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They hiked quickly through the thick grove of trees, leaves raining like emeralds from brown velvet as they brushed past them Distracted as she was by Gray, Jewel ally high cliff Gray jerked her to safety each ti the last incident, he&039;d held her longer than necessary, his gaze lingering on her lips She&039;d shivered and ached, herfor a taste of hi her Tantalizing andher But she&039;d at last pulled away He still bore traces of fatigue, his face pale and his limbs shaky

He always reaze focused intently on her back, his ar her into the hard shield of his body She wasn&039;t nors Knowing he was behind her, however, played havoc with her attention His spicy male scent wafted around her

"So how do thefor the first tilance and grinned, grabbing on to the thread of conversation as if it were thein the world "Sorabbed her robe by the hood and tugged her away fro, she returned her attention to the forest

"Good Noere you going to say?"

"So the body to her as a gift"

"Then you should be thoroughly iift-wrapped the demons, but I did kill your enemy"

"Yes, you did"

"What about the other ive their women?"

Her lips pursed as she considered his question She&039;d never been on the receiving end of a man&039;s romantic attentions, but had witnessed uess"

"Sirens Tell me about the sirens"

She searched her iven her mother when they&039;d wished to seduce her? What had her otten i from the far recesses of her mind "Once, a male centaur wrote a play for my mother He acted the part of hero and hired others to be his cast It was a love story about two people giving up everything to be together, and I rehed dreamily and smiled for days afterward"

Gray&039;s only response was a shudder Of revulsion? His silence soon began to weigh heavily on her shoulders "I know you give your wo at the thought of how each one had rewarded him with kisses Sometimes naked kisses

"That&039;s easily done and requires little thought," he said darkly

She stayed the urge to look back at him Was he irritated with her? Or himself? Before she could ponder the answer, she stopped, a thin layer of bush the only barrier between her and the path to the city "We&039;re here"

"Don&039;t go any closer until I&039;ve done reconnaissance" His hand latched onto the tendon at the base of her neck, aze darted in every direction

Her nerve ending leapt up to uing their surroundings, deciding as safe and asn&039;t Laughing female voices drifted to her ears Ahead of them on a cobbled path stamped a herd of female centaurs Each possessed a mane of hair, some red, some brown, some pale, their chests covered by blue cloaks, the color ed to Every one of the ool

The woate that arched toward the skydo heart of the city Jewel&039;s exciteh her entire body She searched her senses for any sign or shiver of danger but felt nothing She wasn&039;t surprised She never knehen she herself would be in peril

"The Inner City is so much different than the Outer City Here, the people are friendly and honest and hardworking Notice that no one is carrying weapons"

"None that we can see, that is"

How like hirin, to suspect everyone of foul play He was a warrior to the marrow of his bones

"Get ready," Gray said To their left, a group of robed - what the hell were they? They were as ugly as legend clai beaky nose, and hair comprised of serpents Those snakes hissed and slithered froers around Jewel&039;s They jolted into motion Because his backpack was under his robe, he looked like he was soht around your face," he said, and as he spoke, he fitted the hilt of one of his blades in his hand, covering theWhen she co to try and blend in with those snake - things"

"Gorgons," she said "Do not look directly in their eyes; if your gaze meets one of theirs, you will be turned into stone"

"Ah, shit"

"Why bother trying to blend in with the our faces, and we aren&039;t being followed"

"In case anyone is questioned, they won&039;t know that two individuals entered the city at a specific tiroup, and I highly doubt the demon queen will make the connection"

Ah, that lad to have Gray with her before, this would have convinced her "I can project hts into their heads and convince them we are not even here"

"That tires you out, and I need you strong"

The Gorgons didn&039;t pay them any heed as they ca - all the while A cold sweat trickled over her skin Back and forth the Gorgons threw comments about the dee, de to know if they&039;d seen a human male and fe together? How odd The two races had never outright warred, but they had never allied theht thelanced up at Gray His face was partially shadowed by his hood, but she saw the grim line of his lips Had he understood them? She projected her consciousness into hisblock

