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My body jerked toward his, as if Baudelaire’s words in Vale’s dusky voice were a coe I didn’t know I knew Tiny steps in satin slippers carriedacross the ballrooown brushed his knees like a satin jellyfish

"That’sainst my corseted waist and the polished wood at my back His black tuxedo pants dented ns briefly reame and twitched under a lion’s heavy paws

"But aren’t we fighting?"

"If you wish, bébé Use your claws to punish et him He’s been detained" He looked up, winked at me "I aands?"

"Prince of the Brigands of Ruin Prince of the wild er than his"

I raised one eyebrow, suppressed a s is it?"

He chuckled "Enormous, bébé I’ll show you one day My palace is as big as the sky"

"Then why don’t you claim it?"

He shook his head when I broke an unspoken rule of our flirting But he recovered quickly, a golden fire dancing in his eyes "Maybe you’re right, bébé Maybe I should start clais I see as mine"

He jerked the cane forward and dropped it, and I fell into his open arms as it clattered to the floor His hands were clever as he spunacross his lap in the black-and-white cloud of my dress, his arm around my back My mouth was still open in surprise, and before I could close it, he was kissing me, his other hand firm on my chin to hold me, just so

Oh, God, that kiss I’d had plenty of blood since yesterday’s absinthe, but I felt suddenly as drunk and dizzy and reeling as if I had just co and spinning He had kissed h as the brick in the hallway, soft as the swing of a trapeze in the breeze But this kiss matched the cozy, heart-red velvet lair that held us, a little world outside of real life

If Lenoir’s absinthe was glitter and fairies and sunbeams, Vale’s kiss was the opposite: endless star-strewn skies and the inti your face away from eternity to steal a moment, dark and secret His mouth tasted of spices, of cinnamon and chai and mint, of uncut cocoa and bourbon vanilla and not-quite-blood-but-close-enough I was careful of my teeth despite the furious passion he called forth, desperate to keep the kiss, catch thea sure arc through the night

He kissed me slowly, and I understood that he knew it, too, knew that it was precious as only stolen things could be The prince had bought my time and, so far as he knew, my body, but Vale knew his business and would take what others didn’t watch closely enough He turned his head, his tongue dipping deep to tasteburn of cherry-hot iron But he didn’t taste of metal and blood to me; he only tasted of himself And I wanted more

The hand around h the airy layers of tulle and satin He groaned but couldn’t reach ers were tangled in his cravat, pulling it untied of their own volition as I gasped into his ritty, and I ht in the knotted silk

"If your hands need work, h ti my jaw, he kissed the corner ofover ht--"

"Dangerous thing, thinking Just feel"

He tipped ainst the bench to expose love with his teeth and ran rough fingertips down my neck and over my collarbones, down to where the heart-shaped neckline of my corset forced my breasts up deliciously on a clever little shelf

"Close your eyes, bébé"

"Isn’t it my turn to participate?"

"Not yet You perforet your chance to star, I promise"