Page 65 of Her Cruel Redemption

‘And this?’ His voice was deadly calm. ‘Who did this?’

‘Also none of your business.’ I pulled out of his grip, surreptitiously tugging my sleeve back down as I folded my arms.

‘You and whatever hurts you are very much my business,’ he said, his voice low. ‘Let me make them suffer for it.’

I studied him, trying to work out what his angle was. Why the pretence? Why the display of possession? ‘You were trying to kill me the last time I saw you, and now you want to pretend some kind of concern for my welfare? You can’t seriously think I’d be stupid enough to believe such a ploy.’

‘If I’d been trying to kill you, you’d already be dead. I only wanted to scare you.’ A sly smile curled the corners of his mouth. ‘After all, you did stab me.’

‘I’m not sorry.’ The urge to get the upper hand in the interaction finally became too much to deny and I gave into the temptation of power whispering through my veins, drawing on my magic until it was sparking along my fingers, desperate for that shield of deadly energy to hide behind as I raised a hand between us. ‘And I can do far worse than stab you these days,’ I hissed, holding the crackling sparks even as my head began to ache.

We stared at each other for a long moment, the light of the sparks throwing strange shadows across his face.

‘They haven’t taught you anything, have they?’ He looked all too serious now, all traces of that sly smile gone. There was a thread of anger in his voice.

‘I know enough to make you hurt.’

‘They wouldn’t teach me, either.’

‘I know,’ I snapped, ‘I’ve heard your whole life story by now, from everyone other than you.’

‘I could teach you.’ He moved a step closer, as though the lightning in my hands was nothing. ‘After all, I’m the only one alive who’s anything like you. I’m sure all they want to tell you is that human blood and magic don’t mix, but I’m the only one who can teach you how to avoid the worst of what that means.’

My focus on the magic wavered, my surprise diverting my attention to recalculating what I thought he would do next. He was offering toteachme? The sparks died down, becoming little more than flickers. Ihatedhow he always seemed to be able to catch me off guard.

His gaze darted to the receding lightning, bitterness twisting his expression. ‘But I suppose that would interfere with your plan of killing me.’

‘I want more than to just killyou,’ I hissed, drawing closer, wanting to catchhimoff guard the way he always did to me, drawn in by the almost static hum of the space between us, making my skin thrum with awareness the way it did when he was about to touch me. ‘I want to see you beg first.I want to hurt you and own you and destroy you.’ I glowered up at him, burning from something, from everything, from more feeling than I could contain in my skin, and he didn’t flinch, didn’t waver in the face of it. I had the sense that he was burning, too. ‘Onlythenwill I kill you.’

Slowly, he reached out a hand. Slid his fingers onto my hip, stealing tiny stretches of fabric one millimetre at a time, like he thought I’d bite him if he made any sudden movements. I might. Holding my gaze, the hunger blazing in his was dark and thrilling and it made me hate him even more because I wanted him so badly it hurt.

‘Please,’ he said.

The handle of the door behind Draven clicked and it swung open to reveal Lester. He froze mid step as I sprung away, sparks zapping out of existence, flushing like I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t.

‘Are we leaving?’ I blurted out, quickly trying to regain my poise.

Lester’s brows were raised. ‘Yeah. I’m eager to play hostage.’ He shot Draven a salty glower. ‘Thanks for that.’

Draven didn’t look at him. He was still fixed on me.

But Lester was followed out of the room by the rest of Esario’s people, and I caught sight of Gwinellyn still sitting at that table, looking so small surrounded by all those empty chairs. Vic paused nearby when the others had passed.

‘Come on,’ he said after a moment, making it clear he was waiting for me. Draven finally turned his gaze from me, assessing the other man with dark calculation.

‘She’ll come when she’s ready,’ he said, voice low.

Vic drew himself up, though he didn’t have Draven’s height, or the sharp air of menace that seemed to cling to him. When he spoke, he addressed me, but his eyes were locked on the Blood King. ‘Let’s go, Rhiandra. King Esario wants this business finished.’

Draven turned fully now, squaring up against the other man. ‘How about you rethink your address? You’re talking to a queen. You don’t handle her name like you have any right to have it in your mouth. Especially not in front of me.’

Vic opened and closed his mouth a few times as he visibly shrank.

‘Just go, Vic. I’m fine. I’ll be there in a minute,’ I said, glaring at Draven, seething at the spectacle he was making.

Vic dithered a moment longer, before finally taking a step back. ‘Alright. But be quick about it. I’ll see you outside.’

Draven watched him walk away looking for all the world like he was about to follow him. ‘I thinkVic,’he said, spitting out the name with a hearty dose of poison, ‘could use a few less teeth.’

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