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I reminded myself again and again that I was a betrothed woman with no right to care, but hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop the hurt that constricted my throat.
The knife gouged a little deeper.
You need to show them that you’re not just a predator—you’re the apex predator.
“From Blessed Mother Lumnos,” Luther answered.
“Lumnos had grey eyes. She gifted her offspring with blue eyes at the Forging, but hers always remained grey.” “How do you know that?” I asked softly—so soft that I wasn’t sure he’d heard me, until his own slate blue gaze finally lifted to mine.
“It’s only a bust, not a statue.” The words came out of my mouth before I realized what I had done—what my words had implied. The room went quiet.
Its presence grew dark, unbearably heavy, seeming to drag me with it as it shrank toward him and coiled within.
“I can’t speak for the other realms, but I can attest that mortals do not see a scar as a sign of weakness,”
scar is a sign of survival,” I continued. “Of endurance. It’s a sign that its bearer triumphed over what might have killed a lesser person. To show off your scars is to tell the world you’re not ashamed of what you’ve overcome. Frankly, I can’t imagine any better symbol of strength.
“It’s not for me to decide, nor my father. Her Majesty is entitled to choose whatever Consort she sees fit.”
It’s a relief to have someone willing to challenge him and put her in her place.”
“That Luther Corbois is a man with many secrets. And many plans.”
My protests died with one glance at Luther’s harsh expression.
A storm was brewing.
“You will address Her Majesty with respect,” he barked. The hallway fell silent. I had never seen a guard so much as glance at Luther the wrong way, let alone openly challenge him.
“You’re healed,” I cried, marveling at his sturdy body.
“It would be my greatest honor to repay that debt.” “To see you healthy is repayment enough.”
His eyes narrowed. “Foot,” he said again, the roughness of his tone stirring something low in my belly.
It was a dangerous cocktail, and I was still in the mood to drink.
He grabbed my waist and dragged my body towards him until the back of my thigh slapped against his hips. My lips popped open, and his eyes gleamed with challenge, daring me to object.
Jesus Murphy omg
“I think I see now why you two work so well together. She’s miserable to be around, and you love to be miserable. It’s a perfect match.” His mouth thinned ever so slightly, and my grin spread wide with triumph. Diem one, Luther zero.
Luther smiled darkly. Tie game.
There was a dominance to his tone, something less than possessive but far more than protective.
but it also sang with the hint of forbidden promise. A glimpse of what he might offer, if I let myself submit.
I should have hated it. I was a Queen, after all. But I didn’t. I really, really didn’t.
His thumb stroked my ankle, tender and feather light. “Good girl,” he murmured. My thighs clenched. Diem one, Luther ten.
BRUH omfg
Feelings were real, and I didn’t—couldn’t—want real. This was just a game.
The longer it lay there, the more it felt like a hand—Luther’s hand, pressing me to the mattress and holding me at his mercy.
Diem one, Luther one thousand.
His face angled toward my leg, his lips nearly brushing my ankle. “Tell me then, my Queen, how would you like me to serve you?”
“I doubt your lover would approve of that.” His chin lowered. “Neither would yours.” Game over.
“No, it doesn’t.” He crossed the room and batted my hands away, deftly untangling the clip and setting it aside. “You forget the conditions I’ve seen you in. I know how easily your beauty shines through.”
Luther slammed his hands against the wardrobe on either side of my head. “Aemonn is using you,” he snarled.
“We may be vipers, but you’re no mouse. You’re a fucking dragon.”
“What must I do to prove myself to you?” he breathed, sounding as desperate as he was furious. “Break from House Corbois, if you wish. It changes nothing—I will still serve you. Appoint every soul in the realm as your advisor but me. Marry your mortal. Worse, mate yourself off to that snake Aemonn.” His gaze turned dark as a moonless night. “Exile me from the realm. I will serve you from afar.”
“I’ll give my life to protect him, if that is your command.”
“Out there, I will do anything you ask of me. Anything. But here, in private, do not expect me to hold my tongue while you give your heart to a man you had to beg to keep from walking away.” His glare sharpened. “A man who only agreed to marry you when you offered him a throne.”
He’s so good
“I don’t care,” he thundered back. “It’s my job to know the true motives of the people closest to you. I will keep you safe, and I will not apologize for it. Not now, not ever.”
He roughly cupped my face in his hands, his fingers clinging to my skin like he might fall to his death if he ever let me go. “Not even if you despise me. Not even if I am nothing to you. Because my calling comes from a higher authority than even you can claim, Your Majesty. As she guarded my heart, I will guard over yours. Even if it kills me.”
There was nothing but him and me and this light that burned between us, this glowing beacon we couldn’t ignore, even if it lured us to our destruction.
A moment later, the door slammed closed. And once again, I was alone.
that sliver of joy he’d allowed me to see before our fight last night had cast him back into the shadows.
“He said he’s never seen anyone handle themselves so well with our family before. He said you were born to be Queen.”
The same conflict that plagued me was reflected in his eyes—the joy at seeing his sister so happy, the pain at knowing its inescapable end.
“It’s not easy for me to let go when I care about someone. To watch them choose something I know will hurt them.” “Teller would never hurt her.” “I wasn’t talking about Lily.” My heart was a fluttering songbird, beating its wings against the bars of its gilded cage.
To confess that I couldn’t understand why he trusted me, cared for me, so much more than people he had known his whole life. And worse, that I felt exactly the same. And how much it scared me.
At the end of it, he squeezed my shoulder. “Tonight’s going to go great. And you won’t even need the Challenging, because you’ll kill them all with your dancing instead.”
His glittering eyes shot to mine. “Impossible to forget.”
I broke into a mischievous grin. “It’s not the size that matters Luther, it’s what you can do with it.”
But something inside me insisted this moment was vital—that this was a side of him I needed to see, and more importantly, a side of himself Luther needed to feel seen.
