Shadow Kin by M.J. Scott Page A

would need to be very, very lucky to harm a Blood or Beast Kind with a knife made of anything else.” Not with just a human’s strength anyway.
    “My brother always said I was lucky.”
    “Did he mention stupid too?” I asked, watching the blade. I wanted it. But I did not want to have to take it from him. Hurt as I was, I wasn’t at all sure I could.
    He grinned, the smile lighting his face the way it always did. “Frequently.”
    I looked away. No letting myself be caught by the light and warmth in his face. “He must be a good judge of character.”
    “He likes to think so.” He tilted the dagger in his hand, turning it to catch the light. “Not silver. Iron perhaps? Does he set you to hunt the Fae?”
    “Most of the Fae have good sense enough not to anger Lucius.”
    “Most? Do you hunt your own kind, then?” The dagger glinted in the lamplight as he twisted it.
    I watched the dagger. In truth it was neither silver nor iron despite its color. No, it was a Fae-wrought thing, gold and other metals shaped by their magics, stronger than any human alloy. Lucius had given it to me. Another way of taunting the Fae. “The Fae would say I am none of theirs.”
    “So you do hunt them?”
    I met that clear blue gaze. “Why do you care?”
    “I don’t know,” he said, truth ringing in the words.
    “If I don’t need a silver knife to hunt Blood or Beast Kind, what makes you think I would need iron for the Fae?”
    I wanted to unsettle him, shake off some of that confidence. Maybe then he wouldn’t pull at me so.
    “From all I hear, the Fae are hard to kill.”
    I smiled, baring my teeth. “For a human perhaps.” Let him think what he would of that. In truth, Lucius had never set me on one of the Veiled World. The few of them weak enough to need to fear him were not stupid enough to cross him. And in truth the relations between the Fae and the Blood were tied and cross-tied with history and a healthy respect for the power of the Veiled World.
    Simon stayed silent. He didn’t make any move to pass me the dagger. Perhaps I should take it from him after all. I could hear his heartbeat, not entirely at a normal pace for all his air of ease and bravado.
    “A waltz,” he said finally.
    “Pardon?”
    He cocked his head toward the door. “They’re playing a waltz.”
    The aural shields kept our conversation private but the sounds of the Assembly were still audible. “Yes. Lucius prefers waltzes.”
    One corner of his mouth turned up. “Strange. So do I.”
    I didn’t want to think about him dancing. Moving with someone, free and clear beneath a sunny sky. “Perhaps you should ask him to partner you. Since you seem intent on destruction.”
    “I’ve survived thus far.”
    “Then you shouldn’t continue to tempt fate. Something tells me the Lady won’t keep rolling in your favor.”
    His knuckles whitened against the dagger’s haft. “Has he asked you to try again?”
    “Why would I tell you if he had?” I tried to sound menacing. I wanted him to go . The longer we stood here, the more I struggled with the pain and the need. I wanted to either sink to the floor or fall into his arms. And would rather die before I let myself do either.
    “Would you do it? Kill me?”
    No, was the immediate protest that sprang to mind. But it would be completely foolish to let him see that. “I generally do as Lucius wishes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I am his.”
    His face darkened and I had to set my teeth against the urge to try to bring back the smile instead.
    “People don’t belong to anyone.” Certainty and something close to anger deepened his voice.
    “I’m not a person—”
    “Not a human,” he corrected.
    And why, by the lords of hell, had I been unlucky enough to cross paths with one of the few humans who could make that distinction? “No,” I agreed. “Regardless. I don’t live in your world. Trust me, in the Night World the rules are different.”
    “Then you should leave it.”
    My mouth