Page 30 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
Dressed in a long red and gold robe that billowed behind him and with the markings of royalty in every stitched symbol, he looked even more imposing. And how, in all of Malhaven, did he seem even taller?
Everyone kneeled around him, including Kaya. The guards bowed as one, their armors clinking onto the wooden floor.
The only ones left standing were him and I, and he towered over all of us.
He took one look at my corset and stiffened. “Leave us. Now.”
Chapter
Nine
EVIE
Every Blood Brotherhood member apart from Kaya scurried out onto the veranda. She lingered long enough to tell the prince, "Be nice.”
“Aren’t I always?” he said, unflinching gaze still locked on me.
She sighed and closed the massive doors behind her, sealing the two of us inside. Alone.
The Dragon didn’t sound nice. He didn’t seem nice.
Angry? Yes. Annoyed? Definitely. Shadows crowded his gaze and there was menace in his steps as he prowled toward me.
He moved with the easy confidence of someone who'd already proven what he was capable of and had nothing and nobody to fear. He was all lean muscles, strength, and precision.
His sharp cheekbones spoke of nobility, but his icy eyes were that of a fighter. Calculating. A killer's gaze, trained on me. The fairytales said beasts had been beautiful once, too.
The silence around us turned suffocating. What exactly was I supposed to say to my groom’s murderer?
"Where are my cousins?" My voice reverberated around us on a loop in this great big dining room. I struggled with the impulse to snatch the closest garment and cover myself with it. I wasn’t shy when it came to nakedness, but the way The Dragon’s eyes were so intently focused on me made me feel more bare than I’d ever been. No man had ever seen me this undressed, and especially not in a corset.
“Planning their own arranged weddings and cursing my name, I imagine.” His deep, raspy voice filled the space, beating straight into my chest.
“Weddings?” My heart fell somewhere near my bare feet, all shreds of timidity vanishing. “What happened?”
“The fiasco at your wedding happened.”
“You said you’d keep them safe.”
“They are as safe as any of us can be.” His jaw ticked. “While I’d love to take all the blame, it’s what the Code and Council demanded. I’m losing four of my best Clan members to matrimony with your cousins.”
I swayed on the spot. This was the last thing I’d wanted. I was getting married to save them, not thrust them in our enemies’ arms. They were formidable and should have been free, not chained into an arrangement with the Blood Brotherhood.
It also didn’t make any sense. Clan marriages had been one subject my parents couldn’t stop talking about. Political arrangements designed to prevent wars or gain power, nothing more, they used to say. Bonds where love couldn’t blossom.
I ignored the pain in my chest and slashed a look The Dragon’s way. “Why?”
He remained silent for the longest time. “They would have allowed you to marry Fabrian behind my back. And Alaric is dead.”
Before I knew it, I raised my switchblade, aiming straight for his throat. “Which one of you bastards–”
He moved, so fast I barely saw him. I only felt a slight touch against my wrist–no pain, no pressure–but before I even had time to yank my arm back, the prince had my switchblade in his hand, turning it between his fingers. He stepped back, calm as if nothing had happened.
"How did you do that?" I asked, disbelieving. He must have been made out of the same bones, muscles, and ligaments as any other human.
“We didn’t kill your uncle,” he said, ignoring my question.
“Then who did?”
