Page 9 of A Cruel Kindness

He completely ignored me, just ripped open the packaging of the nutrient bar ever further and shoved it toward me. “Shut up and eat it, princess.”

When I hesitated, trying to sort through my confusion and the fact that an odd little trickle of contentment was sliding through my chest, completely unprovoked, Soren growled, a low, primal sound in the back of his throat.

As if that was a verbal command, I lifted the bar to my mouth and took a large bite.

“Okay, on that note,” the stern man from earlier said, drawing out his words in an obvious attempt to pull mine and Soren’s attention away from one another. It took me a full three seconds to tear my eyes away from his. I sucked in air when I did, my lungs feeling much tighter than they had mere minutes ago.

“My name is General Bello, but you may call me Peter,” the man said, extending his hand to me. After a moment, he subtly pulled it back. I wanted to frown at the slight, but something was telling me he’d done that to avoid something worse than a missed a social grace. “I think we ought to discuss the ins and outs of your new arrangement, don’t you think?”

He was right, but I wasn’t going to be so quick to agree. My body felt weird, like it wasn’t in control anymore. My mind felt muddled, and not just because I was actively fighting the urge to bury my nose in Soren’s neck and sniff him. His very bare neck, which was connected to his very bare chest. “I’m not going anywhere with him like that.”

It was convenient that Royal protocol tended towards the demure and I could pass it off as avoiding impropriety. God forbid a claim that I’d been in the same room with a shirtless man I wasn’t married to.

Soren laughed under his breath, then leaned close enough that his nose brushed my hair. Yes, my instincts screamed. The voice in my head sounded like a mix of my own and a much more powerful undercurrent.

No, I forcefully reminded whoever was speaking. Good God, what was happening? “I’ll put on clothes,” Soren said, speaking no louder than a grumble right into my ear. “You’ve seen my Mark, now.” I turned toward him, our faces mere inches apart. He smiled when our eyes connected, then he shaved off an inch of space we didn’t have to spare by dipping his chin slightly. “I look forward to the opportunity to see yours up close.”

I sucked in a shocked breath at his forwardness. That was not … well, that was to say we shouldn’t—it was… “Absolutely not,” was the best I could manage. At least until I got my wits about me.

That only made Soren’s smile widen, the twin dimples on his cheek lengthening. “In all likelihood, you will be retracting that statement.”

Indignation burned a fire in my chest, the infamous Edelstenne stubbornness than ran in my family cementing into my bones. “I don’t care about likelihood. Not. Happening.”

“Good.” Wait, what? Oh my God, he was goading me. I wondered if it would be too upsetting if I strangled him in front of the entire room. “I was hoping we’d be on the same page about this.”

I could feel my own nostrils flare with a heavy breath. “You just said that—”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Soren had turned with a grin and strode off to whatever hole he climbed out of to come and torture me for the last five minutes.

Everyone else followed my gaze to watch him saunter away, his muscled backside pressing into the plush towel covering his waist, with his Mark on full display.

No, my instincts shouted at me, suddenly horrified by the prospect of all of these people staring at our Mark. They didn’t get to look at that. That was mine.

Woah. I physically reared back with the force of those thoughts, jumping into my mind from the Goddess only knew where. I’d never killed someone before, never even gotten close, but that history was nowhere to be found right now. Not when I was seriously contemplating an attempt to blind the entire room for looking at Soren like that.

I turned to find Peter staring at me with a careful eye. He didn’t even have to say anything for me to know he’d clocked exactly what I was thinking.

“This way,” he said, with a cock of his head. I followed silently, obediently, all of the sudden fearing I had severely underestimated how prepared I was to deal with this … Bond inside of me.

Chapter 4

Bellamy

Only God knew how, but by the time Peter and I made it down the hallway Soren had disappeared into, Soren was already dressed and leaning against a door at the far end.

Either his quarters were close or he stashed a change of clothes in a broom closet for safekeeping. I was pretty sure it was the latter.

Peter shook his head at Soren, mumbling something to himself. I wasn’t interested in what he was saying, not when Soren and I seemed to slip in a silent battle for … something.

All I knew was that we were staring at each other, and I had zero desire to blink. Or stop.

I didn’t even notice that Peter had opened the door until he said, “Excuse me,” loud enough to get my attention.

I broke eye contact first, but I could still feel Soren's gaze burning into the side of my face. My nerves seemed to light on fire in return. Not a stinging blaze, but a more mellow warmth spreading across my skin.

“Sit down, right now,” Peter snapped at both of us, pointing his finger toward the chairs on the other side of his desk.

Even though I figured Soren made it his personal life mission to be as stubborn as possible, he listened, moving past me to slump down in a chair and crossing his massive arms across his chest. He rolled his neck, his hand coming up to grip the bulging muscle that connected his shoulder to his throat.