At that, Marius gave a low chuckle and withdrew a fistful of dragmars from his belt. He tossed them at Adradys’s feet. “For the door.”
Side by side, they exited the house, turned themselves invisible, and took to the skies. She soared after Marius, a deep heaviness forming in her chest. Adradys was powerful. He was wealthy. Only a fool would underestimate his ability to make her life miserable. He was a devil, and they’d just invited all his demons to come out and play.
Chapter Seventeen
Marius followed Harlow’s scent to the top of Passage Hill at the far side of Hobble Glen. The suns had set, and Ouros’s two moons drenched the forest around them in silver light. She landed among the trees and dropped her invisibility.
“What an asshole,” he said, his feet touching down beside her.
She whirled and faced him. The smile she’d given him in Adradys’s place had been replaced by a reproachful expression he didn’t fully understand. She marched toward him and shoved him in the chest, hard. “What gives you the right to follow me without my permission?”
He folded his arms. “I didn’t think I needed permission to make sure you got home safely.”
She scoffed. “Well, you do. Where I was going tonight was none of your business. I told you I had something to take care of.”
“You did.”
“I told you I couldn’t walk home with you tonight.”
“You did.”
“Ugh, Marius, do you not understand that you following me was an invasion of my privacy?”
He rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes. “My intention was only to follow you to the guardhouse. Then I couldn’t help myself.”
“It was none of your business where I was going.”
“No. But after we’d spoken last, I knew you were in dire financial straits. I was afraid you’d do something… desperate.”
She spread her hands in the universal sign for are you kidding me and gaped at him. “And how is that your concern?”
He grunted. The dragon in him wanted to growl that he wouldn’t apologize for protecting her, but he’d spent enough time with her to know she’d roll her eyes and head for home the moment it was out of his mouth. Instead, he reined in his baser instincts and gritted out, “You’re right. Despite my good intentions, it was an invasion of your privacy… I apologize.”
Her eyes wrinkled at the corners. “That was difficult for you, wasn’t it?”
“The fucking worst.”
A laugh escaped her, and her expression softened. “Apology accepted.” She looked out over the city, her hands resting easily on her bodice. “It was sweet, although misguided.”
“I was going for sweet.” He watched her carefully. “Will you tell me what you were doing there? At first, I thought maybe you two were…”
“A couple?”
“Yeah. Well, until you kneed him in the balls.”
“Hmm. Right.” She studied the ground in front of her toes. “The truth is he asked me to marry him.”
Marius could not stop a wave of possessiveness from plowing through him. He took a step toward her before he had a second to think, then pulled up short. He had no reason to be jealous with Harlow. She wasn’t his, no matter how interested his dragon was in her. “I take it your answer was no.”
She smiled at him then. “I couldn’t. It was tempting, mind you. It would have been the easy way out—a way to solve our financial troubles—but the man is a pompous ass. I just couldn’t do it. I went there to return the ring he gave me and tell him unequivocally no. I think I bruised his ego.”
A small part of him jumped up and cheered. “Bruised more than that by the looks of things.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. “He needed a reminder that whom I marry is my choice.”
Marius concealed a growl behind a cough. She shouldn’t have to remind anyone of that. What little respect he’d held for Adradys dissolved under a newfound desire to bloody his nose. “My offer still stands. I can help you… financially.”
She frowned and shook her head. “It’s generous of you, but I can’t accept. It wouldn’t help. Anything you’d give us… my parents would likely spend it. We need to get ourselves out of this mess. I think it’s important that my mother and father work to feel in control of their circumstances. They’re both wallowing in self-pity. It’s like they’ve never accepted the reality we’re living. We’ll figure it out on our own.” She looked back out over Hobble Glen. “Or we won’t, and we’ll face the consequences, but we’ll know we brought about our own destiny. You probably think I’m foolish, but it’s the way it has to be.”
