Page 88 of The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating
I shut my eyes and tried to drift off, but the image of her parted lips, trembling in shared magic, scorched itself behind my eyelids. It occurred to me I was in far deeper trouble than I’d ever been.
And, disturbingly enough, I didn’t regret it.
37
DANGLE A SPY (FOR INFORMATION AND AMUSEMENT)
KAZIMIR
“Please! I’ll tell you anything else you want to know!”
I dangled the spy upside down over the lightning bridge, his body swaying in the bitter wind that whipped around Skyspire. My shadows were wrapped tightly around his ankles as he hung suspended over certain death. Below, energy crackled across the magical bridge with enough voltage to reduce a man to ash in seconds. His face had turned an interesting shade of purple, possibly from the blood rushing to his head or from sheer terror. Perhaps both.
I loosened my shadowy grip just enough to drop him a few inches closer to that crackling death. His eyes bulged, and a pitiful whimper tore from his throat.
“I understand the king sent you to assess our defenses,” I said, leaning against the stone parapet while feigning interest in my fingernails. “What else do you know?”
The spy hiccupped out a sob. “Nothing! I swear on my mother’s grave!”
I tapped my fingers against the cold stone. “You expect me to believe King Auremar sent you on a suicide mission without explaining his motivations? How disappointingly predictable.”
I cracked my neck and let out a small sigh. This was taking far too long. Time for a more direct approach. I activated the rune over my throat.
“Tell me what you know about King Auremar’s plans for Lady Blackrose,” I commanded, lacing my voice with dominion magic. The words thrummed with power, clamping down on the spy’s mind just like the shadows around his ankles.
His eyes glazed over, pupils dilating as my magic took hold. When he spoke again, his voice was flat, compelled by my will.
“The king arranged with Lord Evenfall to take Lady Arabella as his bride. Forty thousand gold crowns and a seat on the royal council in exchange,” he droned. “We were sent to assess if extraction was possible. Lord Evenfall claims she was taken against her will.”
The king? And Evenfall had demandedfiftythousand from me, so the greedy bastard was negotiating from both ends.
I tightened my grip on the parapet. “And when was this arrangement made?”
“Before her abduction. Lord Evenfall was finalizing terms when you took her.”
“Was Lady Evenfall aware of these plans?”
“No. She was to be informed only after everything was arranged. No option for refusal.”
The shadows around his ankles pulsed with my anger, turning black and violet in time with my heartbeat. Evenfall had been mere days away from selling his daughter off to Auremar, without even giving her the courtesy of a choice.
As my dominion magic receded, clarity returned to the spy’s eyes. He blinked and then scowled when he realized what hadhappened. “If you could just force me to speak, why go through this dramatic display?”
I flashed him a cold smile. “Because dangling spies over energy bridges is one of the few pleasures in a Dark Lord’s day.”
Movement in my periphery caught my attention. Vex appeared at the doorway, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. Her slight tilt of the head indicated mild interest in the spectacle.
“Interrogation going well?” she asked drily.
“Splendidly,” I replied, sweeping a hand toward our guest. “Our friend was just explaining how King Auremar and Lord Evenfall arranged Arabella’s marriage before I kidnapped her.”
Vex stepped closer and peered down at the spy with open disgust. “The king is three times her age.”
“Yes.” My hands balled into fists. “The only thing more pathetic than an old man buying a bride is a father willing to sell her.”
The spy immediately started babbling. “I have a family… children?—”
“You should’ve thought about them before working for men who trade women like livestock.” I released the shadow bonds.
