Page 2 of Lady of the Lake

He gazes into my eyes like he’s trying to read my thoughts for just a moment, still holding his towel in place. “Then perhaps we should get on with it.”

Back when I worked in the bookstore—both a year and a lifetime ago—I’d sometimes flip through the wedding books to look at the gorgeous images of women in white, cream, and palepinks. I’d pour over the beautifully set tables blooming with flowers and flickering lanterns, so gorgeous they might as well have been put together by the Fey. Perhaps I let myself dream once or twice of what my own wedding would be like, but never in any of these daydreams did I imagine I’d be planning to kill my husband soon after our wedding day.

I stall. “Surely a commoner can’t marry the prince.”

“She can if I fucking say so. And as I said, if you don’t marry me, you’ll likely end up dead.”

I bite my lip. “I’m not sure the threats are improving this situation for me.”

“I’m not the one who will kill you. If Arwenna gets her claws in my army, she’ll have your head delivered to her bedchamber on a silver platter. Probably gilded just for the aesthetics.” A disarming smile. “She can be very theatrical. But if I marry you today, it will solve my problems. So, that’s what we’re doing. And you get to spend more time with the most devastatingly seductive man in the kingdom. We both win.”

I wrinkle my nose. “At what point in your life did you start referring to yourself as ‘the most devastatingly seductive man in the kingdom’?”

He shrugs. “You hear it enough times in people’s dreams, and it sinks in.”

“And why me, exactly, and not a noblewoman?”

He goes still, one hand on his towel. Water slides down his skin, trailing over his dark tattoos and his abs. “Why you? Because as far as everyone knows, you’re my mistress. I’m refusing to marry Arwenna, but my father is desperate now. Our army just took a terrible blow. My own plan of beating the human military failed spectacularly.”

My blood goes cold.“A military loss? That’s a shame.” I clear my throat. “Do you have any idea what went wrong?”

He shakes his head. “A traitor among us. Someone alerted the humans of our invasion plan. But I will find the cunt, and I will crush his bones into dust, then hang his head from the castle door as a reminder to anyone who fucks with me.”

My lungs feel tight, my head dizzy.Fuck.“Of course.”

“It’s part of why my father is desperate to marry me to Arwenna. With our treasury empty, the nobles are starting to rebel. There’s unrest within the commoners as well. Father is taxing them to death, and they’re ready to light this palace on fire. My father needs money desperately, and he can get that easily from my marriage to the countess. According to our laws, the king can force me to marry even if I refuse. I don’t even need to beatthe wedding. He threatened to keep me in the dungeons until it was over. The only thing that can stop him is if I’m already married.”

“So, why not just marry Arwenna and get the money?”

He arches a dark eyebrow. “That woman? I’d sooner burn the kingdom to the ground myself.”

“Fair point.”

“And trust me, my darling mistress, if Arwenna becomes my wife, her power will only grow, and it will become harder to protect you. The first thing she will try to do is murder you. Do you know what she did once to a woman she mistakenly believed to be my lover? When I was away on a hunting trip, she had the woman stripped, covered in bacon fat, and eaten by wild dogs in Corbinelle Square. I may not show it, Nia, but my hatred for that woman runs deep.”

I swallow hard. “I admit that it doesn’t sound like it would make a great marriage.”

“I’ve brought you into this castle, and I told you that I would protect you, didn’t I? The best way for me to protect you is for you to be my wife. No one will touch a princess.”

My heart slams against my ribs. She’d already tried to kill me twice. If she did manage to marry Talan, I wondered if she’d demand my death from Auberon as a wedding gift. “But that’s not really what this is about, is it? Keeping me safe? What’s your real motivation?”

He leans in, his voice rich and edged with steel. “My father is losing control, and I intend to take what is mine before he drags us all into ruin. And you, my little rustic poppet, are going to help me do it.”

Talan turns away from me and drops his towel. I stare at his perfect ass, the network of smooth muscles, and force myself to look away.

When I glance at him again, he’s sporting a pair of black underwear. He lifts one of the candles to a lantern, and my breath speeds up as the light washes over his abs. My cheeks flush. I may be here to kill him, but I can’t take my eyes off him.

He grabs his trousers and pulls them on. “Instead of staring at me, my little farmer, why don’t you do what I tell you? Remove your clothes, wash the dirt off, and get ready for our wedding. You get to be a princess, and all you have to do is stand beside me and pretend you want me.” His gaze slides down to my throat like he’s watching my pulse. “Though I’m not sure how much you need to pretend.”

“I don’t want to be a princess. Not when the prince…” I bite my tongue.

Not when the prince is my enemy, a target on my kill list—and on top of that, a temptation I’m not sure I can resist.

CHAPTER 2

Talan prowls closer, his movements graceful and controlled. He pulls on a shirt, and I find myself slightly better able to focus.

“Not when the princewhat?”Each word is like a jab of ice.

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