The Darkest Kiss. Gena Showalter

to do next, all the while sucking on her favorite strawberry lollipop. “You owe me a favor, Flowers, and I’m calling it in. You are not to kill me.”

      There was a torturous pause. Then, “You know I must.” He stiffened, as if fortifying himself. “Ask me to make it painless. That I can do. Ask me to kiss you before I take your soul. That, too, I can do.”

      “Sorry, babydoll. I think I’ll stick with not killing me. And as a reminder, I told you a few weeks ago that I’d kill you if you tried to renege on your favor.”

      Another pause, this one heavier, longer. He tangled a hand through his hair, his expression one of agony. “Why does Cronus want you dead?”

      “You already answered that. I’m too wild.” She sat back on the swing, slid one hand slowly, covertly, down her leg and dug into her boot, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of one of her daggers. She might be crazy-aroused by this man despite his mission, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.

      “I do not believe that is the only reason,” Lucien said.

      “Maybe he tried to score and I laughed at him.” A lie. She refused to admit the truth, however, so the lie would have to do.

      Some emotion finally took center stage on Lucien’s features; what, she didn’t know. All she knew was that it was hard and uncompromising. “Maybe he was your lover and you spurned him. Maybe you chose another over him. Maybe you purposefully aroused him and left him, making him feel like a fool.”

      Her eyes narrowed once more, focusing on him with razor-sharp intensity. She popped to her feet, hiding the blade behind her back. “That’s a very rude thing to say. As if I would lower myself to playing a man I had no interest in.”

      Lucien uttered something that sounded very much like, “You played me.”

      Her brows furrowed as her anger spiked. “Believe what you want to believe, but you have no reason to feel hurt.”

      “You are Anarchy. I doubt you concern yourself with other people’s feelings.”

      “You don’t know anything about me,” she snapped.

      “I know you dance like you’re having sex, and I know that you taste like every man’s downfall.”

      Damn him. The words alone would have aroused her. Paired with his husky, wine-rich voice, and she lost her anger, suddenly ready to tumble straight into his arms. Rather than admit that, she said, “I stand corrected. You aren’t rude. You’re diabolical.” What did it say about her that she now found him all the more appealing?

      “Nevertheless, it is true.” His head tilted to the side as he studied her. Though he’d donned that emotionless mask again, there was a white-hot, dangerous aura to him. “Are you always so free with your affections?”

      There had been no condemnation in his tone, but the comment still bothered her. She could recall several gods asking her mother the same question, just as she could recall the flicker of hurt in her mother’s eyes each and every time a lover suggested she was not good enough for him. Lucien would pay for that.

      Anya ran her tongue over the lollipop’s round tip, lingering over the fruity flavor in a pretend show of indifference. Meanwhile, her hidden fingers tightened around the dagger’s hilt, her nails reaching skin and cutting deep.

      “So what if I am?” she finally said. “Most men are easy with their affections and they’re praised, thought of as sexual gods.”

      He ignored her comment. The Lords were good at that, obviously. “Before I—” He pressed his lips together, shook his head. He must have changed his mind about what to say to her because he didn’t finish the sentence. “Explain something to me.” As if realizing he would get no answers from her otherwise, he added, “Please.”

      She batted her lashes at him flirtatiously. “Anything for you, dumpling.”

      “Tell me the truth. Why did you kiss me? You could have had Paris, Reyes, Gideon or any of the others. They would not have objected. They would have wanted you in return.”

      First, grrr! They would have wanted you in return, she inwardly mocked. Unlike him, who would never want her. She wasn’t dog food, damn it. Second, why couldn’t he accept that she’d simply desired him and no other?

      Maybe it was for the best that he thought her passion faked, she decided. Saved her pride, at least, since she meant nothing to him and he hadn’t wanted her. Jackass.

      “Maybe I knew Cronie Wonie was going to tell you to kill me, and I hoped to butter you up like a breakfast muffin so you wouldn’t be tempted to obey.” There. How’d he like that?

      Understanding lit his rough, savage features. “Something makes sense at last,” he said with only the barest trace of disappointment.

      Or was the disappointment wishful thinking on her part? The man had come to kill her, after all. Softer emotions he couldn’t possibly feel.

      Submit to me.

      Ah, shit. She’d looked at his face and was once again snared. His blue eye still swirled, and the brown one was so rich and deep she could have willingly drowned in it. Her stomach quivered.

      No, no, no! She bared her teeth at him and jerked her gaze away. Hurt him to slow him down, then get out of here. Now, that was a thought she didn’t mind acting on. He was an immortal; he’d heal. But damn it all to the fires of hell, she wasn’t ready to leave him. She hadn’t talked to anyone in weeks. She’d been too busy following him, watching him. Lusting after him.

      Doesn’t matter what you want. Strike at him before he strikes at you.

      “One last chance to pay up the favor you owe me by protecting me from Cronus,” she told him.

      “I’m sorry.”

      “All right, then. Now that we’ve cleared the air,” she said, using her sultriest tone, “let’s get this party started.” She licked the lollipop and shifted her weight to the left, causing her skirt to ride up on the right and drawing his gaze to her bared skin as she’d hoped.

      There was the faintest flicker of desire in his eyes, desire he couldn’t hide. Too late. She tossed the dagger.

      Silver metal flew end over end and embedded in his heart before he even guessed her intentions. His body spasmed and his eyes went wide as saucers.

      “You stabbed me,” he said, incredulous. Grimacing, he jerked out the now-bloody dagger and rubbed a hand over the wound, then looked down at his drenched, crimson-stained fingers. Anger overrode the incredulity.

      “Feel free to keep the dagger as a souvenir.” She blew him a kiss and flashed to an icy boulder in Antarctica, knowing he’d follow her and wanting him to suffer for it. Frigid wind instantly slammed into her, cutting through the flimsy clothing she wore. Past skin, past muscle and straight into bone. Her teeth chattered.

      Penguins waddled by, scampering to get away from her. Water swirled and churned all around her. Mile after mile of black night greeted her eyes, the only light provided by golden moon rays reflecting off the glaciers.

      If she’d been mortal, she would have frozen to death in seconds. Goddess that she was, Anya simply felt miserable. “Worth it, though,” she said, breath forming a thick mist in front of her face. If she was miserable, how much worse would it be for the injured Lucien when he—Materialized right in front of her, so clear to her the sun could have been shining.

      He was scowling, his perfect white teeth bared. He’d removed his shirt, and she saw that rope after rope of muscle lined his stomach. He had no chest hair, not even the happy trail that most men possessed. His skin was the shade of pearlized honey, smooth on one side, like velvet over steel, and jagged and scarred on the other. Both sides were so lickable her mouth watered.

      His nipples were tiny, brown and hardened like arrowheads.