Page 44 of Our Covenant

ELSBETH

There’s a quick knock on the door, and I don’t have to wait to find out that it’s Fox with another tray of food. The strawberries are the deepest red and smell like they’re fresh from a farm stand. My stomach reminds me that I was too anxious to eat the food brought up last night. The foil-wrapped gift tempts me the most, but I don’t trust them to not poison this after luring me into false confidence with last night’s dinner. It’s what I would do.

“I’m not eating that,” I declare, more to my own hunger than Fox.

“Good morning to you too, venom,” he replies.

I blink at him, unable to decipher by the amused look on his face if he’s teasing me or if the nickname reflects some underlying truth. He sees me as a threat, but one he can endure. Where Thorne is angry and Maddox is terrified, Fox seems to be fascinated. It could be the time I’ve spent in his dreams or that I’m a puzzle he can’t quite figure out. Either way, I want to melt his wings and watch him realize the gravity of his curiosity.

“Since you won’t tell us your real name, I had to come up with something that’s more fitting for you.” He tilts his head at me.

“You’re a terrible hacker if you’re still looking for something as simple as my name.” I lean into the back of the silk, cushioned armchair.

“Venom suits you.” He looks at me for a long moment, his head tilting to one side as he slips his hands into his pockets. The plush fabric across his crotch tightens, giving me an almost perfect outline of his dick. I flick my eyes back to his and curse myself when it’s obvious that he caught me admiring it. I may want to kill him, but even I’m a supporter of gray-sweatpants propaganda.

His gaze intensifies when I let myself blush for him. “Maybe we’ve been going at this all wrong,” he says, his internal triumph making him swagger.

I roll my eyes and cross my arms. “You mean trying to feed me and keep me locked in your house isn’t working? Shocker.”

“You like games, don’t you?” He strides over to me, plants his hands on the arms of my chair, and levels his face to mine. “So, let’s play hide and seek.”

He’s so close. Again. But unlike our first meeting at the gym, neither of us is covered in sweat or the grime of a workout. My head swims. Atmosphere and rain on warm asphalt envelopes me. If I dared to let my eyelids shut, I would see the head of a mountain trail in the early morning. The one I used to run away to when my mother became too much to bear. An empty parking lot at 5 AM in the last weeks of summer. Soft dew hanging low in the air as my lungs struggled to fill as I reached the summit to look over a sleepy city below.

I shake the image out of my head and fight the pit in my gut from growing. “What’s in it for me?”

My stomach does a traitorous flip when his perfectly pearly white smile widens into a playful grin. “What do you want?”

To see you and this house burn, is what I want to say, but instead, “To go home . . . or to the cops for a restraining order.”

“Come on, venom. A real prize.” His gaze falls to my lips. “I already know what I’ll win when I find you.”

“You won’t find me.”

“I have the advantage. I’ve lived in his house for the last five years. I know every square inch you see and many more you don’t.”

He’s right. I only know the layout of the manor by what was given to city hall years ago. I know that there was a fire and new blueprints were submitted after the restoration, but that means nothing. Alric warned me that there were pockets of the house that even he’s never been inside.

“Then why would I play a game I likely won’t win?”

“Because I’m giving you the opportunity to skip over whatever plan you have and get exactly what you came for. You don’t even have to tell me what it is yet.”

“What do you get if you find me?” I shift under his gaze, trying my best to ignore the tightening in my core at the thought of making a run for it, only to look back and see him chasing me.

He wets his lips and answers, “You have to eat lunch with me.”

I know I won’t win, but I could get a better sense of the property and find something that I know will help me take them all down. The relic that I won’t allow my mother or Alric to get their hands on. A spell book that was stolen from my ancestors when they were exiled. I can’t be sure they still have it or if it wasn’t destroyed all those years ago, but if it’s intact, it would be in the legacy library. I just need time to look for it.

Fox’s smug face brightens when I don’t reject him. “Do we have a deal?”

“What about the others? Four against one isn’t fair.”

“You’re stuck with Asher and me for a few hours. Thorne and Mads have business to attend to. It’ll just be us. Asher has his head in his books. Something about a topic assignment that was due yesterday?”

My ears perk up at that. It’s the same assignment I sent after our Wednesday class. I’m surprised he’s behind considering how hard our professor has been riding us all semester to work two assignments ahead of schedule. If Asher is doing schoolwork, he’ll be too distracted to worry about my treasure hunt.

“How long are you willing to look before you give up?”

He considers his own timeline for a moment then offers, “If I don’t find you in the next three hours, I’ll personally give you whatever it is you came here for.”