Of Wicked Blood (The Quatrefoil Chronicles #1) - Olivia Wildenstein Page 0,140

is to come, or just lust, but I want this boy so badly it hurts. My pulse drills my veins, muscles I didn’t even know I possessed clench, and the bruises and soreness from last night’s battle awaken, turning my sensitive skin into a minefield of tiny explosions.

But that doesn’t slow me down, because what I feel more deeply than any aches and pains is this welling affection for this lost boy who’s found his way home.

43

Slate

“Slate, we should go—”

“Fuck that.” I nuzzle her neck which is soft as silk and smells so sweet I find myself suckling it. “We’ve defeated three curses without any fucking translations.”

“Fuck’s your favorite word, isn’t it?”

I comb away a lock of her hair stuck to her swollen lips. “I apologize for being crass, Cadence. Never did make it into finishing school.”

“Don’t apologize for how you talk. Or think. I don’t care what comes out of your mouth as long as it isn’t a lie.” She presses a kiss to the edge of my jaw. “I like you just the way you are. Foul tongue and all. But we really need to go upstairs and help Adrien.”

I really don’t feel like deciphering a worm-eaten scroll. “I’m sure he’s loving it.” I splay my palm on the small of her back and drag her tight body into my groin. “Besides, my brain’s been deprived of blood for so long that I’d be useless up there.”

On a huff of laughter, she levers her body off mine. “Perhaps, but now’s really not a good time to do away with my virginity, Slate Ardoin.”

Wait . . . what? My fingers don’t spring off her back, but they definitely turn flaccid. Unlike another part of my anatomy. I don’t think there’s any chance of that happening as long as I’m pressed up against Cadence de Morel.

“You’ve never . . .?”

“No.” She swallows, and then her cheek dimples as though she’s biting the inside of it.

I sweep my thumb over her intensifying blush, trying to smooth away her nerves, but thumbs aren’t magical, and since I still haven’t said anything, she’s growing more antsy. “And here I thought librarians were supposed to be a promiscuous bunch.”

She bestows a smile upon me, one of her most radiant ones yet, and damn if it doesn’t make the entire staircase shine. “You’re not scared of me now are you?”

“Scared. Pfff. I faced down a busty incarnation of Jaws in a pitch-black tunnel. Trust me, your wholesomeness does not scare me.” I slide my thumb over her lips. “I just hope you’re not too attached to it.”

“Not attached to it at all.” Her breathing has sped up considerably.

I put a hand against the wall and pry my body off hers. However badly I want her, I’m not going to corrupt her in a stairwell with my brother and her best friend sitting a couple feet away and Adrien Mercier upstairs. No. I’m going to corrupt her nice and slow, in a bedroom, with not another soul around.

“Go. I need to cool down. Don’t want to make Prof feel underwhelming.”

Her eyebrows scrunch and then jerk up, and she swats my bicep.

I tsk. “So violent, Mademoiselle de Morel.”

“So arrogant, Monsieur Ardoin.”

I grin at her, which makes her respond in kind with another one of her glorious smiles.

“Okay.” She steps away from me, her smile falling, the glitter in her eyes dimming. As she climbs the stairs, she tugs the elastic out of her hair, finger-combs it, then reties it. Is it me or are her hands shaking?

I don’t think I imagined her edginess, and it chills my pounding blood. When I start picturing her piece showing up and me not being there, I climb the stairs two at a time. I find her sitting at a big square table with Adrien, head bent over a copy of the Kelouenn, pencil already poised and scratching at her paper. I watch them discuss possible meanings of a Breton word.

I try not to feel jealous that they share something. Remind myself of all we shared downstairs. I square my shoulders and head over.

I can be useful.

I’ll find a way to be useful.

I end up being useful by getting food and making photocopies. Cadence and Adrien squint at the damn scroll all day, and even when Alma and Bastian join them, things don’t speed up. We hit the sheets late and are back at the library again in the morning. Early afternoon, I grab the food Adrien ordered at the tavern