A Forbidden Alchemy (The Artisan Trilogy)

by Stacey McEwan

He shook himself from his reverie. “Well,” he said. “That fuckin’ showed me, didn’t it?” Patrick Colson liked to say fuck a lot.

I like patty. lol. He’s a grumpy sort of guy.

All of it reminded Patrick of that courtyard girl—the one whose hand he’d held in Belavere City. The one whose cheek he’d kissed. The one he’d thought of every day since.

Stop it I love me some patty

said, dropping my hand. “So you do understand.” He turned and nodded to the door that would lead to the stairwell. “If you don’t want me defendin’ your honor, you can head on up to that bed you mentioned us sharing.” My collar felt suddenly too tight. “I suspect my honor has never entered your mind.” “Oh, it has,” he said darkly. He leaned so close that his mouth hovered over my ear. “Say the word, darlin’, and I’ll carry you up those stairs.”

Oop. 🫣

“You’re too beautiful to be real,” he said suddenly, softly. With my ear pressed to his chest, I could feel the words, too. “There’s your compliment.” His fingers traced a very careful line then, slowly up my spine and back down, and in their wake, they left a trail of fire.

Eeeeek

Babies got their eyes from their mother and their bloodlust from their father. Their mum’s bitterness, their grandfather’s right hook. All of us born with hereditary rot in our bellies.

Yeesh

“I’ll wake up tomorrow, and you’ll have been somethin’ I imagined, I’m sure of it.” And then his lips pressed to mine. Briefly, softly, and so heart-wrenchingly gentle.

*swoon*

He could hear her swallow. “Do you trust me?” “There’s no one I trust more,” he said.

Oh no this reveal is goingto break me