Lia licked her lips and opened her mouth to speak but hesitated. She would need to be very careful with her words from here on out. The lives of Cosmos and Loshika depended on it.
Your life depends on it.
He hissed, sending fear skittering down her spine. “Speak.”
Be brave.
“I would like to know when you will have me killed, my lord.” His whole body tensed, the arm banded across her belly tightening. Lia refused to use the word execution. It was too formal for what had happened between them. She hadn’t known how deeply she’d cared for the frost giant when she’d betrayed him. It was only in the aftermath of her decision did Dahlia realize what she’d sacrificed for her family.
One type of love for another.
She didn’t regret saving her brother, but she regretted hurting Neve.
His hand released her hip and slid up between her breasts to capture her chin. He lifted until she met his bottomless gaze. He bared his teeth, and she didn’t even flinch. She was so tired of being afraid, and he wouldn’t hurt her in this moment, at least. He liked to play the monster, but he’d been nothing but gruffly gentle with her since the beginning.
“Your fate is mine. You aremine.”
She blinked slowly, a little bit of fire igniting inside her chest at the statement.
Keep your mouth shut. His words don’t matter.
But she couldn’t.
“No, I am not,” she said simply. “You might control my life and death, but my heart, soul, and mind are my own.” Perhaps it was stupid to taunt the monstrous male, but she didn’t belong to anyone but herself. Too many people had tried to control her, and enough was enough. He controlled when she died, and that was it. The rest of her life was her own. However long that was.
His eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak but paused when the cut beneath her chin snared his attention. He turned her face to the side to examine the healing wound and hesitantly ran his thumb along the edge of it. “This was intentional,” he said, a bite to his voice. “And it’s not fresh. Who did this to you?” The warmth of his body seemed to flare, or maybe that was her own. “I’ll kill them.”
So, Olwen really didn’t tell him...
She turned her face away from his probing gaze, staring at the wall of the tent that slightly rippled with the wind. That bit of information could be handy in the future. “It’s nothing, my lord.”
“Someonecutyou. It is not nothing.”
Her hands curled into fists. Why was he acting like this? Like he cared? What sort of game was he playing? Well, she wasn’t going to participate. Lia rolled away from him, forcing him to let go, and crawled out of the bed. Neve followed her, unfurling to his full height, his bare indigo chest rising as if he’d run a far distance, his nipple piercings shimmering in the low light. Sweat glistened on his chest, one rivulet tracing the contours of his muscular abdomen to the waist of his low-slung leathers that barely hung onto his hips.
She blushed at his undone state. It was too intimate. It made her think and want things that weren’t possible. Lia clasped her hands together to keep from doing something stupid—like reaching for her enemy.
“Why?” she demanded, glaring at him. “Why aren’t you yelling at me? Where’s the torture? The pain? The retribution?”
Lia ran a shaking hand through her tangled hair, her bare toes wiggling in the plush fur on the floor. Sometime during the night, the Frost King had stripped her wet stockings from her legs and feet. It was a miracle that she hadn’t lost a single toe due to frostbite. The patchwork pattern of creams and browns of her shins were on full display, yet she felt no shame. Neve had been the first outsider to accept them. There was no need to hide them now. Who cared?
“Is that what you want?” he asked slowly, each word punctuated.
“It is preferable to what is happening now.” She curled her fingers into fists at her side. “Neve, I tried to take your life.”
He came at her, slapping his huge palm over her mouth. Her eyes widened at the intensity in his face. Neve glanced at the door as if someone was listening. “Do not utter those words out loud again.”
She wrapped her hands around his calloused fingers and pulled his hand away from her nose and mouth, following his gaze. Why was he trying to hide her crimes? “It’s the truth. Why are you pretending it’s otherwise?” Her attention dropped to his fingers when they flexed over her own. Immediately, she dropped his calloused hand and took a step away when his whole body began to tremble.
“Like you pretended?”
She swallowed hard. “Yes.”
He stalked after her until Lia’s back hit the enormous table in the center of the room. She swallowed a squeak when Neve planted his hands against the wooden top. The Frost King leaned down into her space, so close they almost touched noses. All she could see was him.
“Like how you plotted my death for months? How you pretended to be on my side? How you pretended to care for—” He bit his words off, but she heard them loud and clear.
He thought everything was a charade.
