked my pants down, I wouldn’t turn him away. I know he must be hurting, as it’s been days since we’ve touched, and I know he gets uncomfortable when he’s aching. Instead, he sends a thoughtful look down the alley. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I take the hand he holds out to me and follow him.
“To a secret hiding spot. Naiah never gives me her potions in person. She always deposits them in a hidden location.”
Oh. His potions. The ones where his knot—and the rest of him—goes down for days on end. Is he going to take that now? Not the ending to this evening that I had in mind, but if he needs it, he needs it. I’ll be a supportive partner no matter what. And maybe it’s best that we rest anyhow.
I guess.
Raptor heads deeper into the alleyway, following it until we’re far from the King’s Onion and very far from our assigned nest at Master Jay’s dormitory. He scans the stonework, and then releases my hand. A moment later, he pulls a heavy brick free from the wall and sets it on the ground. Then he gestures that I should look for myself.
I peek inside. Even though it’s dark, I can see what looks like two small bottles, and a tiny scroll of a note. With a glance at Raptor, I reach for the note first. “Two potions?”
“Yours and mine, aye. I thought Naiah would pull through.” He grins down at me, proud. “Now you have options.”
Options. It’s not what I’d expected. I pull the tiny scroll open and squint at it, but it’s too dark and Naiah’s handwriting is too tiny. “I can’t read it.”
“Allow me.” He takes the note and studies it for a moment, then begins to read. “ ‘As requested, the potion to remove a mancer’s power is enclosed within. Do keep in mind that this potion is magical, and will remove your magic from you, like cauterizing a wound. It won’t be painful, but the effects are permanent. I cannot reverse it. My payment is due within a sevenday.’ Signed, Naiah.”
He pulls the bottles free from the hidey-hole and offers me a round one with a pale liquid inside. “Mine is a dark potion. This one is yours.”
“I see she’s labeled it very helpfully.” There’s a tiny frowny face on mine. Charming. I turn it over in my hand, thinking. “It’s permanent?”
“Aye. I don’t know how it works or how Naiah manages to make her potions, but she’s never wrong. If she says it’s permanent, I believe her.” He studies me. “You know I’ll support you whatever you choose.”
“And if I take this now and we forget all about me being a mancer? And we lose all the riches I’ve been shown below because my memory is terrible?”
Raptor shrugs and rolls up the note, tossing it back into the hidden nook. “If it makes you happy, I’m all for it. I don’t mind doing things the hard way, as long as we do them together.”
I consider it.
I consider it very hard. Life would certainly be easier if the dead weren’t mumbling in my ears every time I went into the Everbelow. I wouldn’t be distracted by nearby murders—though hopefully that fades with time. I would be just like everyone else, succeeding in the guild on my own merits, or failing because of the same thing. I would be normal. Safe.