Page 86 of The Assassin's Dancer
Kaz just looks at me expectantly until I reply, “It’s strawberries. What about you?”
“Guess.” He smirks.
“I don’t know.” My fingers absentmindedly run through his hair while I think. “Probably blood or something equally as sinister.”
His lips press together. “I’m not a vampire.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” My head tips back as I laugh, too tired to maintain any sense of decorum. When I finally collect myself, I return my attention to Kaz only to find him staring at me with intense, hungry eyes.
“What?” My smile slips away.
“You’re beautiful,” he says without blinking.
“Thank you.” I blush, but the heat on my face drops to my core as his hands grip my waist possessively.
“Come home with me tonight,” he rasps into my ear, pulling me tightly against him. “Come home with me tonight and I’ll give you everything you want. I’ll turn the parlour into a dance studio. I’ll have Bertie play the piano for you while I’m working. I’ll fill the kitchen with strawberries and pay servants to bring them to you on silver platters. Anything you’ll ever need, I’ll provide it for you. I’ll be so good for you, Ruby. Please. Please, come home with me, and be mine, forever.”
My lips part. Everything in me wishes I could say yes.
But…
“I can’t, Orion?—”
“Fuck Orion,” Kaz seethes, stepping back to grip my arms. “Don’t you see? Don’t you see what you’ve done to me, Ruby? I can’t breathe without thinking of you. Can’t sleep without seeing you dancing in my dreams. You’ve taken every part of me, but fuck, I want you to. I want to be yours so fucking bad that I am willing to kill every damned prince that comes through those palace doors. Because today…” He sucks in a breath, steadying his voice. “Today when I saw you with Orion, it was like my world fucking shattered. I need you, Amaryllis. And I don’t care about what your father or anyone else has to say about it. You were mine since the moment I first caught you in Night Alley, and I’ll be yours the second you tell me yes.”
Everything stands still. The music is barely audible over the roaring of blood in my ears. I can’t breathe. Kasimir’s face is so severe in front of me, but somehow, at the same time so fragile.
Instinctively, I bring up a hand to cup his cheek. He shudders, closing his eyes.
“I hear you.” My voice sounds so far away. “But whatever there is between us, it cannot last beyond tonight. My life is here.” I bite my lip, holding back a sob. “And soon I’ll be leaving with Orion.”
His eyes snap open. “So you’re choosing him?”
“No!” I cry. “No, I would never willingly choose someone like that. But I can’t just run away, Kaz. My life is here. In the palace. With my sisters and with Father. I can’t just leave them.”
“But Orion will take you away from them soon.”
“Yes, but he told me that we’d visit often, and that I could write to my sisters everyday,” I say, as if saying it aloud will make me believe what Orion had told me in the garden earlier. “Besides, I can’t exactly pop home to visit my sisters after running away with an assassin. The guards would find me, then I’d be locked away in my bedchamber.”
“I could sneak you in!”
“Like a criminal.” I scowl.
“It’s not a bad life,” he argues.
“Anyway, I’m sure there are much worse princes out there than Orion,” I say more to myself than Kaz. “And I’m sure he’ll tire of me quickly after I’ve given him a few heirs?—”
“He’ll have to kill me before I ever let another man put a baby in you.” In one swift movement, Kasimir catches both my arms, spins us around and presses me against a flower-wrapped pillar.
I gasp as his full weight bears down on me. Heat floods to my core as the hanging wisteria tickles my reddening cheeks. I should not be enjoying this.
“You should go now.” I hold my breath, determined not to give my body the scent it’s so desperately craving. “It’s already so late, and anyone could see us out here.”
His grip on my arms loosens. “Do you want me to leave?”
Reluctantly, I nod.
“Fine, I’ll leave,” he says, scowling. “But—” The sharpness of the word makes me flinch. “I’m not going anywhere until you’ve earned it.”
