Page 31 of Kill the Queens

“They havegifts. You’re right though, not like ours. So we could be dealing with a Fae of very specific talents or they could be working with a warlock outside of the cities’ borders.”

Ace tipped herself back onto the bed. When Shelby remained upright, she fisted his shirt in her hand and yanked him. He landed with a sigh.

“I think we should go,” she whispered. “What if we anger them?”

“What if we walk into a trap?”

“What if we don’t?”

“Oh, my gods.” He scrubbed his face. “Why do we do this every time?”

“Because you’re so stubborn.” Ace rolled her eyes.

“Because you don’t listen.” He gave her a gentle shove that made the bed rock. “And you’re the stubborn one.”

“But I’m cute right?” She wiggled her brows.

Shelby looked at her, letting a beat of silence come and pass. He gave a rare smile, a brilliant flash of his perfect white teeth.

“Does that smile mean yes?” Ace continued.

Shelby laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yes, actually.” She turned to look toward the ceiling, trying to keep from staring at his lips. “Cute enough to almost kiss.”

He stopped laughing. “That was the heat of the moment.”

Amid their scary invitation and the fact that Fae may or may not be watching their every move Ace was still holding out hope that Shelby would find a reason to kiss her. What he’d just said was quite the opposite of that. That wasn’t fun, sweet, romantic, or enjoyable at all like a kiss would be. No, that felt like a punch to the gut that made you cough up whatever air you had before it left you nauseous.

“Yeah?” Ace laid there straight as a board.

Shelby’s attention lifted from her face to the ceiling where she stared so intently. “Like I said, sometimes I feel your emotions. That one was just a little too strong.”

Ugh and that felt like a kick right to the head!

Ace sat up, eager to change the subject. “Well, seeing as we are both stubborn why don’t we rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to make this decision on if we should go or not?”

“You want to play a game to decide.” A statement, not a question. He sat himself up next to her.

“Are you going to change your mind about not wanting to go?”

“No.”

She gave him a dry smile. “Well, I’m not changing mineeither. And if the two of us can’t come to a compromise, then a game it is.”

“A game it is.” Though he looked less than thrilled he held out his palm and placed his opposite fist in it.

Three taps of Ace's fist to her palm and she was looking down at her winning move. "YES!" She shouted, far too loudly for a girl who had just been invited to a meeting with the Fae.

Shelby's lip was already curling at the thought. "Best two out of three?"

"Not a chance!"

"You should not be so happy about this," He pointed out. Wood groaned under his feet as he stood and made his way to the other side of the bed. It was small enough he could have just as easily rolled to it.

"I'm nothappyabout it."

"That smile begs to differ."