Page 71 of The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating
Silence fell as we rode, broken only by the chatter of birds and the distant bleating of goats. My thoughts drifted to the destroyed villages.
Kazimir’s breath ghosted over my ear as he murmured, “A gold coin for your thoughts, Lady Blackrose.”
“Auremar and his negligence,” I said. “He used to be fair, I thought. Respectable. Now…”
Kazimir shrugged, the motion pressing me against him. “Or you only saw the image he projected. Power often makes it easy for people to conceal their true natures.”
I couldn’t argue, but the idea left a bitter taste in my mouth.
A moment later, I blurted, “You could have married Morana, you know. She clearly has… interest in you.”
His grip on the reins tightened. “That was never an option.”
“Why not? She adores power, obviously. And seems to share your ‘methods.’”
He paused so long that I wondered if I’d hit a nerve. When he finally spoke, his voice struck flint against the mountain air. “Because slipping into her bed cost fewer soldiers than storming her walls, and Edmund makes excellent insurance if I decide she’s outlived her usefulness. I kneel to no one—least of all Morana.”
The words thudded between us. I twisted, studying the hard set of his jaw. “So...”
“Yes, Morana was already married. Yes, Edmund knew. Shocking revelations all around.”
“Still,” I muttered, turning forward again, “Morana isn’t some moon-eyed courtier. Slice her pride and she’ll slice back.”
Kaz laughed, low and edged. “She can try.”
That wasn’t bravado. I felt the chill certainty in his magic coiling around us. Suddenly the pass seemed too small for Morana’s ambition and his foresight to coexist.
I swallowed hard. “So… Lord Edmund…?”
“Has watched his wife collect ‘conquests’ for years,” Kazimir murmured wryly into my ear. “And no, I didn’t particularly care about his feelings. I’m the Dark Lord, after all.”
His casual acceptance of that cruelty unsettled me more than I wanted to admit. We lapsed into silence again, the tang of pine and distant woodsmoke drifting on the air. I reminded myself he was, indeed, a villain.
My patience frayed enough for me to poke at him. “I suppose our marriage is just another pragmatic arrangement, then. If I wanted to indulge in lovers the way Morana does?—”
Kazimir’s arm crushed me to his chest in a single, decisive motion. My heart hammered as his voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. “You won’t.”
A strangled promise of violence laced every syllable. My breath caught. He kept me pressed to him, as if reminding me he could extinguish my enemies—and possibly me—without blinking. When he released his punishing hold to something more measured, I still felt his heartbeat thrumming behind me.
I swallowed the thrill of adrenaline. I’d only meant to taunt him, but the response left me rattled… and oddly flattered. I squared my shoulders, forcing casualness. “So you’d kill any hypothetical lover that came near me?”
“Hypothetically,” he agreed, the corner of his mouth brushing my ear again, “yes.”
A nervous laugh escaped me. I didn’t doubt him. Not entirely. And I had no idea what unsettled me more: the threat itself or the flicker of twisted, possessive attraction that sparked dangerously between us.
We rode on in silence, while I tried not to think about how I might actually enjoy being property the Dark Lord wouldn’t share.
30
PROVIDE COMFORT, ASSERT DOMINANCE (MULTI-TASKING FOR THE MODERN DARK LORD)
ARABELLA
I couldn’t seem to get warm.
Despite the scalding bath I’d taken after our return to the citadel, despite the roaring fire in Kazimir’s chambers, and despite the four blankets I’d cocooned myself in, a stubborn chill clung to my bones. I blamed the last crossing over the lightning bridge. The icy wind had sliced right through my cloak, and hours later I was still shivering.
“Are you still cold?” Kazimir asked from the bed. He lay there with maddening ease, naked except for the book resting on his chest.
