I lean back in my armchair, really taking him in, but … for all his games and arrogance … this seems genuine. And if there’s one thing I can trust, it’s his ambition. “We’ll need to start right away,” I say.
His eyes spark.
“But how do we know we won’t betray the other?” Trust isn’t given, it’s earned. Built. And it takes more than a pretty face and seductive words to gain mine.
“We’ll need a vow that can’t be broken.” He stands and I copy him. He moves like a dark god, limned with dominance, reeking of potential. Beside him, I feel like nothing but a changeling human, with a hope of being his equal in power and no clear evidence it’ll ever come to pass.
I crush the doubt beneath a heel. After all, I was once a girl crying in the snow with nothing. Then I became the Wraith of Westfall. A World-chosen changeling.
I don’t know what destiny has in store, but I have to believe it’s building to something.
He closes the distance strung between us. “If you do this … you need to understand the level of commitment it will take to make it convincing. Whether you’re in a classroom, or ballroom, the Oval or Hearth, you will have to act as if this is real, at all times. There can be no romances, no girl talks, no dalliances, no confidants. Even if it comes to us sitting on the throne, the people can only ever see what you and I create. It’s you and me against the world. Our fates will be bound, truly fated or not.”
Standing before him is like standing on the edge of a ravine, a bottomless chasm with no ending. But it doesn’t feel like a choice.
What better path to my family, to vengeance, is there, when this could be a path to more … to justice? He’s offering me a chance to seize power, to have control over my life for the first time.I’dget to choose my fate, the sides I want to play, the people I want as my allies.
His goals would accomplish mine, too.
“I can do that.”
“Convince me.”
I’m startled by his arrogance, by his unwillingness to leap blindly, like I must.
“I came here with one last hope. You have the sway and titles to make it a reality.” I look him dead in the eyes. “But I won’t live a life as a trophy. I will hold power of my own, you will make sure of it, and itmustmean something. No lies between us. I need to be able to bring them here, it’s not enough just to find them.”
“You’d force them to come here? Even if they were … happy wherever they are?”
The idea has never occurred to me—except for … well, when I saw my father whole and healthy at the seraph princess’s side. The thought sets my blood to boiling, the rancor burning like acid in my throat. “None of them are happy while we’re all separated. Not after what’s been done to us.”
He tilts his head, his tongue tracing his teeth as if he isn’t sure he believes that. My veins pulse with liquid-hot rage, but suddenly he speaks. “I can assure you that all your demands will be met. So long as you uphold your end as my partner and confidant.” A wicked grin slashes across his face. “Should you fall for me and choose to stay at the end of our arrangement, I can promise you even more.”
I roll my eyes. I’m sure he’s just fucking with me; he seems to enjoy the way my face heats against my will, flames licking my cheeks any time he suggests there could be more between us. It was fun when it didn’t feel so real, but right now his wanton looks are my biggest threat. Falling for him would be reckless, a distraction in the face of all this, and I hate how easily he pulls me into him.
“Are you sureyou’reable to make this kind of commitment? You don’t seem like the type to keep his cock in his pants. I’m worried you’ll screw this up more than I will.”
He puts a hand to his chest in mock offense. “I always keep my promises, Rune. Especially when they’re tied up in unbreakable magical bonds.”
A tension laces through me. “You’d give up any chance of romance?” He doesn’t seem worried about it. I press on, “Sex?”
“You’re that certain my charm will never work on you?”
I lift an eyebrow at the idiot, crossing my arms, and he swallows, glancing off.
“Second thoughts?” I prompt, forcing a saccharine smile in place.
The devilish lift of his lips sends a heat barreling through me. “Well … at one point, Rune, you’ll need to release some tension. I’m patient.” That same self-assured grin is back in place. “So, no. No second thoughts. I think you’ll break before I do.”
He can’t be the one to hold that power between us, so I snatch it back.
“You’re awfully arrogant. I remember what you said about me in this dress.”
His eyes catch fire.
I wonder if his spite would outlast his desire. I toy with the neckline of my dress. “What exactly did you find so distracting about it?”
He steps toward me until we’re nearly chest to chest and barely have breathing room between us. Then in one slow movement, he leans into the nape of my neck, his whisper a prayer for only my ears. “Everything about you is distracting, Rune Ryker.”
