I know I’m not thinking clearly, that I’m weak and confused but also more sure and powerful than I’ve ever been. For some reason, I can’t resist pulling my hand free and letting it slip into the space under Raze’s jaw. I tilt his head to me so the firelight can accurately illuminate just how awful he looks. We’ve been through so much.

“You know, you don’t have to be my friend,” I say. Thoughtlessly, my thumb brushes his cheekbone. “You’re still going to have to pay up.”

“I know.” His lips curl in a smile. I’ve never really noticed Raze’s lips before, besides when they were smashed awkwardly against mine, so the observation seems strange. They’re a nice shape. Nothing extraordinary, but just right for his face. They look soft.

I’ve never noticed that about anyone before.

Before I can pinpoint why my mind is wandering to such a bizarre place, he brings his hand up, covering mine completely. His palm just barely brushes against the back of my knuckles, warm and familiar.

“I just remembered,” he says. “We didn’t die. I guess you win the bet.”

The silly bet we made in the enchanted Seelie forest seems like so long ago, but it’s just been a few days. I completely forgot about it.

“So unfortunate that we lived,” I say. My heart jumps into my throat as I remember the ridiculous stakes we set. “Per our previous agreement, you owe me fifty percent.”

“Thirty-five, and a promise,” he negotiates easily, with a charming smile.

Yes, I remember, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. And...that.

I raise my eyebrows, inviting him to continue. I hope he can’t feel how feverishly sweaty my hand is.

It’s a long moment before he speaks, a long moment of his lips parted slightly with that grin playing in the shadows at the corner of his mouth. “Seelie,” he says, his voice so low that if I was any more than three inches away from his face I wouldn’t hear it. “I promise that you will never have to kiss me again.” His expression hovers again, like he’s about to add an unless...

Blood rushes in my ears.

It feels like Raze is daring me, trying to do that thing where you can look into someone else’s eyes and know just what they’re thinking. But I can’t do that.

All I can do is observe that our noses are inches apart, that we’re staring each other deeply, uncomfortably in the eye. In silence. With our hands overlapping in the hollow of his jaw. If it was anyone else, I might think it means something that he wants me close. That I can feel the warmth of his breath on my skin when he breaks into a wider smile.

But this is Raze, and normal rules of human behavior don’t apply to him.

My gaze strays down from his lagoon-blue eyes to my injured hand on the sheets, and the moment cracks. I’m reminded intensely of the pounding in my head and the heated magic in my blood. It’s hard to keep my eyes open.