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She made him wait

Back in her conveyance, she refilled Brutus’s tank with clockwork oil, added to her caravan notes and stored theeonhole, and, much to her own annoyance, pri but not as if she were trying too hard She’d put on her fancier corset that s she’d picked up in Paris Even if it ishful thinking, she’d found over the years that wearing fancy underpinnings gave her the confidence she needed to face up to anything fro warriors in buffalo chariots

With an odd little twinge of surprise, she realized that she had abandoned couilty Even without hearing his side of it, even knowing him only a few short days, she felt, bone deep, that he had not committed the crime for which he’d been accused With renewed deteron and the answers she kept forgetting she needed

She knocked on the door of his trailer first, but he didn’t answer, and she wasn’t willing to break in again, especially during daylight Slipping past the clockwork bird was no proble pleasantries around the circled wagons, caught betanting to win over the carnivalleros and wanting to get close enough to Marco to feel the ripple of acknowledgment her body seemed to experience every ti the knives with his usual offhand brand of lazy concentration Waiting a respectful distance away, she admired his perfectly coordinated movements and the snap of his forearet He didn’t acknowledge her until he’d thrown his last knife

"Found so better to keep your hands occupied?" His playful smirk was back, so full of promise that she cocked her hips and licked her lips on instinct

"As s unfinished, airl, but I prefer to play to checkmate and have at least a few pieces toin metaphors That’s cute"

"As a button"

He’d collected all of his knives fro all but one into their slots on his vest Walking toward her slowly, he twirled the last one in the air She wore an expression of bored expectation, but inside, her heart was racing, her toes curling in her boots

"You ready to try this again?"

She glanced around, one eyebrow raised "I’d prefer somewhere ot a one-track et

She grinned to keep fro the ante Twelve knives, one question You in?"

Jacinda took a deep breath, studying the painted shape on the target

"Let ht You want et and hold still while you throw not one knife but an entire dozen? And in return, I get to ask one ht not answer to ently and led her to the target When he placed her palnition at the last tiood at what you do Trust that I’le cut in that wood that I didn’t erous as you think it is But I need a live assistant, and you need incentive"

"Incentive?"

"If you want the truth, you have to work for it You’re a woman who needs an occupation And I think you like the excitement"

With a raised eyebrow, she took her hand off the wood and faced hientle pressure he had used on her, she softly said, "You want to tellyou back"

He looked down at her hand, considering "Tell yourself whatever you need to hear But you’ve got two choices: play by o interview the lizard boy about his acid spit You’re the one ants so a single finger into his belt "You don’t want anything?"

He pulled her hand away "Step up or keep walking, woman"

She detected bitterness, but she also understood that this was a dangerous dance He wasn’t just toying with her; any misstep on her part could cause hi through hoops for a aret it if she didn’t find out the truth about Marco Taresque So she stepped up, right onto the platforainst her back a faed, silent as he gently tightened the leathers around her ankles, her waist, and, this time, both wrists When he knelt to pin down her skirts, she waited, breathless, to feel his hands brush her legs Because the game was so very tenuous, her senses were on alert, desperate for his attention It wasWhen the pad of his thumb caressed her calf, the heat in her cheeks told her that he was right: she needed the thrill of this man and his knives

For the flash of a few heartbeats, he disappeared behind the target, and then she was spinning sloondering whether the drop in her belly was fro at her as if she was the only thing on earth

"Six knives"

He stopped twirling one and cocked his head "What?"

"Twelve is insane I want a question for six knives"

"You can’t change the terreed to" He walked up closer, close enough for her to count the holes in the buttons on his pants when she was upside down "For the love of all that’s holy, woet I could co about it"

"But you won’t"

"Just because I’entleoing to be"

"Eight knives"

He chuckled and turned aalking back to his bare patch of ground She was so riveted with the progression that she very nearly forgot that deadly steel would soon be flying at her body with only the er armor of her corset, and that only protected her vitals and her heart Her head, ars were utterly vulnerable And she didn’t kno h she swore to herself that it would be fewer than twelve, because she was betting he was an honorable man with a soft spot, somewhere under the dark clothes and darker eyes

With a smirk that echoed down all of her own soft spots, he said, "This ti, Yes, sir

The first knife surprised her, sla into the wood by her hip They ca close enough to really frighten her She sensed he was going easy on her, that he could have outlined her every curve with steel had he so chosen, the blades pressing against her with the tenderness of fingertips But they were all crowded in the vast plains of red and white rings between her arms and her body She lost count, but as he walked toward her, she noticed three knives still in his hands