Page 91 of Stars May Burn

I pursed my lips. “Oh, no you can’t. I’m surprised at how few people know the details. The screams are so loud, I would have thought every man in the field could hear them and work at least some of it out.”

The man grew white as he shrank down another inch. I stepped closer until our lower legs touched. “It takes a lot of skill to know how to negotiate with a monster to get what you need.” I grinned at him. “Are you sure you want to give it a go?”

The man scrambled off the sofa, his teacup clattering to the marble floor.

I sighed as if disappointed. “No? Then you have five seconds to get out of my house. One.”

The man fell to the floor and scrambled on his hands and knees to the door.

“Two.”

The poor fool took three attempts to open the handle. I grinned. It was a pity Callum was missing this.

“Three.”

A strangled noise left his throat as he took off down the hall.

I crossed my arms and shook my head. That piece of work deserved something far worse. How dare he come in here and play games with my wife? He’d made her suffer enough.

I turned to Sophie. My heart dropped as I saw her staring into her teacup, which she held in a white-knuckled grip. I must have scared her. I hadn’t intended for her to see that side of me.

I gentled my voice, though rage and adrenaline still surged through my veins. I so desperately wanted us to start talking again. “Sophie…”

She put down her cup and stood up abruptly, finally raising her eyes to mine. She didn’t seem scared or horrified. Instead, she looked annoyed. Angry even.

Angry at me.

“Why did you have to do that, Kasten?”

What? I scratched the back of my neck. “He dared to come in here and tried to manipulate you. He was on the edge of threatening you. He was lucky I let him leave alive.”

She stepped up to me, her body rigid with anger. “He came here to speak to me. He was my challenge. I value your support, and I was glad to have you with me when you entered the room, but I am not completely helpless. I’m not just someone to be pitied and protected. That was my chance, Kasten! My chance to find out what they’re up to and tell them I want nothing more to do with their games. If you always assume I’m weak, I’ll never have the chance to grow strong.”

She was finally close. Staring at me in determination and anger, she looked magnificent. I couldn’t remember the last time somebody had the courage to stand up to me like this.

“Sophie, you’re so beautiful,” I whispered. I stepped closer to her, reaching out to encircle her waist. I was desperate to feel her beneath my fingers after a week without her. I needed to breathe her in, to know she was truly all right.

Instead of melting into my embrace as she had done before, she shoved me back. Hard. I was so surprised, I even stepped back.

If she was angry before, she looked furious now. “You’re not listening to me, Kasten!”

Before I could respond, she stormed from the room. I stared after her in shock. I had never seen her this angry. I wasn’t even sure what I had done wrong.

A surge of panic rose inside me. What if our relationship was already over and I hadn’t realized it? There were so many things she had a right to be angry about. She hadn’t asked to be married to me. She hadn’t asked to be brought into any of this.

And she’d implied that I made her feel weak and someone to be pitied. That hadn’t been my intention at all.

I took a swig of whiskey from my flask and gave myself a few heartbeats to calm down and think. Before, I would have left her to the maids who knew the right thing to say. Let them comfort her. But I’d given her space for a week already, and it only seemed to make her angrier. I didn’t want to leave her like this when I was the one who had upset her. I was trying to be a better husband, after all.

Listen. She wanted me to listen to her. I could do that.

I entered the corridor where Lucy was waiting to one side. “She went that way, toward the conservatory, my lord,” she whispered without meeting my eyes. “Beatrice is with her.”

I’d never been so grateful to those maids. “Thank you.”

I strode to the conservatory. My anger at our ‘guest’ had almost evaporated, but now guilt and worry replaced it. Was I ever going to learn not to hurt her?

The glass doors into the conservatory were locked, but I could spot her on the marble bench between enormous ferns in gold urns. She was pressing a handkerchief to her eyes, but her back was rigid and tense. Beatrice hovered just behind her, giving her space.

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