CHAPTER 10

Silas

The ice princess'seyes were glued to the necklace in her open palm, thumb grazing the large-gem amulet hanging on a delicate chain. "Unlock it, he said. But how?" She murmured, barely seeing me at all as she determined how best to move forward from here.

It hadn't been long since Bane's artfully-stored memory in time had ebbed away to nothing, leaving us with more questions than answers. I didn't know what to make of it all, but what I did know was Nika had been a target from the very beginning.

If Yuma was involved, she didn't stand a chance without unsealing whatever power was locked away. It was likely the entire reason her father went to such lengths to keep the secret from reaching nefarious Dark Fae ears. Had he left anything back within the society, based on the torture Nika suffered at those bastards' hands, it may have found its way to the wrong people.

The sickening sight of Nika's hands and the parts of her body she couldn't hide still haunted my thoughts. As someone who had history with the barbaric actions taken by this particular society's elders, I wasn't surprised. But for some reason, my blood boiled that day.

I wanted names. I wanted a goddamn list. Anyone who played a part, small or large, would have their name written in silver ink. It might be something I'd taken from my Brotherhood days, but the idea of spelling out my marks' names in eerie silver always got my blood pumping. It was the color of death; a long-practiced warning to them that their end was coming soon should they manage to see the list.

My targets never did.

I'd make sure their deaths were slow, their bodies mirroring every painful injury Nika suffered at their hands. Their screams would be my night's lullaby; their agony a deadly swan song. I wanted each and every wanker's blood to coat my hands before I finally gave them the sweet relief of death. Only then would I be satisfied.

"An eye for an eye," as the old human saying went.

For the first time since coming out of the vision, Nika's gem-like eyes found mine, and for once, she didn't stare at me like I was the bug beneath her shoe. "What do you think, mercenary? Since you insist on being a part of this, you may as well use whatever cleverness is left in that head of yours to help. Or is it full of rocks like I suspect?"

I can't get enough of this woman, Lilith help me.

Lips twitching upwards, I swallowed a laugh and peered closer at the amulet in her open palm, studying it with whatever cleverness was left in this head of mine. My gods, I worshipped the venom this beautiful woman spat.

"My guess? Put it on and see what happens."

Nika looked at me like I was the daftest cotton-headed ninny she'd met to date, and she wouldn't be wrong to think so. My head had been in a bloody daze since meeting her at that pub. These days, I sounded a bit less like the man of mystery I aimed for and more like a blubbering nincompoop who only knew how to spout shit and say things like "See what happens." Dick was rarely right about much, but he was right about this. I was a goddamn mess around this dangerous goddess.

Nika did things to a bloke's head. Put him quickly in his place. Smashed his confidence to bits and destroyed his practiced calm. Made him slow to thought and even slower to speech. Turned the sorry lot of us into blithering trolls and goofy-grinned twits, she did. But bloody hell if we didn't love every goddamn second of it.

Before I realized it, I was following her every move with my eyes, hanging onto every uttered word, seeking her out and falling all over myself to show I was different from the rest. Hoping she'd reward me with one look, one smile—fuck it, anything to show I'd won her over, if only for a moment. It was bloody maddening, but, in a way, that was the entire reason I kept coming back for more.

I'd been told more than once I was arrogant and turned everything into a fight. Which, fair enough. I didn't like to lose. If there was a have-it-out-in-a-meeting-of-fists option, I'd always opt for that first. I rarely lost. I saved my pretty words for the woman I was wooing. Except, with Nika, it felt like I'd been weirdly caught between the two, and it got my dick throbbing the way it never had with any other woman.

Nika's words were fire and poison. They burned on impact and sunk into the head, poisoning the thoughts; the cleverest utterances that took a bloke a minute to figure out. If they were smart enough to figure it out, that is. And she wasn't afraid to take the violent route when words weren't enough. I admired a woman of action, even if it was me who was often on the receiving end of said action.

Call me a masochistic muppet because I didn't mind it at all.

People didn't surprise me, but Nika boggled the mind and spun the thoughts. Nothing about her made sense. I hadn't figured out one damn thing since meeting her. Every time I thought I was close, the ice princess moved out of reach and I was left scrambling after her.

"Just try it on? That's your big, experienced killer suggestion?" Nika taunted, her lips alluding to a smile but never giving me the satisfaction.

Locking my thick arms across my chest and hiding the way I got a little short of breath around her barbs—because concealing my dick wasn't an option—I took her gorgeous body in with a downward sweep of my gold eyes.

Then I offered the sassy lass my smarmiest grin. "Sometimes, the simplest answer is all it is. Knowing your father, it probably doesn't respond to anyone but you. He knew talented Enchanters and he'd take precautions. Probably can't be activated by anyone that's not you. So yeah, my guess is all you have to do is put it on."

Her skeptical eyes dropped to the necklace, and when those icy blues flicked back up to me, she wasn't regarding me like an idiot anymore. Win. "Guess it's not all full of rocks," she mumbled cutely, then unclasped the necklace and eyed the dangling thing for a moment.

I cleared my throat, causing her eyes to return to my face, one eyebrow raised in question. A second later, her head tilted, and it took everything inside of me not to call her out on how adorable it all was. I'd deserve the punch if I did.

"Allow me," I said, stealing the necklace and going around her.

Surprisingly, she didn't fight me. That was a first. Maybe the gorgeous Fae was too tired to argue about it. Emotional step into the past and all that. For the stone-cold woman to react the way she did, smiling, frowning, grieving, I knew the vision had taken its toll on her. Honestly, all I wanted to see was a human reaction from her, one that didn't include beating me. But in those moments of open grief, my chest was unbearably tight. My throat locked up, and my arms ached to wrap around the emotionally exposed woman to shield her from the pain.

Until her mother uttered the prize of a line "Bunch of dicks," I worried I'd never see her smile again.

Mesmerized, I watched the gorgeous daughter of Bane brush her silky hair to one side, exposing the slender column of her neck. My body tensed, suddenly reminded of how beautiful that neck had been arched in ecstasy—how soft and delicious it was to run my tongue along it and sink my teeth into it.

"Silas?"

My name in her raspy, sarcastic voice was my favorite thing to hear now, next to her laughing, and I imprinted its sound in my memory, storing it for another day.

I snapped out of the daze her curved neck had put me into and attached the necklace like I was supposed to. The overwhelmingly static sensation of magic in the air hit only seconds after the amulet touched her skin, and I was sent scuttling back with the solid force of air exploding from her.