Chapters (42)
- Title Page
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Acknowledgements
- Also by Kim Harrison
- Copyright
- About the Publisher
- Cover
Leaning back, Pierce crossed his arms over his chest. “A body might begin to suspect that you don’t like me. I’m only trying to see you safe.”
His eyes were narrowed, and I sighed. “Pierce …,” I started, and he looked away. Save me from the tender male ego. “Can you put yourself in my shoes for a minute?” I asked, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice. “Wouldn’t you be the smallest bit upset if an entire society told you that you weren’t able to take care of yourself? And then your babysitter told you to leave the security that you spent a year making? That it wasn’t adequate?”
“You think I’m a babysitter?” he said, clearly annoyed.
“And then you realize he’s right?” I continued. “And if he’s right about that, then maybe the rest of them are right, too, and you aren’t able to take care of yourself at all?”
His eyes flicked back to mine, and his expression eased. “I’m not your babysitter.”
My shoulders slumped, and I pushed my coffee away. “I don’t know if I could have handled Vivian today,” I said, depressed. “She’s using white magic, and she’s making it deadly and totally legal. Ivy and I managed at the grocery store, but some of that was luck.” I flicked my gaze up, my heart clenching at the sorrow in his eyes. “You saved my butt. Saved Ivy.” Taking a deep breath, I looked at him. “I can’t thank you enough for that.I appreciate everything you did, but I don’t want to be someone who needs help all the time.”
I couldn’t stand to look at him anymore, and my thoughts returned to the black Latin falling from him. Black magic had driven Vivian away, not me. Maybe I did need a babysitter.
Pierce resettled himself. “Al sent me to protect you,” he said gruffly.
My head came up. His blue eyes were vivid as he looked at me as if he was trying to decide to say more. Past Tom’s narrow face, I could see Pierce’s determination, his soft confusion as he tried to fit in a world that had raced past him, and his frustration that he wasn’t enough. “Is that why you stayed?” I asked. “You could have left.”
“No.”
My head hurt, and I looked away, but something inside me had felt the weight behind that one word. He had stayed, yes, but he used black magic with no shame, no reluctance. What was I doing here with him? This was a mistake, but what else could I do?