Instead, she replied, “I’m glad you approve.”
Antonin squeezed her shoulders, his touch lingering, before he finally released her. Circling the table, he slid into his seat with a small, pleased smile.
The gold chain around his neck winked in the light cast by the candles arrayed around them. The glow flickered in his eyes, too, giving them a sinister, glassy look as he reached over to fill her empty glass with red wine.
“Your cooking staff outdid themselves,” he complimented her.
Petra gave the spread a good look, but she saw none of it. Not really. Her mind was split between focusing on every minute movement the Protector made and agonizing over what Silas was doing.
“We’re lucky to have such skilled staff,” she replied, reaching for her wine.
Antonin poured himself some wine as well, just a splash of bloody liquid at the bottom of his glass. “Very much so. I’m looking forward to my stays here.”
Stays.The wine soured on her tongue. She had to force her sip down with great effort.
Knowing he expected her to saysomethingnow that they were alone, Petra asked, “Do you plan on staying long?”
After a small sip, Antonin set his glass back down on the table. He peered at her from under gray-streaked brows, his lips set in a small, benign smile. “That depends.”
“On?”
“How long it takes to get you pregnant.”
A deep internal tremor tried to work its way out of her, to rumble down her bones all the way to her fingertips and toes, but she somehow managed to shove it down, to stay calm. She knew he wanted an heir. That had been part of his proposal all those weeks ago, buthearingit…
For some reason she couldn’t possibly explain to herself, Silas’s face flashed to the forefront of her mind. Not because of the filthy promises he’d made aboutbreedingher, but because?—
Doesn’t matter.
Even if everything was different, there was no future with him. She didn’t even know why she thought of it. Besides, the idea of having Silas’s children made her shudder for different reasons. The man was a menace and lived an objectively dangerous life. There was no possibility of a family with him even if she wanted one.
Those thoughts bombarded her, one after another, in the space between heartbeats. It was a certain kind of madness to think of it on a normal day, let alone when the Protector was sitting a foot away from her, gauging her reaction.
Petra draped her cloth napkin in her lap and smoothed her fingers over it. “Forgive me for questioning you, Antonin, but I’m still… It’s still shocking for me. Are you certain that I’m your best match?”
The crow’s feet around Antonin’s eyes crinkled with his widening smile. It was unfortunate that something in him was rotten. If he’d been a good man, or even just notcruel,she might have found him attractive.
“If I wasn’t certain, I wouldn’t have asked,” he replied, picking up his fork with deft, ring-clad fingers. “I’ve had my eye on you for years, Petra. A woman of your ambition— It’s like catnip to a man like me. I’ve waited averylong time to find a partner worthy of me, you know.”
Petra nodded. Unlike her, he had the luxury of time. As a witch much farther down the magical power scale than her, the threat of burnout didn’t put a ticking clock on his choices.
Taking his fork and knife to the perfectly seared tuna filet on his plate, he continued, “And of course, if Ihadn’tbeen certain after meeting you, then I would have been after discovering how you got your position.”
Anxiety ratcheting up another notch, she asked, “What do you mean?”
Antonin flashed her a white smile. “Ah, my dear, I’m talking about how you poisoned Gurney and his assistant.”
For just a moment, she considered denying it. But what use would that be? He clearly knew the truth, and she didn’t hold out any hope of deceiving him.
Her limbs felt wooden, her stomach a painfully tight ball of nerves, but she forced herself to mimic his casual air as she reached for her own utensils. “Poisoning is a bit of a stretch, I think. They were fine after a couple days.”
“Deliciously ruthless of you all the same.” He popped a bite of fish into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “You can’t imagine how interesting it was to hear of some nobody witch from the mouth of the sovereign himself. The Gloriae were absolutely scandalized.”
That didn’t shock her, though she’d never been deemed important enough to meet the secretive group who ruled the Temple. She hadn’t even been invited when Theodore Solbourne met with them in a high-stakes meeting to negotiate his authority over Healing Houses in his territory.
“I’m sure it was quite a shock,” she murmured, spearing a halved cherry tomato drizzled with vinaigrette on the tines of her fork.
“They tried to refuse, you know,” he told her, as if he was imparting some great secret, “but the elf stood firm. I’ve been dying to know why that is.”
