Page 109 of The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating

ARABELLA

“You’re staring.” I lowered my fork to my plate. Kazimir had been watching me eat for several minutes, staring at me like he couldn’t decide whether to devour me or the meal first. The cozy alcove of his tower hid a private dining area I hadn’t known existed until this morning, when he’d led me here after we’d finally exhausted ourselves. Outside the tall windows, diffused sunlight filtered through the clouds, making everything in the room glow.

He leaned back in his chair, all dark elegance and insufferable confidence. “Am I not allowed to look at my wife?”

“Not when she’s trying to eat.” I shifted in my seat, acutely aware of the pleasant ache in my body. “It’s unnerving.”

He shrugged, his slow smile unapologetic. “I enjoy watching you enjoy things. You have a little quirk—your eyes widen, and your mouth twitches up just before you catch yourself.”

I felt my cheeks warm. “You’re being ridiculous.”

For a few moments, we ate in near silence. I found myself stealing glances at him despite chiding him for doing the same. I studied the way the sunlight darkened the gleam of his hair, thedecisive movements of his hands, the faint stubble along his jaw that I’d felt against my skin not so long ago. This was our first breakfast together. Normally, he was gone before I woke up. It wasn’t a casual shift in his routine; it was a deliberate choice.

Kazimir caught me looking as he reached for the honey. “Nowyou’rethe one staring.”

“I was just thinking this is nice,” I said, deflecting. “Though I’m surprised the Dark Lord takes time for breakfast at all. Doesn’t it interfere with your schedule of terrorizing the countryside?”

“Terrorizing on an empty stomach leads to poor decision-making. Beheading the wrong peasant, that sort of thing.” He gestured dismissively with his spoon. “Besides, I’ve already completed my morning terror. The kitchen staff was quite alarmed when I requested breakfast for two.”

I laughed and grabbed my tea cup. “The Dark Lord, domesticated at last.”

“Perhaps.” He reached across the table and brushed his fingertip along the inside of my wrist. A tingling wave of magic rippled up my arm. “I’ve never felt magic quite like this. Can you sense it? Under your skin?”

I nodded. Since last night, my power had been thrumming through me, vibrant and alive in ways I’d never experienced.

“It’s like...” I searched for the right words. “Like I’ve been holding my breath for years, but I didn’t know it. And now I can finally breathe.”

The hint of a smile left Kazimir’s face, and he withdrew his hand from mine. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

I set down my cup, suddenly wary. “That sounds ominous.”

“It’s about your father.” He paused, watching me carefully. “And what I discovered at Evenfall Estate.”

My stomach twisted unpleasantly. “You went there?”

“A couple of weeks ago, yes. I needed to see what kind of man thinks it’s acceptable to lock his daughter in a tower.” His jaw tightened. “And I discovered something you deserve to know.”

I waited, not trusting myself to speak. Kazimir’s eyes met mine, and I was startled by the anger I saw there—not directed at me, butforme.

“Your father’s estate is riddled with suppression runes,” he finally said. “Powerful ones, designed specifically to dampen magical abilities. They’re concentrated most heavily in the tower where you were imprisoned, but they’re throughout the manor as well.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. “Suppression?”

“Blood-bound inhibitors. Old ones.” Kazimir’s expression hardened. “Some were recently activated, but others have been there for decades. Your father clearly has no magic of his own, so he must have paid people over the years to create and maintain them.”

A memory surfaced of my father’s furious grip on my arm, dragging me into the tower after I’d used my truth-sense to expose one of his lies at a dinner party.“You’ll learn your place,”he’d snarled.“Or you’ll stay in that tower until you do.”

I’d spent a year in that cold, silent prison. A year of being forced to cling to illusions for comfort, the heartbreak of suspecting no one outside those walls cared if I ever reemerged.

“He told everyone I was ill,” I said, the words bitter on my tongue. “That I needed isolation to recover. And they believed him, because who would question Lord Evenfall about his own daughter?”

The magic that had been humming pleasantly beneath my skin all morning now roared to life, responding to my fury. I could feel it surging through me, wild and untamed, seeking an outlet.

“The tower wasn’t just a punishment,” Kazimir continued, his voice gentle. “Each time you began to grow too powerful, he’d lock you away until the runes could do their work. Until you were... diminished again.”

“Why?” I managed, though I wasn’t sure if I was asking Kazimir or the universe at large. “Why would he do that to his own daughter?”

“Fear,” he said simply. “Your bloodline carries immense power that he couldn’t hope to control or understand. So he did what weak men always do when faced with something stronger than themselves. He tried to break it.”

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