Page 85 of Poisoned Kingdom
‘You protected me, little Viper,’ I murmured, tucking an unruly curl behind her ear.
‘Couldn’t let your rotten corpse stink up my yard. The neighbours would get upset,’ she muttered, still fuming, eyes anywhere but on mine.
But I caught the tremor beneath the anger—and my strange sense of triumph only grew.
I lifted her hand and kissed her scraped knuckles.
‘Whatever your excuse, I’m grateful. But if you ever do that again, I swear I’ll lock you in the palace in a padded room and hire a dragon to guard you.’
I traced a thumb over the reddened skin.
‘And next time you want to hit me, get that massive idiot to do it. I’ll stand still, I swear. Just don’t hurt yourself.’ I blew gently across her bruised knuckles.
‘You’re being ridiculous,’ she said, snatching her hand back. But I saw the small, reluctant smile tug at her mouth.
And gods help me—I almost called Irsha back, just to show her I meant every word.
Chapter 31
Roksana
I’m going to kill him. I’m going to look him dead in the eye and force-feed him the nastiest, foulest-smelling poison . . .
I stopped, reining in the storm of revenge fantasies just as Rey kissed my hand, brushing his lips over my scraped knuckles and blowing on them like some gallant idiot. Infuriating as he was, the king had all the predictability of mountain weather. And damn it, I smiled.
I snatched my hand from his and grabbed his elbow instead, dragging him towards the house. My heart had nearly stopped when I saw Irsha draw his knife while this fool had only smiled as if it were the happiest day of his life. I looked back, noticingthe blood on his temple, but as Reynard came closer, I caught the unmistakable smell of wine on his breath.
‘Next time you want to get drunk and start a fight, tell me so I can pour horse sedative down your throat,’ I snapped.
He halted on the steps, forcing me to face him.
‘You think I’m drunk, Viper?’
His voice was practically a purr, but all I could see was the damned blood dripping from his wound. The cut was too small to bleed that much unless Irsha had used poison.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, come here,’ I muttered, yanking him closer. I leaned in, inspecting the wound. The blood was dark, steady, but not gushing—nothing vital, thank the stars. I moved closer, trying to sniff out poison, but all I could smell was lemongrass and musk.
‘If I’d known you cared this much, I would’ve let your friend cut me a little more,’ he murmured, peeling off the remains of his mask and nuzzling my hair. ‘Want to lick it, too? I don’t mind.’
‘One more word,’ I said, straightening and shooting him a glare, ‘and I’ll finish what Irsha started.’ I’d instinctively titled my head, giving him access to my neck without realising it.
The grin on Reynard’s lips widened. Mask or not, it was a wolf staring back at me, and he knewexactlywhat his words were doing to me. I wished I could forget he was the king and simply enjoy the mischievous man shamelessly flirting with me.
‘Come inside. You’re bleeding on my stairs,’ I said, feeling utterly defeated by this growing attraction.
‘My apologies. If you could show me where you’d like me to bleed?’ Rey answered, playing with a lock of my hair that had escaped my braid when I fell.
‘Gods give me strength,’ I muttered, pulling him into the house.
My townhouse was cosy and perfect for a young working couple, but with two hulking men in my kitchen, the space looked uncomfortably small. It didn’t help that Tova literally brought his work home with him, the entire table covered with srebrec ore and stolen documents from his latest investigation into the dwarven traders.
Tova’s workshop was even worse. It was an outbuilding in our courtyard, at a distance from the house, but ever since he’d fired up the small furnace, you couldn’t avoid the smell of smoke in the house. And with srebrec involved, that meant no one was safe.
‘Find yourself a chair,’ I said, shifting a pile of maps aside. ‘And then tell me what in Veles’ arse you’re doing here.’
‘That’s an excellent question. I’d like to know that too,’ Irsha chimed in, grabbing the pitcher of water and emptying it with a few large gulps. ‘Gods, Sana, your creations are getting nastier,’ he said, wiping his tongue on my clean tea towel, ‘and they taste much worse than I remember.’
‘Serves you right for starting a fight,’ I shot back. ‘And what do you mean you’d like to know too? That’s rich. Maybe you should start by explaining why you attacked the king. What if you’d killed him?!’
