I knew she couldn’t be trusted. How many times had I caught her sizing me up? Observing me silently from the sidelines. She had been plotting and scheming this entire time—conspiring with her son to get me here.
“But I grew impatient,” Kylian continues. “Desperate to lay eyes on the infamous Blackblood Dragon Rider. So, I journeyed to Aegar. The moment I saw you, I knew you were my future wife—my queen. My brother wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to do with a female like you. I just needed to put your dalliance with that captain to an end. Convincing Derek to promise him to that disgrace of a princess was so easy. That little attack in the maze was all it took. It was the perfect solution. And the civil unrest it will spark in Aegar will be the cherry on top of a successful execution.”
“What are you talking about?” I shake my head, not understanding. He chuckles, redirecting his attention to his desk.
“Derek naming his nit-wit daughter and a low-born bastard as his successors is enough to start a civil war. People will never accept him as their king. And everyone knows all that little brat is capable of is looking pretty. And now they’ve lost the only thing they had going for them—their Dragon Rider. By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you—” He finally looks up, a mad twinkle in his eye. “Where is she? The dragon.”
“I will die before I tell you a thing,” I spit.
“Ah, well, we shall see. Now, onto more pressing matters. What kind of flowers would you like for the ceremony? Gardenias are in season, but I find the smell quite irritating?—”
“I’m not fucking marrying you!” I roar.
“Oh, come now. Don’t deny what you know is between us. We had a moment when we danced, didn’t we?”
“You were using your siren magic on me! None of that was real. And I was putting on a show to get close to you because I knew—Iknewin my gut that you were behind all this. I hate you. I hate you, and I willneverbe your wife.”
“But don’t you see how alike that makes us?” he asks. “You’re a cunning little liar. We are masters of deception, you and I. We, Serena, are cut from the same cloth.”
“I am nothing like you, and I will never marry you,” I say through clenched teeth.
“I could always force you,” he muses. “But then, what kind of male would I be? I have a reputation of benevolence to uphold.”
“Hah!” I bark. “Benevolence? Are you actually that narcissistic? If you had any decency at all, you’d take these chains off and let me go home. But you’re a coward. You’re afraid of me. You’re nothalfthe male Kai is. You’repathetic.”
The pen in his hand snaps in half.
“Youarehome. And I don’t want to hear my brother’s name on your lips again, wife.” He stands abruptly, walking around his desk toward me.
“You might want to watch the way you speak to me, my love. My patience only extends so far.” Kylian kneels before me, his hands smoothing over the rough blood ore chains at my wrists.
“You are powerless. Entirely at my mercy,” he whispers, his face close to mine. “I can make you do things. Anything I want. And you would have no choice but to obey me. Is that what you want? Do you want me to make you do things? Would that excite you?”
I snarl at him, baring my tiny fangs as he squeezes my face in one hand.
“It can be enjoyable, surrender. Submission. It can be freeing. I can show you if you’d like.”
“No,” I grind out against his death grip.
“Then at least be agreeable,” he says loftily, releasing me with a shove to my face. A gesture of degradation. “If you give me what I ask for, I won’t have to take it.”
He stands, not bothering to veil his threat.
“My dragon will come for me. My friends will come for me.” I glare up at him as he motions a guard forward to drag me from the room.?*
He smiles dazzlingly as I’m towed away.
“Oh, I’m counting on it.”
* Cue:Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Babyby Cigarettes After Sex
43
JACE
My hands glide over skin smoother than the finest silk.
She writhes like a serpent in my arms, her limbs wrapping around me tightly. Legs over legs, arms around my neck. She could crush my bones, and I wouldn’t care. I would beg on my knees for her to do it again.
