The Unmarked Witch

by Miranda Lyn

Though I truly believed the coven leaders were doing their best to show peace among themselves, sidelong glances and fisted hands were blatant proof that if something didn't change, everything would.

The king's man wrapped his arm around his waist and bowed to Breya. “Those that love me call me Grey, those that tolerate me call me Sir, and those that dislike me rarely find their tongues to call me anything at all.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “I was going for dramatic.” “You're supposed to be dark and murdery.” “You've got a lot of opinions about what I'm supposed to be for someone who’s never formally met me.”

Wondering what gift he meant, I surveyed the room again, afraid I'd find a dead body or maybe a gift box with a severed head.

“If I weren't madly in love with women, I'd marry you, sir.” He gripped his chest. “I can't bear the pain.”

“Better a villain by truth than a hero by lies. I'll be the devil in your story if that's what you need, but I will not apologize for what I choose to protect.” He looked at me then. His eyes lit with passion and anger and a thousand other things I couldn't define. “That includes you.”

“The benefit to being the villain is there's nothing they can do to me that I won't repay tenfold.”

“I'm not a chivalrous man. I know you're hurting, and I should do the right thing, but I won't. If you need to use me to feel something, then use me because whatever I feel for you, it's agony. Every day. Every second. Every breath. Give me agony. If that's what it means to be with you, I choose it.”