He looks up briefly and back down. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“What—“ I break off, intending to ask him what it is he wants from me but I recall his earlier response to that question.He doesn’t.“Why am I here?” He sucks in a slow breath, eyes drifting up toward the star-strewn sky. “What purpose do I have here?” I ask, referring to Morin’s earlier words.
“Morin…saw an opportunity to punish me, so she took it.”
“Punish you?” I ask slowly, and he nods. I use my free hand to point at my chest. “I’mthe punishment?”
“Yes.” The word is pushed through his teeth as if it causes him physical pain. He gestures a hand toward me. “Because you’re a nought.”
I frown, reflecting on the general attitude toward me from the soldiers. “Because it’s embarrassing for you? To be married to me?”
“That’s the idea,” he says curtly.
There has to bemore. “And?” I ask.
He closes his eyes for a short moment. “And my heirs won’t be as powerful.” Heirs, meaning children.Ourchildren. My eyes widen and he hastily lifts a hand. “D-don’t worry. I don’t intend to make you share my bed. That’s not even a concern of mine. However thatisthe intention.”
“Will we be expected to….have children?” The words are like ash in my mouth.
“They can expect all they want. It’s not going to happen,” he assures me, face hard with resolve. He finishes with the last tie and settles back against his palms.
Well, he definitelydeservesto be punished, doesn’t he? I cross my arms over my chest, holding back a wince with my shoulder injury. “Good,” I say haughtily.
His brows shoot up his face. “Good?”
“I’m glad to be apunishment,” I say, mouth caressing that word. “Toyou.”
There’s a blink of surprise before he breaks with a deep, rumbling laugh. My scowl thickens. “What?” I snap. He merely shakes his head with another laugh. “Why bother retrieving me, then? If I’m apunishmentto you?”
His chest sags with a breath. He opens his mouth, closes it again. “I’m not—I made a vow to you, did I not?”
He’s really going to sit there and pretend he believes in the sanctity of this marriage? After he… “Please,” I scoff.
“Look,” he says, eyes growing hard. “Whether I wanted this or not, you’re here now, and that means I’m responsible for you. I’m not going to let you run off to the fucking Blood Wood of all places and get yourself killed.” He looks off, jaw flexing.
“What do you care?”
“Despite what you may think of me,princess, I’d like to have less blood on my hands, not more.”
I snort, and his brows furrow as he pins his concentrated fury on me. I fight the urge to shrink under it.
“What do you even think you’re doing?” he scolds, gesturing wildly to the Wood around us. “You can’t possibly think you’ll make it all the way back to Eden from here. I’m surprised you made it as far as you did.”
“I’m not going back there.”
His eyes flash and cool in recognition, and his face softens with a pitying look. That’s the last thing I want fromhim. I shouldn’t have even confided that in him. “How did you find me?”
“Dragons have a much keener sense of smell than you and I. Lucky for you, as you were about thirty seconds from becoming a meal.” He blows out a breath through his nose, gesturing up and down with his pointer finger. “A snack more like.”
I look around the otherwise empty clearing. “The dragon…is yours?”
The corner of his lip quirks. He lets out a chuckle so low it rakes across my skin and stands my hair on end. “That was me.”
I stare at him blankly. It takes me an age before I can make any sense of it. “You…were the dragon?”
He laughs again. “Yes, although I’m surprised you even know what they are.”
My eyes widen, pulse quickening with fear and…something else too.Intrigue. No, he’s awitchand, even worse, amurderer.
