Page 45 of The Nightmare Bride
I glared right back. I probably shouldn’t have goaded her, but I was sick to death of the misconceptions. Thejudgment. “Look, lady. Just so you know, no one in Oceansgate is rich. Least of all Olivian. So how about you piss off, back to the woods? Go tell your little bandit friends to stay away. There’s nothing here for you.”
My outburst earned me a jab of the knife. I winced, though she hadn’tquitebroken skin.
“We’re hungry.” She leaned in. “And you’ve got food. Seems simple enough to me.”
I sneered. “You realize there’re twenty-eight people living in this house, right? Look around. There’s hardly anything here. If you take our food, we’ll?—”
“Unhand her.”
I froze, my mouth clicking shut. Becausethatvoice, I recognized.
Shadows rippled as Kyven emerged from the tunnel behind my assailant. “Now.”
The woman stiffened. “My...lord?”
My brow wrinkled.My lord?She couldn’t even see him. How did she know to call him that?
Then again, that ridiculous accent gave him away. That, and the imperial command he somehow laced through every word.
“I’m ordering you,” Kyven said coldly, “to put down the knife. Don’t make me say it again.”
The woman sucked in a breath, but a moment later, both fist and blade vanished from my throat. She backed away, her hands raised. “I’m sorry, my lord. I didn’t think?—”
“What, that I’d take issue with you threatening my wife?” Censure bled from Kyven’s tone. Apparently, hecouldhave a serious conversation. “Because I do. And it’s as she said. There’s nothing here for you. Even if there were, that doesn’t give you the right to go around putting daggers to people’s throats.”
The woman wilted.
I gaped. Good goddess, what would it be like to just...princeyour way into making people feel bad about themselves?
Clearly, I hadn’t been utilizing this princess thing to its fullest potential.
“Go.” Kyven’s command held no room for argument. “And don’t come back here.”
The woman made to move past him, but he extended a hand, palm up.
“Leave the knife.”
She gulped and set my dagger in his grip, then rushed off. He stood unmoving. With the tunnel backlighting him, I couldn’t make out his expression.
Seconds ticked past, each one snarling my nerves tighter. Because now we were alone down here, and Kyven had my knifeandthe perfect alibi. People would have asked questions if I’d turned up dead in our bedroom, but here in the root cellar? He could simply blame my murder on the outlaw who’d tried to rob us. Easy.
A crazed laugh burbled from my throat.
“What,” he said, “is so funny?”
“This.” The intensity of the last few minutes jarred something loose, some violent rush of emotion. It would be a relief, finally, to know. To see that the man I slept beside—the one who waltzed through these halls looking the way he did, who charmed people left and right, who was in the maddening habit of calling me his wife, no less—was no more than a monster.
I only hoped he’d make this next part quick.
“Go on.” I gestured to the dagger. “You have my knife. And all the privacy you could want. You can finally do everything you’ve been dreaming of doing to me.”
No answer. For long moments, he didn’t move. Then he came toward me. Light gleamed on the point of my dagger—a bright star of pain, just waiting to be delivered.
A red wall of rage rose within me. Goddess, what a graceless, stupid way to die. How had I even gotten myself into this situation? How could I leave Amryssa alone like this?
But when Kyven’s face came into focus, his mouth snicked up. “I assure you, lioness, the things I dream of doing to youdon’tinvolve a knife.”
His hand moved. I braced for the bite of metal between my ribs, but he simply slid my blade into my belt-sheath. Then he just...
