His eyes narrowed to brilliant blue slits. “Your House failed you. Why has Nora not seen to your education?”
She'd tried, at least on this subject. She really had. I was just not agreatstudent.
His thumb roughly traced my swollen bottom lip. “She failed to inform you what happens when you catch the eye of a Prince? An Old One?”
Nope. She'd informed me. She'd been as clear as spring water. I strained away from him, but he held me with easy strength.
So I stilled, hoping that like any hunter, he'd lose interest once I stopped flailing in my trap.
But then, he was no common hunter.
“Shall I tell you what happens?” he asked.
“No.”
Anger burned through me. At how easily I'd been subdued, how he'd reduced me to a fucking quivering damsel in his arms rather than a warrior in my own right.
Renaud chuckled. “Remaining in the dark won't save you from the monster, my halfling.”
“I don't know what game you're playing, and I don't care why—”
He clucked his tongue. Yes, such a human sentiment, to bury one's head in the sand and hope the problem went away.
“—but I will tell you again. I am not yours and I never will be.”
I was fuming. My protests felt impotent, the wailing of weak prey. My fingers flexed with the need to grab my knife and stab him.
His lips brushed mine one more time, then his teeth bit down. When he finally released me, I tasted blood.
“Very well,” he said. “Challenge accepted. It's been some time since I’ve had to exert myself for a female. It's a novelty at this point.”
I ground my teeth, curses bubbling in my throat—every single filthy imprecation I learned in the Bronx.
“If it's novelty you want, Your Assness, then I intend to be the most boring person in this damn city.”
As I backed away, Renaud studied me with the barely restrained lust of a predator contemplating whether to derive pleasure from a long, slow hunt or bring its prey to the ground now.
“I hope that we don't burn the city down in our war,” he murmured. “But if we do, I'll accept the loss. It will be worth it.”
I curled my hands in the fabric of my dress. Time to bring this night to a mortal-fucking close. “Are you satisfied? Have I fulfilled the debt? Your exact words were—”
“You need not repeat my words. That bargain is fulfilled.”
The subtle magic of our kind released me. I gave him a curt nod, about to stride away, when he was suddenly in front of me, hands wrapped around my arms, holding me still.
“I did not dismiss you, Aerinne.” The ember in his eyes darkened into something moodier, less amused.Good. This male was my enemy. The power behind the House that had plagued Faronne for centuries.
“Why are you dragging this out?” I asked. “I’m disinclined to further surrender myself to seduction by my mother's slayer.”
“What you've already surrendered is so little. You know the punishment you deserve is so much more.”
ChapterTwenty-One
My temper slunk away. He could be referencing any number of skirmishes I'd led against his House over the years. I'd killed many Montague warriors, captured none—Faronne did not hold hostages—I'd destroyed his property and diverted his trade. We'd tried to keep collateral damage in the city to a minimum, but that had happened too. All of Everenne had been under siege at one point or another, caught between our warfare.
There were plenty of sins to accuse me of; it didn't have to bethatone. What game was he playing? Or was I so paranoid with guilt that I assumed oblique references were there were none?
“If you wanted me dead,” I said, straightening to my full height, “I would be dead. If you wanted me in your dungeons under the mercy of your torturers, that's where I would be. Either kill me, or let me go.”
