Page 52 of Crown of Darkness
“What did Corvin say?” he murmurs. “You looked like you were going to choke him on his own wine.”
We can’t speak of anything important here, with ears listening in on every side.
I smile sweetly. “He was just informing me about your almost-betrothal to Lucere. You’ll forgive me my shock, as I thought you would have mentioned such a thing before we arrived.”
You promised there would be no more secrets.
Thiago’s gaze cuts to Corvin. “I ought to pluck that bastard.” His attention returns to me. “I didn’t mention it because nothing came of it. And it wasn’t a betrothal. Ravenal opened negotiations. I said I would discuss it with them at the next Queensmoot. Except I never got a chance, because the second I arrived, there you were, gowned in pure starlight. I couldn’t look away from you then, and nothing has changed since that moment.”
It eases something inside of me. “You should have warned me.”
“I should have. But as far as I was concerned, there was nothing to warn you of. I honestly didn’t think of it.”
I stare at him.Men.
His grip tightens. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
Maybe.
It’s difficult to shake off years of neglect when you spent your entire childhood competing with your sister for a scrap of your mother’s attention.
I don’t want to be jealous, but the tight, burning feeling in my chest betrays me.
“You have no reason to be.” His hand sweeps down my hip, his fingers becoming a little possessive. “You are mine, Vi. Now. Forever. Always. And I don’t care who I have to fight to keep you in my arms.”
I hate this. I hate the fact that no matter how many times he pledges his love to me, there’s a little piece of my heart that feels as though I don’t deserve to be loved. “I love you,” I whisper.
Thiago blinks, and then he draws me closer, the look in his eyes growing heated. “Do you?” His breath stirs the silken strands of hair that are tucked behind my ear. “I can count the number of times I’ve heard those words from your lips on both hands.”
“Really?” Surely, I’ve told him before.
“You used those words to say goodbye to me,” he tells me starkly, and his fingers dig into my skin unconsciously. “You would say it before I had to return you to your mother, and then the next time I saw you, your eyes wouldn’t even recognize me.”
And he would have to earn my heart all over again.
The cage of my gown constricts me. “I hate her so much.”
“As do I.”
“They didn’t believe me. I tried to convince them my mother will see us all to the Underworld, and they laughed. My mother has offered them peace.”
He stills for a second before he sweeps me in another circle. I spin under his arm, and as I twirl our eyes meet, every single time.
Finally, the music slows. And so does he.
I float to a halt as Thiago takes me in his arms and then leans down and kisses me.
“Then we’ll see whatwecan offer them in return,” he purrs in my mind as we link.
“Come.” He draws me through the doors, into the gardens beyond.
“Where are we going?”
But all he gives me is a dangerous smile as he lures me into the darkness.
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Chapter Ten
