Page 65 of The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating

I was preparing an answer, something reasonable to disguise the aphrodisiacs. But before I could spin my denial, she yawned, broad and unladylike.

She clamped a hand over her mouth, blinking with surprise. “Sorry. Now that I think about it, I’m incredibly sleepy.”

A second yawn overtook her, impossible to hide. She looked more annoyed than anything else. “So that’s what you laced the food with, hm? Something to coax me into enthusiasm?”

I blinked. An uncomfortable prickle of embarrassment worked its way up my spine. “It wasn’t meant to knock you out,” I said, clearing my throat. “It was an aphrodisiac, technically. A mild one. I planned on?—”

“I grew up atcourt,” she informed me wearily, “and I discovered years ago that those potions have an unintended effect on me. Instead of making me… overly affectionate, they just make me tired. Sorry to disappoint.”

I nearly choked on my own wine. Her triumphant, sleepy grin let me know I’d just blundered spectacularly. My entire plan, ruined by her bizarre constitution.

“They were just supposed to, you know, set the mood,” I muttered.

“Naturally,” she said, obviously amused at my expense. “Like watering a plant or something?”

I winced. “Don’t put it like that.”

She stifled another yawn, arms folding. “I’m too tired to be furious right now, but we’ll talk about your manipulative approach tomorrow.”

I inhaled slowly through my nose, forcing composure. “Fine. But at least let me help you to bed? For sleeping it off, I mean.”

She eyed me suspiciously, but her exhaustion seemed to win out. “All right. But only because the alternative is an undignified face-plant on your carpet.”

I rose and offered an arm, which she accepted with minimal protest. We ascended the winding stairs toward our tower suites. Each step she took felt heavier, and by the time we reached the top, her eyes drooped so badly that she was practically asleep on her feet. With a resigned sigh, I scooped her into my arms. Her soft murmur of protest faded as she collapsed against my shoulder. I felt the gentle rise and fall of her breath, and tried not to dwell on how perfectly she fit against me.

In the bedchamber, I laid her down with the utmost care. She curled onto her side, hugging a pillow, while I removed her shoes. One hand brushed against my sleeve in her half-sleep, and something uncomfortably warm bloomed under my ribs. A pang of unexpected longing tugged at me—how different this evening might have been if my plan had succeeded. She cracked one eye open, words slurring with fatigue.

“You’re not undressing me in my sleep, are you?” she mumbled.

“I wouldn’t dare,” I said. “Though that dress will be awful in the morning.”

She made a lazy gesture of dismissal. “Don’t care... pillow wall...” Then she drifted off, eyes sliding shut completely.

Sighing, I stacked pillows around her the way she insisted. Tonight, it was certainly unnecessary—she was too far gone to be lured into anything. I felt a laugh bubbling in my chest at the sheer irony.Kazimir Blackrose, undone by the wrong tincture.How humiliating.

I brushed a loose strand of hair off her face. Her only response was a soft, contented sound. The sight of her dozing so peacefully sent a pulse of protectiveness down my spine.It startled me enough that I quickly backed toward the door, determined to escape that strange pull.

I headed for my study, intending to work until I collapsed, as well. Lord Evenfall’s demands. The Heirloom’s locked power. My own half-baked attempts at seduction. None of it had gone as I intended.

And at every turn, Arabella had a way of confounding me. I suspected I’d be thinking about it long into the night.

28

SHOW HER THE WORKPLACE HAZARDS (JEALOUS EX INCLUDED)

KAZIMIR

“Is this entirely necessary?” Arabella asked as we approached the narrow lightning bridge to the Portal Isle. “You have personal portals. We could simply?—”

“The personal portals are for emergencies,” I explained, stepping toward the bridge’s edge. In the predawn gloom, the glow of the lightning bridge blotted out everything else. “They drain too much power to use casually.”

She ignored my offered hand—of course she did—and walked onto the bridge herself, cloak billowing behind her to reveal her training leathers. They hugged her in all the right places, a fact I continued to note with no small amount of satisfaction. I’d known the moment she chose them she meant to irritate Morana. I appreciated that level of calculated spite.

“Besides,” I continued, catching up to her in a few strides, “Portal Isle has permanent gates that require minimal maintenance.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “How disappointingly sensible.”

I shrugged. “I save the extravagant displays for special occasions.”

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