Grave Dance by Kalayna Price Page A

shoulders blocking out everything else. Once he wouldn’t have been able to move so close without my noticing—his very presence would have chil ed the air between us. Now our temperatures were about the same. I was pretty sure he hadn’t become warmer.
    “It wil take a couple of minutes to brew,” I said, because I had to say something.
    “Mmm-hmm.” He smiled and took a step closer.
    I didn’t mean to back up, but the counter was suddenly pressing against my ass, so clearly I had. Death’s hands moved to my hips. I tried to draw a breath, but couldn’t seem to catch it.
    “That attack yesterday . . .” he whispered, crowding my space. “Who did you irritate recently?”
    “Irritate? I—no one. Wel , a fae in the floodplain when I revealed some dismembered feet, but—” Death slid close enough that his thighs brushed the front of mine, and I lost track of what I was saying. I mental y groped for an intel igent strain of thought. “Was that a soul you col ected from that beast?”
    “That’s what I do.” His breath tickled over my skin as he spoke.
    “How did a magic construct gain a soul?” I asked, trying to focus on something other than how near his lips were to mine.
    His smile stretched wider. “Magic,” he said, leaning closer. A loud knocking banged through my loft.
    My head snapped up, my gaze jumping to the front door.
    But the knocking wasn’t from someone outside. It was coming from the inner door that led down to the main coming from the inner door that led down to the main portion of the house. Saved by a housemate.
    “Come in,” I cal ed, shocked by how breathless my voice sounded.
    The door opened, and Caleb bustled in. “Hey, Al, I wanted you—” He stopped. “Is this a bad time?”
    “No, I, uh—” I swal owed, wondering what this must look like to Caleb. He couldn’t see Death, so from his point of view, I looked like I was alone in my apartment, backed against my counter for no particular reason. I glanced at Death, and he stepped away, giving me space.
    “Later,” he whispered, smoothing a curl behind my ear.
    Then he vanished.
    Later . . . I shook my head and tried to wipe away the goofy smile I felt spreading across my face.
    “How is Hol y?” I asked, pushing away from the counter.
    PC, who’d jumped off the bed as soon as the door opened, pawed at Caleb’s leg. My housemate smiled at the smal dog and knelt to give the top of his head a good rub.
    “Sleeping,” he said as PC lathered his hand in dog kisses.
    “She left very early this morning and returned a little after dawn. Did she mention anything last night about having to go somewhere?”
    I shook my head. She shouldn’t have been leaving in the middle of the night.
    I was halfway across the room when my throat tightened and a hiccup hit me like a punch in the chest. My voice broke with an undignified croak at the force of the hiccup.
    “I—” Another hiccup hit me, cutting off my words.
    “You okay, Al?” Caleb asked, his brows drawing together.
    “Yeah, I’l ”— hiccup —“get ”— hiccup —“water.”
    I grabbed a glass, nearly dropping it as another hiccup shook me. Caleb took the glass from me, and two more hiccups, each worse than the last, hit back to back. A hiccups, each worse than the last, hit back to back. A burning ache spread across my chest. I covered my mouth with my fingers, as if I could stop the sound and thus the pain.
    Caleb held the glass—now fil ed halfway with tap water—
    out to me. When I reached for it, the charms on my bracelet clinked and twinkled.
    The charm.
    Caleb looked like a sandy-haired col ege quarterback, but he was fae, his boy-next-door facade a glamour. And I created a charm to warn me of glamour.
    I snatched off the charm bracelet. As soon as it lost contact with my skin, the hiccups stopped and my chest stil ed.
    I frowned at the bracelet and the little wooden charm I’d created. Some warning.
    I hadn’t considered instal ing an off switch