Page 202 of The Nightmare Bride
“No,” I snapped, even as my pulse staged a rebellion in my veins. “I couldn’t care less.”
“I think you like me,” he crooned. “And it frightens the ever-loving shit out of you, because you know I like you, too. What’s more, I think you only refuse to give me an inch because you know you’d end up offering me a mile. And you also know I’d take it, and so much more besides.”
I barely resisted the urge to slap him. “You’re delusional.”
“You’rein denial.”
“I’m not. The only reason I came is because I needed to know about Vick. It had nothing to do with you.”
His eyes slitted, but that didn’t dampen the victory igniting there. As though he could see through my protests to some secret even I couldn’t decipher. “Fine. If you’re so desperate to know about my attendant, then ask whatever you like. I’d be more than happy to get that out of the way.”
I raised my chin, which I realized, too late, had the unfortunate effect of bringing my mouth closer to his. Now all I would have to do was go up on tiptoes. Which, obviously, I’d rather stab myself than do. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Tell me what Vick’s looking for. At the house.”
Kyven’s jaw flexed. “Money. Valuables.”
Shock blinkered my vision black for a moment. I couldn’t believe he’d actually answered that. Honestly, it would seem. “You mean he’s trying to rob us? What in Zephyrine’s name makes him think he has the right?”
“If you must know, he thinks Olivian’s hoarding riches. That all of you are coddled. Which, in your case, couldn’t be further from the truth, but Vick doesn’t know you like I do. Next.”
A swallow scraped down my throat. Vick could search the house top to bottom and not find a single stashed-away penny, so he could waste his own time all he liked. I elected to ignore the rest of what Kyven had said completely. “Okay, so your attendant’s a thief. Fantastic. But is it more than that? Does he...hurt people, sometimes?”
That caught him off-guard. His eyes flared before he modulated his reaction. “Only when necessary.”
My thoughts wheeled. What the hell did that mean? Did Vick and Kyven make some kind of demented two-man team? “Doyouhurt people?”
Kyven held my eyes. “No.”
“Really? You’ve never harmed a woman in your life?”
He frowned. “I thought this was about Vick.”
An icy fist wrapped around my stomach and squeezed. “Just answer the question.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. Across the room, a dropped glass shattered, but it might as well have been miles away for all that it affected me. “Lioness, I’m no hero. Quite the opposite. But I havenever, nor will I ever, take pleasure in causing anyone pain. Least of all a woman. So no. Never in my life. Though I can’t conceive of why you’re asking.”
That answer plunged into me like a rock into a well, causing an explosion of ripples. Seven hells, he looked—and sounded—so utterly sincere. Butsomeonehad to be responsible for the dead animals, for terrorizing the seneschal’s daughter.
I gathered my thoughts. “Right. Then...Vick, he’s always been with you, right? Always been your attendant? Traveled with you wherever you’ve gone?”
“No.” Not a moment’s hesitation. “I’ve known him just shy of a year.”
A year. The reply punched a clean hole through the nascent theory taking shape in my head. Yet Kyven’s blunt delivery rang with significance, enough that I sensed something here, some puzzle I could click together if only I could arrange the fragments properly.
“Is that all?” Kyven’s breath fanned across my lips, warm, sweetened with apples.
I shuddered. Or shivered. Who could tell. “No. One more.”
“Yes?”
“Who are you?” I jabbed a finger into his chest. It felt like poking iron. “In here. Who are you, really?”
A parade of emotions crossed his face—alarm, resolve, triumph. “It’s as I said. Whoever I want to be. Whatever I feellike becoming in the moment. I’m a prince, and a pauper, and oftentimes a pirate. And right now, I’m also a man who wants to kiss you very, very badly.”
My breathing stuttered and died.
