Throne in the Dark (Villains & Virtues, #1)

by A.K. Caggiano

“My life’s work,” said Damien, lips curling at the corners and thin, black brows narrowing. “It is finally complete.” He was twenty-seven.

“Silver,” he said with a huff. “You had silver on you this whole time, woman?” She blinked, looking at him like he had just appeared, then shrugged. “By the basest beasts, with all the talking you do, how did this not come up?”

I’ve run into a little hitch. It’s a minor complication, a thing I could probably crush it’s so small and fragile and…blonde, but the point is, I believe it will delay my plans.”

“You have resting villain face.” “I am a villain.” And then Amma, the girl he had abducted, dragged across the realm, and threatened to murder, actually rolled her eyes at him.

“Just as horses do not eat meat, knoggelvi do not—” Suddenly, they caught the smell, and the two nuzzled into her palms and gobbled the cubes up. “They do not have any strong convictions, I suppose.”

“Did you hear that?” Amma’s sharp whisper cut into Damien’s mind as it began to drift into sleep. He groaned. “You mean that terrifying cry that sounded like a woman being gutted?” “Yes!” “No, I didn’t. Go to sleep.”

“And you’ve put us in here together so we can plot our way out in tandem?” Damien gestured back to Amma sitting on the single, narrow cot, which had been a complete waste of an only-one-bed situation and managed to somehow heighten the frustration he was feeling.

Apparently serving one’s god close enough afforded one the power to suss out sarcasm no matter how well it was disguised.

Her eyes flashed then, narrowing. “How pretty?” “I’ve met prettier since,” he said carefully.

He watched her contemplate what seemed like her whole existence as she pulled her hands back to herself and stared down at the table.

“Oh, as far as I’m concerned, that engagement is absolute rubbish!” Finally, thought Damien, someone in Faebarrow worthy of Amma’s friendship.