He squeezed her hand, and she bit her lip Did he know she&039;d just tried to read hion in front of her, using their harsh dialect of the Atlantean language

All of therowled low in his throat, but he kept his head turned

"Well?" she deroup and question them "Toward Javar&039;s palace," one of them answered, and they all kicked into motion

Which meant her eneood, but Why journey all the way to Javar&039;s, the forons? Javar had been dead for ion of his men to protect the palace from invaders

This h the city gates, they pulled away fros, not announce ere there and didn&039;t belong," Gray whispered in her ear, his tone fierce He clairip on her hand

Three-headed dogs bolted from behind a stone hut and frolicked around her feet as carts and vendors came into view The scent of sweet pies and meat tempted her nostrils Her reeted her eyes, and geht

She wanted to taste every kind of food, try on every piece of material, cover herself in the jewelry "Look for a weapons dealer"

"Of course," she said, a wealth of disappointment in those tords "Can we explore the city after?" "We have to - " He threw a glance over his shoulder, then paused He turned toward her, facing her fully She slath of her lashes swept up and her gaze ?"

Silent, Gray stood in place, studying Jewel&039;s face and the eager glea them sparkle like sapphires A slow lit her cheeks There was a palpable air of excite from her

She&039;d never looked ht of her hit hiut He was unable to et business out of the way first It had see at the ti at her, the only thing he could think of, the only need inside hi their trek to the city, he&039;d thought of nothing but giving this sweetly innocent woift When she&039;d told hihted her mother, he&039;d heard the wistfulness in her voice and had known she desired the same for herself He wasn&039;t a writer; he wasn&039;t an actor But he didn&039;t want to give Jewel the saiven other woood enough

He didn&039;t knohy, he only knew that it was i for her he&039;d never done for another

She wanted to explore the city, then by God they&039;d explore the city

"We&039;ve got a little tiher than he would have liked Her eyes widened "Really?"

"Just be sure to keep your face hidden and be on the lookout for demons or vampires" "We&039;re safe from them They&039;re headed in the opposite direction"

"Sometimes armies hide in the shadoeetheart, and sneak inside Nohere do you want to go first?"

Grinning, she glanced left and right, spun, glanced left and right again "There," she said, pointing to a booth of jewelry Soain "No, there" This tih with sohed "Everywhere I want to see everything at once"

The sound of her rich laughter was like a sensual battering ra him with thousand-pound force He&039;d seen wo before, but never like this Never with a potent enthusias hi her hand, loving the feel of her soft skin, her delicate bones He led her to a table of sparkling geet to all of it, I swear to God"

Her gaze lingered on the rainbow of jewels, and she gasped Her fingers lovingly traced an eold and silver linked chain The a

A male creaturestare Though he possessed the body of afrom his forehead and fur on his cheeks

Kind of freaky to see, in Gray&039;s opinion

"See so asked

It was in that moment Gray realized he understood every word The bull-e, and so had the ugly Gorgons, for that matter Gray had understood them, as well, and had listened to their conversation about the demons and vampires He had simply been too wrapped in their words to realize they weren&039;t speaking English Now

How the hell had he learned Atlantean? One day he hadn&039;t understood a dae

"Everything is so beautiful," Jewel breathed, cutting into his thoughts She raised an armband with one hand and raised the sleeve of her robe with the other, revealing several inches of s a vast array of colors A silver stone rested in the center

The sight of the rich gold band contrasting with the smooth peaches-and-crea out right in front of him He wanted Jewel to have it Real bad So easily he could picture her wearing the ar else

"That looks beautiful on you," the vendor said, the words low and gravelly

Gray wouldn&039;t have , but he, well, he didn&039;t want to acquire the iteift Jeith an honest purchase So she would look at and always think of him