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Aside from his size and his violet skin, what first struck her about him was his hair. It was a long mane of dark hair, almost the same color as hers, and the way it fell across his forehead and over his horns was somehow incredibly attractive to Cora.
It was only enhanced by his violet-colored eyes that, even in the dim light of the cell, seemed to shine. On top of that, she felt an irresistible pull that she couldn’t quite place, but it intrigued her.
She got the feeling he was looking at her the same way. As their eyes met, Cora felt her cheeks begin to warm. She wondered if he could see her blushing and decided even if he could, she didn’t mind. Given the attraction, she realized she might even want him to notice. They were two prisoners locked in a cell together. What did she have to lose by being transparent with him?
“Hi,” he said once the guards were finally out of earshot. “I’m Levi.”
He kept his voice low, and Cora felt something in her body react to the low growl that came out.
“I’m Cora,” she replied, scooting closer without taking her eyes off him.
Again, she felt a physical reaction to the sudden closeness, as if her body and his were two magnets, sparked into life by virtue of the other’s proximity.
“So, Cora,” Levi repeated, a mischievous smile crossing his face. The way he said her name did something indescribable to her. “What are you in for?”
Cora felt herself smile back, and despite everything—despite being kidnapped, the cold walls of the cell, the vibrating ship, and the untouchable cot—she suddenly felt a spark of warmth in her.
Chapter 2
“You first,” Cora whispered with a smile, her large, dark brown eyes peering up at him through the dim light of the cell.
Levi couldn’t help but grin. She wasn’t being cagey. That much was clear. Her body language—arms open, leaning forward, sitting close to him, eyes wide and curious, mouth curled into a mischievous smile to match his own—told him she was more than open to connecting with him. The feeling was definitely mutual. He’d felt the attraction as soon as he entered the cell.
Which meant her counter to his question wasn’t a deflection. It was more like the mischievous whisper of a child at a sleepover, after the lights went out and all the secrets that were too fragile to see the light of day came spilling out under the cover of darkness where they might be safe.
Or else it was the challenge given by teenage lovers playing the adolescent Lorr game Secret or Courage, each hoping desperately that the other would have the audacity to bring the game into the realm of the forbidden by daring their partner to kiss them, or more.
To Levi, Cora’s “you first” had the quality of goading him on toward sharing some hidden truth about himself—more than just answering why he was in that cell, but something deeper, more personal.
Or maybe he was just reading too far into things. Still, it was clear something lay just below the surface of her challenge that he found himself drawn to.
Was it flirtation? he wondered silently. He found himself hoping it was.
Levi wanted to answer her, but he let his eyes linger on her a second before he did, soaking her in as if he wanted to know who was asking for his offering before he gave it.
She was beautiful, no question about that. Her pale skin contrasted with those dark eyes. Although she was human, her features gave her the look of some ethereal being. A goddess perhaps, but a goddess of a sea where the sunlight shone only dimly, leaving her skin perfectly porcelain. The image was only strengthened by her long tresses of curly dark hair that spilled over her petite shoulders. Levi imagined Cora swimming serenely, her hair washed to and fro by the currents of Lorr’s indigo seas.
He found himself overcome with the sudden urge to run his fingers through her strands and bring his lips to the soft white skin behind her ear. There her hair looked darker and her neck would, he imagined, be the most sensitive. In just a few minutes with her, he had managed to memorize her visage and physical form more than individuals he had known his entire life.
But thoughts like that would get him off track way too quickly, he realized with a start. He hoped Cora hadn’t noticed his sudden slip into reverie and his just-as-sudden return. She may have wanted his secrets, but his sudden desire for her was one he wasn’t willing to share with her. Not yet, at least.
To cover any hint of the thoughts he had just harbored, he began talking.
“I’m a private investigator. And I’m also the son of the king of Lorr,” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no guards were listening in. “Only they don’t know that part.”
He saw Cora’s eyes widen, and she scooted even closer to him, as though to make sure his words stayed only between them. He liked her for it. He liked the way they already felt like co-conspirators, liked the way she sat close to him, leaning in to better hear his words. He liked that he could just feel the hint of her breath on his cheek.
“My father was protecting a precious artifact. The Desolation Stone,” Levi continued, trying his best to keep his words steady and his mind focused. “The Jorvlens stole it from us, and I need to get it back. In the wrong hands, it’s incredibly dangerous, and theirs are definitely the wrong hands.”
Cora nodded, following along. The determined look on her face told him she knew all too well what the Jorvlens were capable of, perhaps even beyond detaining her in the holding cell. He reminded himself to ask her about it later.
“So I was snooping around, trying to figure out where it might be. You felt the ship land a little while ago, I guess?” he asked.
Cora nodded.
“That was at a space station. I followed this ship there and jumped on board, hoping to find some intel on where the stone might be. But instead, I just found a crate full of Motley.”
He thought back to the work of his brothers, all investigators themselves, to uncover the drug-production scheme the Jorvlen had been operating. If they hadn’t already done the legwork, his discovery of the crate of Motley in the hands of the Jorvlens would have been a game changer in blowing the illegal activity wide open. But as the youngest of so many brothers, he was, of course, always late to the game.
