Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
His expression never changed. He looked at the shadows like they were a little nuisance. “I know he has his eyes on you at all times.”
Not just his eyes. She could feel the fear through the bond. The worry about leaving her in Barron’s arms. But she could take care of herself. She’d dealt with worse. Ashby March had tried to force her into an arranged marriage. She’d almost been sold into sex slavery by Tarcus Valerii. She’d stared down Vulsan Andromadix, a full-blooded Doma, and survived. Barron wasn’t anything new.
Men were always trying to control her. It had become a new fact of life. Their power was threatened by her very existence. She was strong in all the ways they wanted her to be weak. She was smart and clever in all the ways they wanted her to be dumb and submissive. She wasn’t silent in the face of oppression. She didn’t back down in the face of adversity. She refused to be compliant or complicit in their bigotry. When she persevered despite all the ways they held her back and the obstacles they put in her path, they chose another tactic. If control didn’t work, then they wanted to break her.
At the end of the day, the men that were in her life didn’t need her reassurance that they were the good ones. They did that every day just by existing with her strength. Fordham would never have to question where he stood with her because the answer was always by her side.
If only there were more like him and less like Barron Laurent.
“Well, we could get out of his eyesight,” Kerrigan said, “but I have a feeling that’s what you want.”
“What are you suggesting?” he asked with the same sullen look. “That I would want to be alone with you? Preposterous. I would never degrade myself so.”
“Oh, certainly not,” she said as he twirled her away from him. When she turned back in, she added, “Your affiliation with half-Fae is entirely pure, I’m sure.”
“I don’t have affiliation with half-Fae. They’re servants, nothing more, nothing less,” he said, even and steady.
He was goading her at the same time as she was trying to goad him. But it wasn’t working. She didn’t know his pain points well enough to know what would addle him, just that he wanted power and she was in the way.
“Servant. Got it,” she said with a smile. “Must really irritate you that I’m going to be your queen.”
“Not if I can help it.”
She blinked at him. He didn’t even give her an evil smile, just said it as bluntly as ever. “Well, that was the nicest threat I’ve ever gotten.”
“Was it?” he asked. “I didn’t mean for it to be.”
She laughed because what else could she do? “Fordham might have something to say about that.”
“Well, when he’s off the throne, I won’t care what he has to say.”
“You’re awfully confident.”
“I know Ollivier’s strengths,” he said, unconcerned. “I’ll win the denouncement, and then I’ll take the throne. If you’re lucky, you’ll belong to me after he’s gone.”
Kerrigan couldn’t believe his gall. She’d known his play was the coronation, but she hadn’t thought he’d spout it off like that. “And here I thought you wanted me gone.”
He shrugged. “Half-Fae should be servants or dead. Your choice.”
And he meant it.
Chapter Sixteen
The Leash
“Well, hello there, handsome,” Wynter said with a feral smile. “Mind if I cut in?”
Barron’s expression changed when it lit on Wynter. He’d been stoic the entire dance, but as soon as the Ollivier princess appeared, the suave, smooth talker appeared. As if all his ill intentions had evaporated at the sight of his next conquest. He was going to have to take that up with Dozan Rook.
“Of course,” Barron said, offering his hand to Wynter.
“My brother looks like he could use an intervention,” Wynter told Kerrigan. “I’ve got this.”
Barron swept her into his arms. “No, I have this.”
Then they disappeared into the crowd of dancers, leaving Kerrigan standing alone on the dance floor. She had a lot of thoughts about Barron’s change when it came to Wynter. Was that his real play? Get rid of Fordham and marry the other Ollivier instead of Viviana? He was going to quickly learn that Wynter was no longer a puppet with strings to pull. But it was an interesting thought.
Her eyes landed on Fordham, who was trapped with Viviana nearly pressing her half-exposed breasts to his chest. She didn’t even seem to care that he looked uncomfortable.
Kerrigan tapped Viviana on the shoulder. “This dance is mine.”
“We weren’t done!” she snapped.
Fordham smiled down at Kerrigan with relief. “I do whatever the lady wants.”
Then he took up Kerrigan’s hand and twirled her away from the disappointed former queen. They took half a pass around the room before Fordham finally melted against her.