Page 85 of The Dark Lord's Guide to Dating

“That’s not—” she began, but stopped herself.

“May I?” My hands hovered above her shoulders. After what I’d discovered tonight, I found myself uncharacteristically reluctant to touch her without permission. “No ulterior motives. Just relief.”

“I’m surprised,” she said, “that you’re not just looking for another excuse to touch me.”

I recognized the deflection as the same defensive mechanism I used when feeling vulnerable. “Is that a yes?”

Arabella gave me a long, measuring look. Then she sighed, dropping her gaze. “Fine. But no funny business.”

“You have my word,” I said, trying to sound serious and absolutely failing to kill the dark amusement in my tone.

My hands settled on her shoulders. Her muscles were knotted tight, practically twisted around her spine. When I began kneading carefully, she made a noise that sent a shiver across my arms. The sound was almost lost in the crackle of the fire, but it carried a soft hint of pleasure that, quite frankly, I found distracting.

“Relax,” I murmured, continuing the slow, careful pressure of my thumbs.

“Your commands don’t work on me,” she retorted, but she leaned into my palms anyway, tension loosening under my touch.

“It wasn’t a command.” I leaned down, my lips almost brushing her neck. “It was an invitation.”

I dug my thumbs into a particularly stubborn knot and felt her body stiffen, then ease with a soft, involuntary groan. Had I been capable of pure altruism, maybe I’d find it comforting to release her tension. But I tasted a darker spark of satisfaction in giving her relief. My motivations were a tangled mess, and I hardly cared to sort them out at that moment.

Once her muscles loosened, I lifted my hands and stepped back. I needed to rid myself of the blood crusting over my skin. “Better?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “Where’d you learn that?”

“Villainy requires attention to anatomy,” I said with a smirk. “With all sorts of applications… Massaging is just one of the nicer ones.”

She shot me her customary exasperated glare. “Should I be concerned?”

“Only if you find competence threatening.” I moved toward the bathroom, shedding the rest of my bloody clothes as I went.

In the bath, I scrubbed off gore and tried to wrestle my thoughts into submission. The swirling red water reminded me of my anger when I saw that guard. As if a switch had flipped in my head, urging me to eradicate every threat to Arabella. It was a weakness I wasn’t sure I could afford.

I stepped out of the water and wrapped a towel around my waist. At least she was safe. And we had an arrangement.

When I finally emerged, Arabella was staring at the fireplace with a focus that looked forced. Her gaze flicked to my bare chest and the water droplets trickling down my torso. A faint pink color tinted her cheeks. I suppressed my smile.

“What’s making you so smug?” she asked.

Instead of answering, I opened the wardrobe to find a pair of sleeping pants. “You seemed worried,” I said, “when I walked in covered in blood.”

Her expression flickered. “I was thinking of Nyx,” she said too quickly, turning her back to the fire.

“Ah yes, the fire-breathing dragon who can eat a whole cow in a day. She looked fine when I saw her with you a few hours ago.”

“Jealous?” Arabella asked quietly, as if testing that word on her tongue.

“Yes,” I said over my shoulder. “I dislike sharing you with anything that might tear you away from me.”

I dropped my towel, catching the subtle sound of her breath hitching. Even now, some twisted part of me relished that reaction.

Arabella retreated to the window. “A little warning next time,” she muttered.

“Does my nakedness offend you so deeply?” I asked, unable to hide the teasing in my voice. “Or is the problem that it doesn’t offend you enough?”

Her cheeks colored, and she turned to face the stars. I finished toweling my hair, crossing to stand beside her. We both stared at the night sky, lightning arcs occasionally flickering along the fortress walls outside.

“What has you awake at this hour, anyway?” I asked. “I expected you to be asleep after today’s training.”

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