Breathing hard, I snapped, “Says the lunatic who stormed in, stole his brother’s betrothed, and fucked up my carefully laid plan.”
“You mean youruncle’splan, don’t you?” Dante cut in, his fingers annoyingly brushing against me every time he undid a knot. “The one he probably conveniently framed as him helping you avenge your father? Or helping your brother prepare to take over the DiRavello empire?That plan? Your uncle is a snake, and you’re too smart to be used, Emberline, too clever not to see through his plotting.”
I balled my hands into fists, tears pricking my eyes, glad he couldn’t see my face. Fuck this asshole.Fuck him. Dante Dominico didn’t know me; he had no idea what he was even talking about.
He stopped working, a long, hot wash of air skating over my shoulders as he sighed. “But you were grieving, and Giovanni can read minds, knows how to manipulate emotions.” The last words were quiet, but there was such bone-deep bitterness in them, I almost turned to look at him.
Almost.
“My father trusted my uncle,” I said instead. “For six hundred years. My uncle has never betrayed our family, and…” I paused as those fingers worked their way lower. “You can’t say the same about your sire, can you? If Gio was the snake your family makes him out to be, don’t you think Enzo would have seen the truth?”
“Love blinds people to the truth, and your father loved with his whole heart,tesoro.” He tugged the last lace free,and the bodice sagged, sweet, sweet air rushing into my deprived lungs. “There. Why females wear these torture devices, I will never understand.”
I kept hold of the heavy bodice because all I had on underneath was some sorry excuse for underwear and my heels. But… I cast my gaze wildly around the room.
“Over there. Can you hand me my clothes, please?” I jerked my head to my black dress, tossed carelessly behind a chair. I didn’t dare move, because one step would have this damned thing sliding down and pooling around my feet, and being naked right now in front of this asshole would send me over the edge.
He picked my clothing up carefully, folding everything over his arm, walked into the bathroom, and set them on the sink.
“Get dressed, Emberline, and we’ll talk about what comes next. Let’s see if we can agree to a truce, shall we?”
27
EMBERLINE
Ismoothed my hand down my wrinkled black dress, glad to be free of the white monstrosity.
The silky lace underthings felt slippery and strange. My bare feet were tucked up beneath me in the chair as Dante lurked over by the windows, watching the storm pass overhead.
The only thing those bitches left me was the dress. My favorite coat, combat boots, and black underwear were gone, probably taken by Rina as some female-motivated payback for daring to marry into such a stanch, upstanding family.
Never mind that this wasn’t my idea.
Never mind, I was now married to the wrong godsdamned brother.
Also, not my idea.
“What do you expect to happen?” I demanded. “Because all of this bullshit,”—I gestured at the room, the white linen bed, the stupid rose petals—“has nothing to do with me. You barged into a carefully negotiated alliance, blew up my entire future, and now you expect what? Cooperation?”
“I expect you to keep your voice down,” he growled, that rasp getting deeper, eyes reflecting every flash of lightning outside. “My entire family is gathered outside that door, trying to figure out whether I’m going to fuck you or kill you. Let’s not give them any reasons to interrupt us.”
Bone-chilling dread washed through me, clearing the way for rage.
I folded my hands in my lap and met that wild blue gaze with a clear message.Try either one, and I will claw off your face and stuff it down your throat. We’ll see how raspy your voice is, then.
Still, my heart stuttered as he shrugged off his coat, rolled his sleeves up higher, revealing strong, tan forearms and loads more scars. Crisscrossed white against dark skin, so many of them—like a map of every fight he’d ever survived.
“Are you?” I asked, voice low. “Going to fuck me or kill me?” My weapons still lay on the bed, obscene amongst the rose petals, too far away for me to easily reach, but I would fight my way to them if I had to.
His mouth curved, not quite a smile.
“Hmmm,” his aquamarine gaze darkened, his entire body going taut before he shook his head. “Neither. Not tonight, anyway. Let’s see how our first marital spat goes, and then I’ll decide.”
“Then what,” I asked tartly, “exactly, is your plan,marito?”
Husband.
The word tasted like poison. But honestly, part of me was relieved I didn’t have to play act in front of him. I could stop pretending. That, for now, I could drop my mask and my shields and just…be myself.
