Dire Bound (The Wolves of Ruin, #1)

by Sable Sorensen

His eyes glow again. He liked that answer. “You should… What are you writing?” I lift up the page to show him what I’ve scrawled out as my first priority. Work on my glower.

And in case my implication is not crystal fucking clear: You touch her again and I’ll cull you myself.”

I ignore her, focusing in on the path ahead. This isn’t about Stark or anybody else. It’s about Saela. Within minutes, our lightning pace carries us out of sight of the city. As soon as the castle spires disappear behind the tree line, Stark says, “If you’re going to be reckless, princess, at least let me keep you alive.”

Without thinking, I turn to look at Stark over my shoulder. “What do you believe?” He frowns as though the question surprises him, then his lips thin in grim disapproval. “The only thing I believe in with any certainty is death. It comes for us all.”

I almost laugh at the way he makes his tall, muscular body compress as small as possible on the bed across from me, as if I carry some kind of virulent disease that is transferred by touch. Yet there’s also a strange pang in my chest at the thought.

“Do you have any idea what it felt like to watch you at the Forging Ball in the dress I picked for you”—What?!—“swirling in your lover’s arms and bowing to his traitor father?”

He reaches through the bars and grabs my wrist, the contact alighting my blood. “Give me the word and I’ll tear out his throat. All the lives I’ve ever taken were just training for this moment, my queen. Make me your instrument of vengeance. Let my hands act out your every savage, depraved thought. Use me. I’m yours.” Mine. My psycho asshole. My bloodthirsty killer.

I bite my lip, suddenly self-conscious. “You’re worried?” He scoffs. “Never. You are the danger. Any person who doesn’t see that deserves what’s coming to them.”