“No.” I played with the rope. “He would have been a perfect second. No temptation.”
Darcke’s silent laughter bled into my consciousness, and I groaned even before he replied. “Are you saying I’mtempting?”
“Tempting to kill,” I said on a sigh.
Darcke’s fingers ghosted over my skin. “Unfortunately for you, that would end your life as well.”
“Might be worth it.”
It was Darcke’s turn to laugh.
“Look at that.” Torden walked up as Vero helped Ottoh to his feet, the latter grinning more widely than I would have expected at his sister besting him. “Have the two of you had it out and made up?”
I didn’t think my cheeks could burn more furiously, but when Darcke patted my shoulder and said, “She’s trying to seduce me, but I still haven’t decided if I’m willing,” it felt as if my skin might melt rightoff.
“I’m definitely not,” I snapped.
“I certainly hope so, since that would be a violation of the gods’ rules for the iron-bond.” Guner came to Torden’s side. “Your title would be stripped, heir—your honor gone. And you, Darcke. You’d lose all privileges the king provides you.”
“So I have nothing to lose?” Darcke stepped up until he was almost nose to nose with the king’s second. His eyes sliced to me as he added, “Tempting.”
Guner sighed so deeply he blew my hair out of my face. “You know what the king does for you. Shut your mouth and come into the ring.”
Darcke’s hand lifted, but Torden caught it, a warning shadowing his features.
Tension fractured the air, and for a second even the murmurs of the crowds died down. Guner spun, a smile on his face as if he couldn’t wait for Darcke to come for him. My second’s rage flowed freely between us. It became a struggle for me to hold back as disdain and disgust consumed me to the point even my vision tinted with crimson.
It was the fear in Torden’s eyes that made me place a hand on Darcke’s other arm. I didn’t doubt the king and Guner would have my second’s head if he landed a strike to his jaw—an urge that was far too easy for me to read.
“Save that for the trials,” I said.
When Darcke turned his anger on me, I added in a lower voice, “I get it. I hate him too. But he’s not worth it.”
Darcke’s eyes went between my own, and a current of understanding passed between us. When my lips lifted into a smile, his twitched, and a yelp broke from me as he scooped me up and lifted me over the rope, handing me to Torden as if I was a package he was sent to deliver.
“Set me down,” I ordered.
The warrior let out a rumbling laugh and carried me to the middle of the ring. “No can do,” Torden replied. “Darcke pulled rank.”
“Why?” I snarled as people’s whispers reached my ears. “Everyone is staring.”
“Who does she think she is? Carried like a fucking princess.”
“Do you think she’s fucking both of them?”
“I will say, watching her rip into A’lian will be fun. She’s supposed to be able to take five men like him with that rune of hers.”
“Exactly for that reason.” Torden grinned down at me. “So that you’d be pissed off enough not to try to run out on him again.”
He’d succeeded. Already before Torden set me down, my lip had curled back, and as Darcke came strolling after us, whispering something in Borje’s ear without as much as a glance my way, a low growl built in my chest.
Only then did his gaze lift to mine, and my rage wavered for a second when a flame of excitement licked the bond. As fiercely as it had raced between us, it disappeared, his fury and cool amusement returning.
Rolling my shoulders, I glared at him. “Angry enough for you?”
Darcke licked his lips. “For now.” He patted Borje’s shoulder before making his way over to me. “My heir calls. I must respond before she starts crying again.”
He was taunting me so that I wouldn’t hold back. Darcke sought a vent for the pressure building in his chest, and he’d decided I was his best bet. A trickle of sweat made its way down my back, sneaking inside my leather vest, and whatever flicker of furious mirth found its way into my heart faded as swiftly as the sun on the horizon at dusk.
