“Stay in the house,” he orders. Because apparently, he can order me around now.
“I’m going to the greenhouse. Is that acceptable, my liege?” I give him a mock curtsy.
His eyes heat. I’m being silly, but he’s not playing a game.
“Yes, little bride,” he says.
“I’m not your bride.”
“Not yet. It’s only a matter of time.”
Nope, nope, nope. I rush to the door. I cannot deal.
“I’ll know if you try to run, Belladonna,” he calls after me. “Remember, I’m watching.”
Full body shiver!
No, I will not be turned on! I don’t like this anymore.
I escape to the greenhouse, my happy place. I turn on some opera music for the plants, pull on my favorite pair of gardening gloves, and putter around. Gardening usually makes everything better.
Except… it doesn’t help right now. All I can think about is how I’m alone in this huge house… with him. Kaiser. A man I just met. A man I’m supposed to marry and remain married to until death do us part.
Fucking what?
He’s been following me. For months! I thought I was so clever, confronting him in the poison garden and again in the diner. Now I feel uneasy. What does he already know about me? What has he seen?
Did he know this was coming?
He seems to be looking forward to the marriage. Fuck my life. That means I’ll have to kill him.
But if I kill him, it probably won’t be the end of it. Fraternitas has my father. Killing one of them won’t do any good. They’d probably just assign someone else to marry me. And make me, or my father, pay a blood debt.
Maybe I can make it look like an accident.
That means not activating the poison gas in the sprinkler system. I need to figure out if my father disabled it, anyway.
The thought of my father makes my stomach hurt all over again. Why would Papa hand me over to a bunch of thugs? Do they have something over him?
I need answers.
My head is spinning. I turn off the Wagner because it’s too intense for me right now, so I stand in the silence and dig my hands in the soil, trying to focus on my chores. Usually, the greenhouse relaxes me, but all I can think about is Kaiser. How to kill him. How to outmaneuver him. How to control him.
“Breathe,” he calls, and I almost drop the sapling I’m repotting.
He’s snuck up on me. Of course, the bastard followed me. He moves too quietly. Like a panther. Sleek coiled muscle. Except he also looks like he’s taken something to beef up those muscles. Nothing natural.
“Stop telling me what to do.”
He looks me up and down. I’m still in the schoolgirl outfit. Does he think I’m cute? He’s been handsy, and there’s definitely a charge of attraction between us. But I seem to be more affected than him. He’s older and more experienced, dammit.
I need a plan. But I can’t think. I can only glower at my new fiancé.
“You’re not welcome here.”
He says nothing as he paces between the rows of plants, studying them. He has no idea what he’s looking at.
In the shaded space under the racks, I’ve set up some woodchip beds for mushroom colonies. He takes particular interest in one bright orange cluster.
