Back and forth, ticking a rapid beat through eyes growing more slitted with each passing moment.
And for several long seconds, I thought I could sense something deadly fighting to erupt from a cage far more elaborate than the one he’d trapped me in.
Something that matched.
Where the empath was starving for energy,thisbeast was bursting at the seams.
The other side of the coin…
But after a beat, the captain’s chin dipped in a single, tight nod. “Fine.”
“Good boy,” she purred, and her palm landed a gentle pat, pat, pat on his left cheek. “Now,” she clapped her hands, and with that, any whisper of animosity fell away as if it had never been. “Lunch. I’ve brought a vintage I’m certain you’re going to love, but it needs time to breathe.”
He watched her gather her picnic basket, but I watchedhim. Trying to see what he strained to keep contained. To catch another glimpse of the thing fighting to rip through him so it couldburn.
“We’ll be along in a moment,” he said, and lay a restraining hand on my knee.
When she and Marco had both gone, I counted to twenty before I said, “Why?Whydo you tolerate that woman?” I laughed, low and bitter. “Please don’t mistake my curiosity for any sort of concern foryou, but this is a puzzle I just can’t seem to solve. Asher”—I shoved his hand off my knee and turned to face him—“Why? You’ve more than enough power to make her a puppet, and none but me seem to realize it. Why do you allow yourself to be controlled? What leverage could she possibly have on you that trumps the sort of power I know you’re hiding?”
His head thumped back, and for a moment, he merely watched me from beneath a fan of dark lashes. And then he chuckled. “And why not? Carina is a beautiful woman. Connected. Her lineage peppered with famous elites with nothing but the potential for more in the next generation. The Savoy’s are old money, where the Rawlings’ are not.” He lifted one shoulder, but did not break eye contact. As if trying to say something without actually speaking the words. “Whywouldn’tI consider the proposal?”
I returned his unblinking stare, my thoughts sluggish and cloudy as I tried to hear what wasn’t said.
“I need an heir,” he murmured. “And this is a match that’ll satisfy the crown. But believe me,” he whispered, and caught my chin between forefinger and thumb, “if I could figure out a way to keep you fat with my children, I’d scarcely give you the time to recover before fucking you pregnant again. And again.”
My cheeks flushed hot, but I frowned. Refusing to let him distract me with a lewd impossibility. “That doesn’t make sense,” I murmured, and it was my turn to search his eyes for answers that wouldn’t come.
“It’s probably a blessing,” he said, and sent the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, smearing it. Tugging it down until my canines kissed the heavy air.
A question surged in my blood. One I couldn’t voice without venting the horror that might come with an answer.
He heard me anyway. “The empire would take an interest in children of mixed blood,” he murmured. Carefully, as if leery of being overheard.
I shuddered, disgust rolling through my spine. “Then I would like to formally thank you for castrating yourself,” I drawled. “Glad I wasn’t the one who had to do it.”
“Cute.”
I flashed him a toothy grin, then circled back and said the first thing that came to mind. The only thing I could name as common denominator for all the times I’d seen Asher forced to do something unpleasant by his superiors. “It’s me, isn’t it?” I whispered, trying to reach through his wall of gleaming, stolen energy to taste his reaction. “That old money. Her connections. She’s going to do something vile to me if you refuse.”
A slow, deadly smirk thinned his lips. “Power is not always the trump card you think it is. This is Caledonia, pet. Things can always get worse.”
“Don’t be cryptic,” I hissed. “If you want me to help, or at least not work against your every move, speak plainly, or ceed to the Lieutenant General and remove me from the equation entirely.”
His pause was brief. “Is that what you want?”
An ugly bark of laugher burst from between my lips, and tears came unbidden. Scalding my waterline, without daring to fall. “It doesn’t matter what I want,” I hissed. “Idon’t matter. You’ve made that plain enough.”
Brow creased, he frowned at me. Ebon glare swirling with an intensity I couldn’t name, measuring his reaction as he tasted mine. Utilizing every unfair advantage at his disposal. And then, a nod. Not agreeing, not denying. “Not here,” he said at last. “Not now. Act the broken creature she wants to see, and I’ll reward you with more than just spine-melting orgasms.”
I jerked my chin from his fingers and swatted his wrist. “Pig,” I snapped, but turned my face into the shadows to hide the stab of anguish he could surely feel.
14
Isquinted against bright sunlight. Shivering in the cool breeze as Asher stepped down from the coach and extended his hand. As if I hadn’t lived as a wild thing in the forest for five years. Alone. Enduring the very worst of winters and hottest of summers.
As if I were a Tritan lady being courted by a suitor…
… and not a slave on an outing with a man and his future bride.
