Demon Moon

frustration, he bent forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Willed away the arousal. He could wait. For now, he would be content to simply observe her reaction to Castleford and Lilith, until she found the questions she sought.
    It did not take long.
    “Does Lilith hold back? She is faster and stronger than he is.” She glanced over at him, her gaze searching his as she waited for his answer. She had the most marvelous eyebrows—almost without angle, but for a sudden arc above the outside corners of her eyes. In an underpainting, he could capture it with the flick of his wrist. Brush strokes, he took more care.
    Now, they were slightly drawn together, her lips barely parted—an expression that in the last week he’d come to know meant Tell me .
    Colin shook his head. “Castleford knows her weaknesses and exploits them to his advantage.”
    “If he wanted to win immediately, would he do the same?”
    “No. He would utilize his strengths, not her weaknesses.”
    “Is Lilith utilizing her strengths or his weaknesses?”
    “Weakness against weakness, or it would be over too quickly—and it demands more skill. I’ve seen them fight when it was in earnest; never did it last more than a few seconds.” He lowered his voice so that she would have to move closer to hear him. “This is not a battle, Savitri. The pleasure here is not the victory, but what comes before.”
    “What is it?” She moistened her lips. “If not a battle?”
    “Foreplay,” he said, and awareness flared in her eyes before she blinked, hiding it. “Or a similar principle. The give-and-take, the dance toward a common goal.”
    Her teeth caught her bottom lip, as if she thought this over. “That isn’t an apt analogy; one doesn’t use a lover’s weaknesses against them.”
    “ For them, Savitri. Where is she most sensitive? What makes her shudder and gasp? What are those, if not vulnerabilities?” It took all of his control not to deepen his tone, to pretend as if the conversation were only of scientific interest. Did her breath come more quickly? “And is this not for her? To redirect her anger? So he meets his blade against hers; she is faster, but too low. She thrusts with greater strength but cants too far to the left. She is off balance, and he takes her.”
    Her gaze had not wavered from his, but now she raised her brows, humor evident in the tilt of her eyes. “We are speaking of Lilith?”
    He grinned, unrepentant. “Of course.”
    “Of course.” She tapped her finger against his knee, then rasped her nail over the slick denim. “I’ve never seen you in jeans. They look good.” Her mouth curved slightly. “But everything does on you.”
    Did she think to manipulate him, as well? He would disarm her first, and let it be an impasse. “Wait until I turn around.” She lowered her face into her cupped palm as if to catch her laughter. Her left hand was still near his leg; he brought it to his lips, pressing a quick kiss to the backs of her fingers. “Thank you. But I confess I only assume it is true. I can hardly look into a mirror and see.”
    As if his assumption was more hilarious than his certainty, she laughed the harder. Then she pulled her hand from his and leaned forward to collect the padding from the floor and bestow final pats to Sir Pup’s heads. Her shirt rode up, exposing a strip of silky skin across the small of her back, the shallow corridor of her spine. His hands clenched in his lap.
    “I’m heading for the shower; I don’t need to wait for them to finish whacking at one another. Do you still intend to go to Auntie’s with me?”
    “Yes. No chaperones.” Colin offered his most charming smile when she glanced back over her shoulder. “I’m all aquiver in anticipation of our kiss.”
    “I haven’t yet agreed to it,” she said dryly, sitting up. “Nani is there.”
    He lifted his brows. “I’m certain I shall kiss her, too.”

    I will treat you as a friend , said the cobra.
    Savi wiped the steam from the mirror—would a fogged mirror have the same effect on him?—and wondered if the little girl would have fared better with iron-lined pockets. Or would the snake have simply crawled to a better position before striking?
    And what if the little girl liked it?
    Shuddering, she closed her eyes and shook her head. Put that way, the question was too creepy to contemplate. And as much as she wanted to compare Colin to a scaly creature and herself to an innocent girl, they were