Free My Wicked Enemy by Carolyn Jewel Page B

morose.
    He started a line down the right side of her face.
    “I keep trying not to take the pills, but I can’t.” A sob came up, viciously choked back. “I can’t not take them. But I don’t have my meds with me. I was stupid when I ran away.” She kept talking too fast. She knew it was stupid, but there’d never been anyone to listen before, and Nikodemus seemed to really be listening to her. He honestly wanted to help her. “I’m crazy, because I thought he was poisoning me, and so I left it behind on purpose.”
    “He was, Carson. I’m really sorry.”
    Her breath stopped when he finishing telling her how Magellan had been using her. And then something in her head just went click . How much help would he have to give her if she’d been poisoned? “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
    He didn’t answer, and Carson had to fight off a wave of panic. She didn’t do a very good job. “Hey,” he said. “Hey. It’s okay.” He drew another line that went just outside the corner of her eye. “Remember my oath? We’ll find out whether there’s something we can do to keep you alive, okay? I promise.”
    “How?” she whispered. Arcane knowledge about fiends stuffed her head from the incidental reading she’d done, all the time thinking how quaint ancient beliefs could be. Magellan had written about fiends’ names, ranks, titles, and powers and the objects that drew them. He’d described the manner in which they could be restrained, the worship they had once enjoyed, the precise nature of the sacrifices made to them. Words, inflections, and phrases that gave to or took power from them. All of it was stuck in her head, only it wasn’t some ancient religion practiced by a class of elites. It was real. Fiends were real. Even the ritual Magellan had been performing the day she ran away was real. Her stomach curdled. “Why would you want to help me?”
    His eyes flickered to something besides blue-gray. He didn’t say anything—he just got really quiet. The air between them chilled. “You don’t get it, do you?”
    She shook her head.
    “I’m not letting Magellan get his hands on you again. Not ever. And you’re not going out on the street without any protection from Kynan or even some other mage. You’re with me now. I’ll protect you. Because you’ll get me close to Magellan.” He held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor, Carson.”
    “Are you ever serious?”
    “All the time, sweetheart.” His eyes flickered from blue-gray to green and, briefly, to glittering black. He played with the top button to her sweater, not even thinking about what he was doing, she thought, unaware that she was having some inappropriate thoughts about him. All he’d done was trace some lines with his fingertip, but her skin felt hot wherever he’d touched her. Her gaze met his. Could he be any more gorgeous? Apparently, yes. His smile was pure seduction. He unfastened the top button. “What do you think, Carson? The two of us. Should we?”
    She blinked. A proposition. He’d just propositioned her.
    “Come on, sweetheart. Can’t you feel it? It’ll be good between us. Really good.”
    My God, she was actually thinking about it. She really must be crazy. He slid a finger between the halves of her sweater until the second button stopped him. “How do I know you’re not bending my will again? Making me want you when I really don’t?”
    “You may be fucked up here”—he tapped the middle of her sternum—“but there’s nothing weak about your mind.” He went back to her sweater, holding the second button between his thumb and forefinger. “You put up a hell of a fight. It wasn’t all that easy getting in. Not until you let me.” He slid the button free. “You’d know if I was bending you now. You’d feel me pushing you.”
    She took a breath, and Nikodemus’s finger brushed the swell of her breast. Her breath stopped again, but this time for a different reason.
    “So, the thing is, Carson,” he