He doesn’t wear an amulet or gaudy rings. Only a single gold band adorns his pinky. From his weapon belt, a sheathed broad sword rests against his hip. But it is his armor drawing my attention, that mixture of leather and mail.
He’s younger than the men in my nightmares, the ones who attacked my village. They were older, angrier.
This man is not yet thirty.
He’s still one of them. Still Bloodstone. Still wearing those battle marks even though he’s not at war.
Does he apply them every morning, hoping to intimidate everyone he meets?
Maybe he does. Maybe he likes looking intimidating.
“What did you want to speak about?” I ask after several moments of excruciating silence.
“When the council asks,” he says, his tone cool, “you will tell them you must return to your people.”
The council?
I copy his stance, folding my arms and squaring my shoulders. “I will stay.”
“You will not,” he grinds out as if he’s incapable of speaking in any other manner.
Calmly, I allow my eyes to slide over his rigid form, noting the breadth of his shoulders, the muscular planes of his chest, and his thick arms. Summers of fighting made him this, a man used to delivering killing blows. I have spent summers fortifying my walls.
He will not conquer me.
“I am an asset to your people.”
He scoffs. “A Kyanite belongs with other Kyanites.”
“True. Most do, but I don’t.” I keep my expression demure as I step closer to Gabriel. “I can help your people. I can help you too.” I’m not sure where the impulsive offer comes from. Probably from my desire to succeed. If Ipleasehim, he’ll not send me away.
A sneer pulls at his upper lip. “I have no need of a Kyanite.”
“None?” I attempt a silky tone like the women who worked in Father’s brothel. “Then you have never been with a Kyanite woman.”
The women in the brothel satisfied men with their bodies, and in return, they got what they wanted. Surely, I can do enough to convince this man to let me stay.
Shadows and bands of light mingle in his eyes, hindering me from reading his emotions. “Are you offering?”
Boldly, and no doubt foolishly, I lower my hand to his arm, feeling his muscles beneath my fingers. “Yes.”
Before I comprehend his intentions, he grips my jaw and brings me against a table. My heart lurches, and my skin prickles as I allow the contact instead of kicking him unmercifully between the legs.
The heat of his breath sears my cheek as he leans closer and speaks. “Ask nicely.”
Angry words claw at my throat, begging to be released. I stifle them the way one smothers a candle at night.
“What should I ask for that I have not already offered?” That’s probably not what he wanted to hear, but at least I spoke without allowing my hatred to show.
“Are all Kyanite women so free with their bodies?” he asks, his words bruising my pride. “Or are you just desperate?”
I open my mouth to speak, but for the first time since Luc kidnapped me, I have nothing.
Gabriel’s eyes slice over me in disapproval. “I thought so.”
I am desperate. Desperate to stay. Desperate enough to offer myself to a strange man.
“I sought only your warmth. It has been months since I have had a man in my bed.” Well, never, but he doesn’t have to know that. “And if I want to be free with my body, it’s mine. Not yours. So, I can do with it what I want.”
