“Liar. Spoiled.” His eyes flashed. “Coward. I learned all that from an hour in your company tonight. Did I miss something?”
My throat ached from something other than his arm now.
“Get off me,” I hissed.
A low sound resounded in the back of his throat, and he raised an arrogant brow. “I’m not touching you,heir.”
“Leave.”
His laugh echoed in the night. “Heirs… you believe the tide rises and falls around you. This is not your dock.”
“No, we don’t.” I tried to sneak under his outstretched arm, but his hands came down on either side of me, caging me in.
“Ah-ah,” he taunted. “Too slow.”
“Let me go,” I said furiously. “Or?—”
“What will you do?” He leaned down until his face hovered before mine, and he pouted. “Call that guard? He lost you after a day. He will not be a problem.” He drew his tongue over his teeth. “Will you fight me? Am Ihonorableenough?”
There was no hiding my trembling breaths, nor my shaking rib cage, but I did everything I could to cool my features, settle them into a mask of nothingness. I let out a silent breath before I let my eyes drag slowly—so fucking slowly—over his body. Starting from the boots that were twice the size of my own, up along his muscled legs and over his broad chest and shoulders, until I reached his stony face.
I clicked my tongue. “Killing you is not worth ripping the dress.”
The muscle in his jaw worked. “You didn’t care for the dress.”
I lifted my chin. “You’re catching on.”
His exhale blew my hair back from my face. “Brave? Or stupid?” He cracked his neck. “I don’t know yet.”
I was about to force out a laugh when he threw me onto the dock, yet again pounding any air from my lungs. Straddling me, he wound his hands around my neck, pushing the back of my head toward the water.
“I didn’t like how you talked to others back there,” he whispered against my ear, his accent coming through more in his rage. “Fight me.”
My throat clogged, but I couldn’t do anything other than shake my head.
“I said fight me,” he ordered. “Now.”
I opened my eyes to him, moving my gaze toward where his hands were wrapped around my neck. When he released his pressure, a manic cackle left me. The sound hid the fear crackling in my chest, and my smug smile drew his eyes to mine.
“Not.” I coughed, iron hissing up and down my throat. “Worth it.”
His fingers tightened around my neck again, his knees digging so hard into my arms that he cut off the blood flow to my hands. “Fight. Me.”
It took effort, but I was able to roll my eyes.
As I pressed my mouth into a thin line, he bared his teeth.
“Stupid, then,” he said, his voice lowering. “If you will not fight, you are already dead.”
My stomach twisted and ached, but I glimpsed the warriors ahead. They remained huddled in their group, their heads turned away from us, and the sounds of the feast were still ongoing. I knew I had no other choice but to play this out. To whatever end it would grant me.
“Do it, then,” I spat with the last of my air. “Do it if you dare.”
There was a shred of disbelief in his eyes. “You wish to die?”
I shook my head. “But I know you won’t do it.”
A flash of something he didn’t want me to see crossed his harsh features. He didn’t understand me—he couldn’t read me—and he fucking hated it.
