She releases me and takes a confident step, putting a fair amount of distance between us.
But I don’t let her walk away.
I jerk her back by her silken hair, and the redheaded woman at our side is watching us closely. So closely, I give her a sultry wink before pressing my lips like a caress against my lover’s throat.
Or so it seems.
The razor blade between my teeth is flicked out fast and sharp, and I nick her flesh just lightly, just enough to tell her I could have slit her throat to the bone. Icould havekilled her in a heap of her pretty, crimson blood if she’d been any more of a pain in my fucking ass.
But I didn’t.
An intake of a sharp breath is her reply, and it brings a pleased smile to my lips from around the dripping blood of the blade. My tongue slips out to taste the warmth.
I drop the razor blade from my lips, and it falls back into my palm as quick as it came before I slide it into my leather belt where it belongs.
Her delicious gasp still rings in my mind as I hiss intimately against her ear. “Do notfuck with me, Bella.”
And then I shove her away. Her hand slips over her throat, but she doesn’t look back at me as I storm off through the crowd of applauding newcomers.
Benton rushes after me, and I see him hand her a jacket for warmth before following after me.
I roll my eyes and ignore his kindness. Someday, he’ll learn that even your kindness has a price to pay.
With a crack of thunder, the rain pours down, soaking over me like the realization that sinks in: Bellatrix Cuore knows my place in this kingdom. She knows I’m of the Brotherhood. Just like me, she’s done her research.
Which is exactly what King Leavon teaches his Chosen brides in their classes.
My name is on her hit list now.
Just like hers is on mine.
Chapter Eight
Bella
The splatters dropping down from the sky turn to a drizzle and then to a full downpour by nightfall. Despite my feminine urge to find Synder Steel and put that pathetic little razor blade to good use, I hurry into the city and find a familiar tradesman. The witch doctor doesn’t recognize me, but I’d know his violet eyes anywhere.
The white umbrella above him shields him and him alone from the rain. I stand soaking in the cold, but it’ll be worth it. His small cart is cluttered with veils. Some are for mutations, some for shapeshifting corrections, some are as simple as an herbal birth control.
But I know exactly what I need.
What my chaotic mind needs.
“Do you have any Reality Rippers?”
His lips twitch at the slang name of the drug I’ve long forgotten the correct term for.
He nods and lifts a jar from the cart with ten little white pills inside.
I hate pills.
But I hate losing my mind every night too. One of these a night and I’ll be sane... or as sane as I normally am, anyway.
“I’ll give you ten strands of virgin’s hair for it.”
Not mine, of course. My sexy slut bus left the station a long, long time ago. But I did snatch a few strands off of the sweet boy’s coat after he and Synder left. He really should be careful being so kind to strangers like that.
The witch doctor’s lavender brows lift high, but as normal, he says nothing.