As ever when he wasn’t snarling abuse at her, the Crow’s face remained unreadable. Utterly devoid of feeling. Save for his single dark eye that smoldered with some strange emotion before he jerked his gaze away and looked elsewhere, leaving her studying his scarred jaw instead.
“What are you doing?” she hissed into his ear, fighting hard to not wobble atop her heeled slippers as she lingered there, ever-so-slightly crouched to combat the height difference between them.
But he didn’t answer her. He didn’t so much as look her way. He simply lifted his face and brushed a chaste little kiss against her cheek rather than her mouth. His short beard scraped her skin with the motion—an unpleasant rasp that made her long to retreat from their alarmingly close quarters.
Was that…it?
Something bitter churned in her stomach as the realization that her husband did not want to kiss her properly slammed home. But of course, why would he? She was not his woman in the woods.
A fresh spark of anger ignited in her heart. It just needed to be a quick kiss. Just for the sake of appearances. All of her court was watching. Waiting. And here he stood, determined to humiliate her before them all. No doubt King Edmund even had a few spies in the crowd as well, ready to report to their master any hint of trouble.
Well, there would be no hint of trouble to report. This was exactly what Edmund had wanted after all—that she marry his older brother. So far as everyone within the cathedral knew, her alliance with the younger Hargrave remained strong.
For now.
Just until Mysai was safe. Just until her own shores were secured. Just until it was finally time for her to make good on her arrangement with Aldric and back his claim as the King of Drakmor.
And if he wantedthat, he would have to dothisfirst.
Tired of crouching, tired of waiting, tired of the feel of hundreds of eyes scalding the side of her face, Seraphina let both of her hands fall to the Crow’s shoulders, bracing herself. He flinched beneath her touch, but it had the desired effect on her new husband.
At least he finally looked at her.
“Kiss me,” she hardly dared to whisper, afraid the crowd might hear her desperation. That they might see. That anyone at all might know that she was having to demand the Drakmori prince do his duty.
And there he stood, merely staring at her, thoughts she had no hope of deciphering swirling within his gaze. And yet still he made no move to press his lips to hers.
She hoped he could see the fury smoldering within her eyes for him and him alone. She hoped heknewdeep in his bones that she would pay him back for this humiliation at some point.
The seconds ticked on. Mere heartbeats and nothing more. Yet it felt like an eternity.
“Aldric,” she entreated a second time through clenched teeth. For a single wild moment, she wished she had her bodice dagger back so that she could stab him with it again. “If you do not kiss me right now—”
He moved faster than she would have ever expected. Rising on tiptoe, fingers tangling in the chain of her sun pendant, he tugged her down closer as his mouth crushed to hers. Hot. Demanding. He sought to steal her breath. To turn her thoughts to ash. To make her heart wing from her chest.
He succeeded.
Try as she might to resist, her eyes fluttered closed. The cathedral melted away. Father Perero. The crowd. Everything ceased to exist. Everything save for this moment.
For the taste of fresh mint lingering on her Crow’s lips.
For the warmth of his mouth.
For the strength of his touch.
Her thoughts scrambled to remind herself that she hated this man even as her body longed to melt into his arms.Hate. Where had her hatred for him gone? She reached for it desperately, trying to wrap it around her heart, to protect herself from the horrifying truth that was beginning to yawn open like a chasm within her soul.
She wanted him to keep kissing her until she had no breath left.
She…wantedthe Crow.
Disgust reared its ugly head—disgust at her own person. That she would even consider embarrassing herself further by longing after a man who did not care for her in even the smallest measure. A man who already had another woman. A man who thought her stupid. Who insulted her at every opportunity.
Out of nowhere, a quiet laugh echoed within her mind, as if even her thoughts wished to mock her for her ridiculousness. But in the next moment, her heart froze. Her blood turned to ice.
She knew that laugh. That voice. It washim. The darkness from her vision.
The one destined to destroy all of Avirel.
