A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)

by Marie Brennan

He regarded me with a bemused expression. “You want me for my library.”

I pray you pardon me a moment of sentimentality when I say that I adored my husband’s laugh.

In my excitement, I had risen up onto my knees, gesticulating with my bound hands like a Chiavoran street-seller. There was no chance of my captor doubting me now; I would have to have been a stage actress to feign that kind of demented enthusiasm.

“I intend to bring both of you with me, you and Camherst both, and you can argue about who gets to skulk in the bushes with a rifle. Not you, though, Mrs. Camherst, or your husband will have an apoplexy.”

“I don’t want you to pine away, Isabella. If it’s my job, as your husband, to take care of you, then I will do so—by giving you the life you need.”