Page 64 of Dare

A vignette of memories flashed through my mind. “Silvia and Doria ascended the throne as a love match when I was a child, then appointed me after my parents could no longer uphold their titles.” I glimpsed the beast listening intently. “My mother and father are sick.”

This was no great secret. Rather, the true illness my family kept from this world had nothing to do with them.

A discomforting pang jolted through my sternum. I cleared my throat, ridding myself of the sensation. “Because of my parents’ incapacity, the queens raised me. They’re good women.” My eyes leveled on the beast. “Do not judge what you don’t know.”

Sarcasm twisted her features. “Funny you should say that.”

Indeed. I should have seen that coming. Although I would argue it wasn’t the same thing, she wore her passions and idealisms so openly, half the time I didn’t know how to respond.

Case in point, why the devil was I telling her this? Why did those metallic eyes have the power to lure such confessions out of me?

A year ago, if someone had predicted I’d be bathing with one of the mad and sharing the intimacies of my family with her, I would have laughed in the offender’s face. Then I would have amputated their tongue for the insult.

All the same, a declaration crept past my mouth. “I would do anything for them, tradition and rules be damned.”

“Then your heart thaws, after all,” she said. “I had a family once too. I know the sound of devotion.”

“Do you know the sound of a threat?” I bit out. “Don’t assume you can use this against me later.”

Disillusion contorted her features. “Unlike every self-serving courtier and politician on this continent, I’m not an opportunist. And unlike my king, I’m not vindictive. You mistake me for someone who sees your feelings as a weakness and a bargaining chip.”

“You mistake The Dark Seasons for a place that agrees with you. In my world, family must be secondary.”

“If that’s true, you’re rebelling.”

“And blood relations aside, a Royal’s duty is to put their subjects above all else.”

“If that’s true, you’re failing.”

The accusation pricked me like a needle. “On the contrary,” I leaned forward, unhinging my arms from the bracket. “Thanks to the sacrifice of fools, I’m succeeding.”

A rock lobbed past my head like a cannonball. The projectile grazed my cheekbone, slammed into the cavern wall, and shattered.

I glanced over my shoulder, then whipped back around. She could have split my fucking skull.

Insolent beast. For smaller crimes, I’d tortured fugitives twelve times her size.

Slowly, I rose. Again, she avoided the sight of my cock and feigned interest in the glinting water.

After exiting the pool and stepping into the pants, I slid my belt into place and dropped the shirt over my head. “I’m not an opportunist,” I mimicked. “I’m not vindictive.”

She bristled and spoke to the grotto. “You’re heartless.”

“Nonsense. If I was heartless, I would leave you here.”

And then I left her there.

24

Jeryn

I stalked out of the grotto before I did something rash like prowl to her side of the pool, snatch her by the arms, haul her naked body out of the water, and fu—

A hiss sliced from my mouth. I would not go there. Never could I go there again.

Damnation. I should have known to take precautions. Not an opportunist? Bullshit. She had certainly seized the opportunity to lob that rock at my head. As of this moment, my fucking cranium could have been porridge on the cavern floor.

Granted, born fools had done nothing to me. No abusive memories shaped my ideologies. Instead, my mind conjured images of a striped fin and a maw of teeth.

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