I chose my next words carefully. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
She just nodded, the tough walls of her composure slowly crumbling behind her deep eyes. Part of me wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t.
“You have no idea what it’s like,” she said. “None of you do. You don’t know what it’s like to starve for days because your father was too drunk to come home and bring food. And when he finally showed up, he had spent the rest of our money on drinking. You don’t know how it feels to have to hunt and steal for food just so your little sister doesn’t starve. And you certainly don’t know what it feels like to have your coward of a father ship you to the fae because he can’t pay his own debt. So, I think the next time you have an opinion on my attitude, or anything about me for that matter, you can respectfully shove it.”
I just nodded. “Okay.”
She looked shocked, like she expected me to fight back. “Okay,” she repeated, picking up the dagger. “So teach me how to use this.”
“I thought you said you’ve used it before. On men, if I’m not mistaken,” I said, repeating her words from the first night I met her.
A wicked smile spread across her face. One that almost made me smile in response. “Stories for another time, husband. I need to know how to use this against the fae.”
I nodded. We would definitely have to come back to that. “The facts are that you won’t be stronger or faster than a fae. Probably ever. So you’ll have to use other advantages.”
“Like what?”
“You’re human. Nobody’s going to expect you to fight back. Surprise is going to be your best bet. Just keep that thing where you can grab it easily, somewhere nobody is going to see it.”
“You had a pretty easy time knowing I had this at the wedding.”
“Maybe, but nobody else should be looking at you that closely.” Jade blushed, but I didn’t back down. Something primal inside of me wouldn’t allow it.
“Your brother seemed to be looking just as closely as you,” she said, a smirk on her face and a hand on her hip. She was taunting me.
I didn’t stop the growl that rumbled in my chest. Jade’s eyes only widened. “Does that bother you?”
She held my gaze, testing me. She was brave, that much was certain. But I had already told her I wouldn’t hurt her.
Maybe she was getting too confident.
In one second, I grabbed her around her waist and hurled her against the wall, pinning her there with my arms.
“I could kill you right now,” I growled.
She lifted her chin in silent defiance. “Then why don’t you?” she whispered.
The feeling of her breath on my cheek made me shiver. I held her there for a few more seconds, pressing her body against the wall, staring into her eyes. She wasn’t going to back away. She knew I wouldn’t kill her, and she was too damn stubborn to admit she was wrong.
Saints. This girl was going to get me killed.
The sharp, copper smell of blood distracted me. “Are you bleeding?” I asked, backing away from the wall and looking her up and down.
Jade took a deep breath and looked down at her leg. Her trousers were black, but I could now see the thick coat of blood that covered them, dripping down to the floor.
How had I not noticed that before?
“It’s not that bad,” she mumbled. “I can barely even feel it.”
“That’s because you’re stubborn,” I replied. I didn’t wait for Jade to protest. I put an arm under her knees and picked her up, carrying her to the bed.
“It’s seriously fine!” she said as I knelt before her and rolled up her pant leg.
Jade hissed in pain. “You should have told me you were hurt,” I whispered.
I grabbed my shirt and ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom.
Jade went still as my fingers traced up her leg, just above her knee, where the slice of a claw began.
“You shouldn’t have been out there,” I whispered. She didn’t respond. I began tying the fabric over her wound, aware of every single time my skin brushed against hers.
Jade was silent. When I finished tying the knot, I looked up at her. And I immediately wished I hadn’t.
She was staring at me with the same longing that I was feeling. The same longing that neither of us could act on.
My hand lingered under her calf. I slid it up, just an inch, and waited for Jade’s reaction.
She inhaled sharply, as if my touch affected her just as badly as hers affected me.