Page 169 of The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating

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KIDNAP YOUR FATHER-IN-LAW (VILLAIN STYLE)

KAZIMIR

I felt the air pop, thin and smelling of damp earth mixed with something sickeningly sweet—pure Solandris. The scent of leather polish and steel still clung to me and Arabella as we stepped from the ragged portal and onto the moonlit Solandris road.

A sharp pain lanced through my chest, radiating from the main rune carved over my heart. I choked back a groan, but Arabella caught the tightness in my expression, her eyes narrowing with concern.

“Are the runes acting up again?” she asked, scooting closer until our shoulders brushed. That small contact soothed the worst of the ache, though it didn’t banish it completely.

“It’s nothing,” I lied, scanning the road for threats.

“It’s getting worse.” She frowned. “I don’t know why you keep lying about it.”

“And I don’t know why you keep pointing it out.” Damn her truth-sense. It was growing more and more irritating. I sighed. “Perhaps it’s worse than usual,” I admitted. “But now isn’t the time to chat about it.”

I kept my hand at the small of Arabella’s back while she tugged her leathers into place. She’d only half-laced them before we left Skyspire. “So,” she asked without meeting my eyes, “what happens next?”

I nodded toward a merchant’s cart rattling our way, its driver humming, blissfully unaware of the Dark Lord and his wife materializing in the middle of the night. “I plan to persuade him to drive us farther west.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Persuade?”

“I can ask nicely. On occasion.”

“Right,” she said flatly. “So compulsion, then.”

It took only a whisper of dominion to brush the man’s mind. The horse stopped. The driver blinked, his face smoothing to the vacant calm of someone who now existed for the sole purpose of driving me wherever I wanted. Simple minds were refreshingly easy.

Two shadow warriors took shape from the darkness beneath the trees, wolf-like silhouettes that prowled on either side of the carriage. I coaxed four more from the night, sending them to scout ahead. Holding that many shadows in Solandris—despite the magical bond I shared with Arabella—felt like juggling sharp blades while balancing on a fraying rope, but I was taking no chances.

We climbed into the carriage and sat side-by-side. My hand landed on her thigh, mostly to cool the burning in my bones, and I knocked on the carriage roof. At once, we set off at a lively clip.

I studied Arabella in profile as the moonlit fields swept past. She wore that determined set to her jaw. I’d seen that look enough to know she was already plotting whatever confrontation lay ahead at Evenfall Manor.

“What’s your plan when you see him?” I asked softly.

She kept her gaze on the horizon. “I haven’t decided.”

A lie. Her craving for answers—vengeance, maybe—nearly vibrated in the air. But if she wanted to keep secrets, that was her call. I could respect it.

The shadows prowled alongside us, half-formed beasts that flickered between wolves and formless dark. A deeper burn flared along my spine, the runes buzzing like wasp stings against my bones. Solandris always pushed back at my magic with its smug, sanctimonious aura. Normally, I wouldn’t get this close to the Golden Rose Fields without extensive preparations. But with Arabella tangled in my magic, her heroic blood buffering the worst of it, the agony was… less.

My thoughts circled back to that vision we both glimpsed during the enchantment. Something old. Something hungry.

“You’re thinking about what we saw,” Arabella remarked, her tone neutral.

I met her eyes. Denying it was pointless. “I was.”

“What exactlywasit?”

“I have no clue,” I admitted. “But it all felt too familiar. Like it called to the runes in my bones.”

Arabella’s face softened just a fraction.

One of my shadow warriors flickered then vanished, the thread of its connection snapping in my mind. I flinched.

“Your magic’s hurting you.”

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