He tapped his lips.
Put your threads around us if you’re worried about being overheard,I barked in his mind.
He didn’t even wince.They may not be enough.
Is that why you refused to speak to me inside the throne room?
He stared at me a moment before nodding.
The turmoil I felt . . . I couldn’t decide if I should flit someplace where Vexxion wouldn’t find me—assuming such a place existed—or show this man the same pain still hollowing out my insides.
You’re glaring at me as if you want to gut me, he said pleasantly.
Because you’re going to let your father drain me.
“I will not.”
These two things do not belong together,I said.He told you to bring me to him. He plans to drain me. You plan to hand me over to him without voicing a single protest.
You’re mine.
Snarling it doesn’t make it so.
In this instance, it does.
Don’t take me to him.I couldn’t hold back the whimper in my voice. I kept picturing Reyla and Brodine.He’ll hurt me. I thought you were my shield.I threw out the last on purpose and watched him.
His expression gave nothing away.
Prepare yourself,he said.
How am I supposed to do that? Oh, I know.I stormed to the armoire and wrenched open the doors.Let me see . . .I yanked one dress after another across the rod.Which of these will show my nipples? Which will he find the most attractive on mydelectable curves?
You’ll wear this.
A blink and I wore a black leather tunic and matching pants, like the ones I’d worn throughout my life when I trained or rode dragons. My long hair hung in a neat braid down my back. My only adornment was the pabrilleen stone pendant strung on the simple chain around my neck.I thought I was supposed to dress to please the king.
You dress to please no one but yourself.His gaze ensnared me,edged steel cloaked in velvet night. His dangerous allure seemed to see right through me. It promised danger yet beckoned—like the sudden flair of lightning on someone wandering across a windswept plain.
My heartbeat skittered, and my skin prickled. I wasn’t afraid. Anticipation coursed through me. Only this man could make me feel like this. My caution slipped away, replaced with a raw need that made me feel reckless.
Despite every rational voice within me warning me against getting lost in him once more, part of me wanted to plunge in headfirst just to see if I'd come back out remade, or if he’d shatter me all over again.
I slammed my eyes shut, but it did nothing to block the turbulent feelings slicing through me. How could I still love someone who’d do such horrible things to me?
Don’t do this,I whispered, opening my eyes.
Do what?The weight of his gaze was a smothering embrace. With just a curl of his mouth, he could make me start caring again.
You know what I mean.
He flitted to stand close to me, his light scent of heat and spice filling my senses. I dragged my eyes away from his.
With one finger, he lifted my chin. He’d often caged me and made me meet his gaze, but I sensed here, I could back away, and he’d let me go. How did he know that forcing this would only make me tighten my walls?
Tell me,he said.I need to hear the words.
Your needs mean nothing.I backed up, hoping he didn’t seethe tremor of my hands resting by my sides.You have no right to that information.
