Page 110 of The Nightmare Bride
Gods help me, he’d never looked more enticing.
At the thought, a silent scream hollowed me out. This man would cease to belong to me in a matter of hours.
Or...minutes, actually. Maybe even seconds. He held the annulment certificate and pen, staring down as if he’d never encountered anything like them before. Which, I guessed, he hadn’t.
He glanced up at me.
I rammed my eyes shut. The silence did its utmost to crush me, but Ky must not have caught me looking, because long seconds ticked past in which he didn’t say anything. Neither did I.
Because sweet Zephyrine, I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t expected the annulment certificate so soon, and I couldn’t face the prospect of talking it over with him. Not tonight. If I did, I’d have to find some way to smile. To shrug, nonchalant, and keep from yanking the pen from his hand. Keep myself from throwing it out the fucking window.
Because goddess, I just wanted one more night. One more chance to wake up in his arms before I had to give him away for good.
Except...then a new thought elbowed its way to the forefront of my mind.
Once Ky signed the annulment, anything could happen. I could spend all night beneath him, and it would amount to nothing more than mindless pleasure for us both. It would no longer be the irrevocable binding I’d done my damnedest to avoid.
My heartbeat crested in my throat, forceful enough to bruise, and I opened my eyes, intending to tell him to sign the thing and come to bed already, sweat and grime be damned.
But he’d closed the bathroom door. Seams of candlelight glowed around the frame. Metal squeaked within, followed by the muted thunder of water falling into the tub.
I lay there, contemplating, for much, much longer than I should have.
But I was being stupid. Surrendering to him wouldn’t come for free. Of course it wouldn’t.
In the end, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again—the only course of action that wouldn’t bring consequences with it.
27.
Someone murmured my name.
I cracked my eyes, expecting daylight, but shadows still swathed the bedroom. I rolled over and checked the bedside clock, which I could just make out in the sallow marshglow from the window.
Two in the morning.
I rubbed at sleep-heavy eyes, wondering what had woken me. Then a husky laugh warmed the quiet. I frowned, wondering what Ky could possibly find amusing at this hour, especially because he was clearly fast asleep, his head thrown to the side.
“Lioness,” he said. “Gods, yes.”
At that, my heart stilled, deliberating its next beat. Wait, was he...?
He made a sound—half chuckle, half moan, entirely sexual.
I sat up and shoved the coverlet aside. Oh, no. No, no, no. Him sleep-talking my name had been torture enough, butthis? Outright warfare. No way could I lay here while he dreamed his own pleasure, not if it wasmyface he saw in his mind.
“Ky,” I hissed.
He didn’t respond, too busy smiling at whatever sordid thing dream-me was doing to him. “Mmm.”
In desperation, I heaved astride him and clamped my hands around his shoulders. “Ky. Wakeup.”
“For the love of Aerelis,” he said. “Yes, like that.”
That stopped me.Aerelis. What the hell? Wasn’t Aerelis the patron goddess of...
My mind spun, combing through the lessons I’d absorbed from Amryssa’s books. Aerelis. The patron goddess of...Windfell?
Yes, that was right, but Windfell was nothing. A territory even more insignificant than Oceansgate, a microscopic eastern peninsula populated by howling gales, barren cliffs, and a few unfortunate sheep.
