Page 29 of The Blade in the Ashes
Nikolai shot me a smug smile.
“Very well,” Clay agreed, throwing his napkin atop his plate with an air of finality. “There’s just one last matter to consider.”
“And here I thought this was all coming together so easily,” Camilla muttered.
This witch was just begging to get stabbed.
“Funding a war doesn’t exactly come for free,” Clay said, his shoulders falling. “I obviously don’t have access to the Royal Treasury at the vault right now.”
“Hypatia Manor should have some chests,” Camilla offered. “I suppose it’s mine now.”
Elaina nodded. “I could write to my parents?”
Nikolai was staring at me. It was making it impossible to think and strategize with his eyes continuously trailing over me and his tongue darting over his lower lip andfuckdid he have to be so attractive at a time like this?
“I have an idea!” I spat out the words, impressed that I didn’t sound half as flustered as I felt. With a growing grin, I turned and met his gaze head-on. “Any chance the things in my room are all still there?”
Those amber-ringed eyes sparkled. “Everything inourroom is just as you left it, wife.”
My core heated, and some distant part of me registered the sound of someone coughing at his words, but I couldn’t bring myself to try to figure out who it had been.
“Good,” I breathed. “Because there are certainly enough jewels in there to get us started.”
I felt his eyes tracing over me like tiny snowflakes falling across my brow, eyes, cheeks, and lips. I forced myself to stay still under the weight of his attention and didn’t look away as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
“Do with it what you want. It’s all yours, anyway.”
All of my friends could have up and left the room in that moment, and I wouldn’t have even noticed.
“I do have one request, though,” he murmured quietly, the words meant just for me. His breath tickled my cheek as he continued leaning towards me. “There is oneparticularnecklace I’d like to keep.”
The memory punched through me, shooting me with a spark of desire so strong I had to press my thighs together.
Nikolai’s hand grazed the skin under my collarbone, lingering there for a moment too long. “You seem to at least appreciate the jewels.”
Green eyes flecked with rings of gold stared at the ruby necklace across my chest.
“One day, I’d like to see you with these jewels and nothing else.”
“That day will never come.”
“Oh, I think it will, my darling bird. I think that day will come sooner than you’re ready to admit to yourself.”
I was so screwed.
Chapter Nine
Camilla
Ijolted at the sudden knock on the door and cursed silently to myself. It was getting pathetic how easily startled I was these days.
Silently, I pushed across the tiny bedroom that had become my chamber and workspace. Bracing myself, I opened the door, prepared to find another weeping injury.
“Pardon me, Miss.” My gaze fell down to the small, curly-haired child grinning up at me. “My mother has a headache, and someone said you might be able to help?”
I’d never been a fan of children. They were altogether too small and too easily injured. Not to mention loud, whiny, and far too needy. My first experience with a child had been my cousin, and she had, for lack of a better term, been a complete brat.
Although this one was cute enough, I supposed, with sandy hair and a splattering of freckles. She smiled widely at me, trust seeping out of her expression.
