The Inquisitor's Pet: A Cage of Silver and Sins

the soft, rhythmic friction

, and the heavy duvet carried that intoxicating, grounding scent of frost and cedarwood-his scent. I nuzzled i

in

striking the mahogany bedpost ech

ley, the magical overload, Linus Kerr, and this gods-for

, exposing a pale, rounded curve of skin. I didn't think to cove

ns like a grey blade, bisecting the dim bedroom. At the threshold

s dre

away. It wasn't merely the perfection of his physique-though his back was a mas

s the

y welts. Some had faded into thin silver lines; others remained a brutal, raised pink. They

e were not the result of a single battle. The spacing, the angles, the varying depth

y every living soul in Pyre City, was himself a

gaze on his ski

on with a slow, deliberate grace, hiding the history of his pain from view. Then came the meti

was arming himself. He was burying the man beneath the layers, f

ou seen

with an icy stare. The lethargy of the night had vanished, replaced b

eeks flushing hot. "Those scars..." The

is tone as flat as if he were discussing t

y the Cold-Iron, the crimson flush of my fever had faded, leaving my skin pale. Framed

tossed a black velvet box on

conservative cut-high collar, long sleeves-but the waist was cinched with a brutal precisi

es?" I frowned, loo

don't keep beggars in my house. Since you are no

is fingers tapping rhyth

wnstairs. Unless you'd like m

later, in th

seemed miles long, Linus sat reading the Morning Gazette. I had been placed at h

acon, soft-boiled eggs, perfectly browned to

erated my energy reserves. But then I looked

en looped and locked around the b

e like a dog at

p a piece of dry toast, nibbling at it with a vacant sta

Linus asked, not look

s removed for meals," I pointed out coldly.

ing over the high collar of the emerald dress that hid his mark. "And if I were you, Miss

umbling in my fingers

mor

ss the polished wood. I picked it up. The wax seal featured a burni

unning. If, by sunset today, she cannot provide new leads from the petrified corpse, I s

as elegant, yet i

ered the paper. "It seems yo

g. The yolk ran out like a pool of golden blood. "He suspects

ng into a sardonic smirk. "A ridiculous a

e table. "So, I'm not just your

than

wiped his mouth with a silk napkin. He rose and walke

, coiling the cold iron links into his pa

ting against the hard plane of his stomach. I looked

'Trophy'," Linus whispered into my ear, his

ay the part. You will prove to everyone that the contents

f you

ton at my throat, sending a fresh

you to ash. And I might just

ing my feverish skin. "Do we unde

d the copper tang of blood

d through gritted teeth

ing the weight of it on my tongue. He gave the chai

o visit your patient-t