before he pulls back, a perfect red crystal frozen on the tip of his finger. He brings it to his lips, licking the drop away, and smiles. “Sweet indeed.”
My toes curl with pleasure. “Fuyumi needs some sweetness.”
His foot nudges against mine again, leaving frost behind. “I hope this works, for Tac’s sake.”
My heart trips at the contact, and I pull my knees up, wrapping my arms around them. “If it doesn’t, Tac and I will plan a heist and kidnap his whelps.”
Emil leans his head back against the cabinet and lets out a slow breath. “She knows where you live. She’ll just come over and reclaim them.”
I jut my chin out. “Then we’ll flee to Europe, where she can’t find us.”
The corner of his lips twitch. “So, kidnapping, contract breaking, and you’re stealing my beast?”
I give a judicious nod. “All’s fair in love and war.”
He turns his head to look at me. “Is that what you really think?”
My arms tighten around my knees. “Yes. Tac wants his babies, so I will get them for him.”
Emil draws his legs up to mirror my pose. “You know I love you, right?”
My heart stutters once more, and I can’t bring myself to meet his gaze. “Yes.”
I feel his focus intensify. “And all’s fair in love and war. Or so you say.”
The trap snaps neatly around me with an almost audible snap. My clever, clever ice demon. But he’s missing one major point.
My eyes lift to his, my gaze steady with determination. “I’m not planning to murder Fuyumi to get my way. And I wouldn’t plan to kidnap Tac’s whelps if he thought the cost was too high.”
“We’re not suggesting murdering Julian,” Emil protests, dropping the pretense that we’re still talking about Tac and his future offspring.
“No, just handing him over to the people who will.” I shake my head in disappointment. “There’s no difference.”
Unable to sit next to him any longer, I push to my feet and crouch to pull the muffins from the oven. A gentle prod to the one in the middle tells me they’re done, and I set them on the cooling rack, the peace I gained now gone.
Unwilling to accept my obvious demand for space, Emil crowds against my back, ice sinking through my thin camisole. His cool breath flutters the hair on the back of my neck. “Someone will have to stand for Domnall’s death. I can’t let that be you.”
“And I won’t let it be Julian, so you and Tobias need to come up with a third option, one that has both of us walking out of the courtroom whole.” When he stays silent, I turn my head far enough to see him from the corner of my eye. “Do you need a power drain? Is that why you’re all frosty?”
He shouldn’t, not with the amount I took after the car bomb went off, but he said a storm was coming in and winter will arrive soon. The early mornings already hold frost on the grass. We might see early snow this year.
Still silent, Emil’s hands slip beneath my camisole and spread wide over my stomach, pulling me back against his cold chest. Ice crystals form on my skin before sinking beneath and swirling toward my core. As his cold lips brush my shoulder, the strap of my camisole slips down, revealing the upper swell of my breast. He releases a shaky sigh and holds on tighter, as if worried this will be the last time he holds me.
My eyes sting, and I stare blindly at the tray of muffins, no longer happy at the sight of their pink domes. My voice comes out thick past the lump that forms in my throat. “Please, tell me you have another plan.”
“We do,” he whispers, the words painting snowflakes on my skin. “But I don’t like it.”
My lip trembles, and I take a steadying breath before I ask, “Does it mean Julian walks free?”
He nods against my shoulder, his hold on me unbearably tight.
The lump in my throat grows larger, and I choke out, “When?”
“The hearing’s on Friday.”
My heart pumps heavily. “So soon?”
“It’s just the initial round, where you’ll hear the charges, and Julian and you will plead not guilty. From there, the actual trial will be set, but it will be fast,” he warns, every word sinking icicles into my flesh. “The higher-ups want this resolved quickly. Domnall was a powerful figure, and now that his death has been discovered, they can’t let it go unanswered.”