Danté laughed nervously. ‘Please, let me accompany you. A queen shouldn’t be allowed to wander out alone at night.’
I stifled the rage building in my chest. ‘As you can see, Pablo is all the security I need.’
‘Then why don’t you send him to bring the princess or whatever she is these days back to you? It’d save those rather divine feet of yours.’
My fists clenched by my side as I remembered the many reasons why I’d set him on his arse when we were children. I closed my eyes and took a settling breath.Diplomatic.I had to be diplomatic.
‘I’d prefer to go with him.’
Danté took a step towards me, his chest a mere breath from my own.
‘Why hasn’t your husband come with you then?’
I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing if he could make out the gesture in the dark. ‘Because he’s trying to keep Lord Rossing from marrying that sour-faced lemon to his son.’
Danté barked out a laugh. ‘You’ve always been fierce, Sorrow. But were you mine, I’d never leave your side. Not for a single heartbeat.’
By Vyrus’s balls, the man was at it again. The other night, his words were almost poetic. Now, he was creepier than a vine.
‘It would certainly make shitting a rather uncomfortable experience.’
He laughed again, nervous and high, and Pablo growled low. This was wasting my time.
‘You have some vision. Don’t you?’
Diplomatic, Sorrow. End this conversation and find Skye without removing any more of his teeth.
‘I really do need to find Skye. So if you’ll?—’
‘Would you like to feel my face?’
I froze. If he could see my expression in this light my efforts at diplomacy were well and truly fucked.
‘Why?’ I spluttered. ‘Why would I want to do that?’
‘So you can feel what I look like.’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t…I don’t even know where to start with this.’
‘You’re so beautiful this evening. Has your husband even told you?’
I bit my lip. No. Not with his words anyway. Sighing, I began to turn. It was painfully obvious this odious man sought the weaknesses in our marriage. All I had to do was smile sweetly, walk away.
‘No,’ he said, something darker creeping into his tone. ‘From what the servants say, he probably hasn’t even noticed.’
Pablo jumped, barking. For a moment, I thought he’d found Skye. I turned at the thunder of running feet. My heart lurched as someone raced towards me. Before I had time to work out if the pursuer had dark intentions, the unmistakable crack of a fist connecting with a jaw broke the night, and Danté crashed to the ground.
‘What the fuck do you think you’re saying to mywife?’
‘Matthias?’
His hand took mine and he tugged me into him. Asher slid to a stop beside his king as the moon cast aside her covers andilluminated the scene. As Danté cradled his jaw, a dark stream trickled from his nose. Darkness encased Matthias’s features, his slicked hair glinting in the moonlight.
‘Skye came back, said this piece of diafol shit was flirting with you.’
‘Badly,’ I replied as Danté stood, thunder etched into his face.
‘You’ll pay for that, Asmar,’ he hissed.
