bites at my bare foot as he repeats the process with the other.
He answers my unspoken question without looking up. “I’m not having this night end with you twisting an ankle.”
I don’t bother to argue that I could run a 5k in heels if I so chose. These paths are slippery and the snow makes it impossible to gauge the dips and unevenness of the ground. “Just a little frostbite, then?”
“You won’t evade me long enough to get frostbite, baby girl.” The heavy threat in his voice has my entire body responding. We haven’t played like this in a long time. The house is never empty, and a quick chase around the bedroom isn’t anything compared to what he’s offering me tonight.
What he offered me the first time we were together.
I can’t quite remove the shakiness from my voice when I say, “You’ll never catch me.”
“Would you like to bet on that?” He rises easily to his feet. The moon is barely a crescent in the sky, and the darkness hides his expression from me, turning him into something dangerous and forbidden. “If you make it to the maze entrance—”
“I want to watch you fuck Alaric.” Since our initial trip to the Underworld, I’ve become quite familiar with Hades’s staff. Alaric is a switch who’s pretty enough to turn even me into a fumbling mess. I got over that reaction quickly, and now I can see him without making a fool of myself. Mostly.
Jafar’s grip tightens on my hips ever so slightly. “You’ve been ruminating on that fantasy for quite some time if you’re able to rattle it off without hesitation.”
There’s no point in denying it. “Yes.”
“Very well. If you make it to the maze entrance, I will put on a show for you with Alaric.” He grins, a flash of teeth in the meager moonlight. “And if you don’t make it, you’ll take a week off.”
I blink. Of all the things I expected him to say, this didn’t number among them. “What?”
“An entire week. Seven days. We will go somewhere that isn’t Carver City, and you will not take any communication for the duration.”
The prospect both thrills me and makes me vaguely sick to my stomach. “That’s impossible. What if something happens while we’re gone and we’re needed back here immediately? What if someone stages yet another coup and—"
"Those are the terms, baby girl. Take them or leave them.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re such an asshole.” When he doesn’t respond, apparently content to wait me out, I sigh. “Fine. I agree.”
He leans down and brushes his lips against the shell of my ear. “You have to the count of five.”
“Five? What the hell, Jafar?”
“Five.” He shrugs out of his jacket and moves to the gazebo to drape it over the railing. “Four.”
I take off running, my bare feet hitting the cold ground, each impact a shock to my system. I’d had half a mind to let him catch me before he laid out the terms. Now, I simply cannot allow it.
“One.” His voice echoes through the maze, and I pick up speed. My instincts overtake my rational thinking. This is not a game between willing prey and a loving predator. This is a pursuit I might not recover from. Fear clogs my throat, my breath heavy in my lungs. My mind blanks and I give myself over to the familiar steps.
Left. Left. Right. Left again.
He’s chosen his starting point well. With him blocking the most direct route out of the maze, I have to go through the center and out the other side to escape. The turns bleed into one another. I can’t hear anything over my harsh breathing, can’t tell if he’s closing in, can’t do anything but flee mindlessly, a fox before the hound.
I make it two steps into the center of the maze. Two momentous steps when I think I might be able to do this, to escape.
Jafar catches me around the waist and hauls me to the ground. I don’t miss the fact that I’ve landed on grass instead of the path, and I certainly don’t miss the fact that his hand cradles my head to ensure it doesn’t make contact. Even knowing that, knowing that I’m with someone I trust implicitly, I still fight. “Let me go!”
“You know better.” He pins my flailing hands over my head and transfers them to one hand. “You’re mine to do with as I wish.”
I try to kick at him, but my dress hampers my movements. For a