Page 138 of Anathema

Something about what had happened troubled him. Perhaps he thought I was trying to steal his power, as Dolion had mentioned, which hadn’t been the case, at all. I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do with that flame—or his scorpions, for that matter. Or maybe he’d felt the same thing I had.

As mortifying as the confession was, maybe it was better to face the possibility of embarrassment than hostility. “I felt … aroused.” I didn’t bother to look up at him, but focused on the steady rise and fall of his chest and the pounding of my heart, while his massive body trapped me like a bird caught between a wolf’s teeth.

He didn’t move at first, and I wondered if I should’ve kept the confession to myself. Maybe he didn’t like that I’d felt that way in the thick of training that he took so seriously. “You can sing to him later this evening. I’ll accompany you then. Now, please return to your room.” He pushed off the wall and stepped back.

Nodding, I spun around for the direction from which I’d come, but paused at a grip on my arm, the strength of it nearly crushing my bones.

“And if you wander down here alone again, I’ll be sure to lock your door next time.”

Sitting on my bed, my belly warm and full of Magdah’s delicious meat pie, I stared down at the next puzzle in the book, but just as I twisted the top dial around, lining it up with one of the grooves in the maze below it, a knock sounded on my door. I padded across the room and opened it to find Zevander standing in the doorway, his head nearly touching the top frame. Following a shameless sweep of his gaze over my too-tight bodice, he jerked his head for me to follow after him. I did, all the way to the dungeons, where a chair waited beside Branimir’s open cellar door.

“One song,” he said, leaning against the adjacent wall, as I lowered into the seat and peered down to find one of the spiders staring up at me with its hundreds of beady eyes. Stifling a shiver, I cleared my throat and began to sing a darkly humorous song about a governor’s daughter who fell in love with a demon.

As I arrived at the lively chorus, clapping my hands against my knees, I caught a glimpse of Branimir staring up at me, his ruined lips stretched to a smile. The speed of the song heightened, and I fought to keep the lyrics straight in my head, which had me chuckling between verses. The fast song along with my laughter sapped me of breath by the time I finished.

I glanced over to see Zevander staring at me in a way that left me wondering what thoughts spun inside that head of his. Was he angry that I’d found his brother? Frustrated that I’d insisted on singing to him? Or was it something else that I mistook?

Branimir slinked back into the shadows, as Zevander closed the lid on him and replaced the chains.

“I understand it’s his choice to be down there, but is it also his choice to be chained?”

“Yes.” With no additional explanation, Zevander hung up the key and waved for me to follow him.

We walked halfway down the long corridor in silence, before he asked, “Who taught you to sing?”

Smiling, I shrugged. “Myself, I suppose. Who taught you to frown?” I asked with an air of amusement.

His lips twitched, as if he might smile but refused. “Quite the opportunist, aren’t you?”

“I’m just not familiar with your other talents, besides fighting and growling and snarling.”

Again, his jaw shifted, and he cleared his throat. The man could not bring himself to cut loose and smile for anything.

“So, what is it?” I toyed with one of the laces on my corset. “You read all evening. Surely, you enjoy other pastimes.”

“I do. Tracking and hunting.”

“Those you’re ordered to kill.”

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Do you enjoy killing?”

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Do you ever think you’d kill me?”

“Sometimes, yes.”

I elbowed him in the arm and let loose a chuckle, turning in time to catch the elusive smile on his face. How handsome, with his bright white teeth and the dimple in his unscarred cheek.

When the humor died out, he lowered his gaze. “I think the world would be far duller, though.”

I was the one who turned away from him that time, hiding my smile. “It seems you can be charming, after all, Lord Rydainn.”

“I suppose I have my moments. Between bouts of rationality.”

I chuckled again, slowing my pace as we approached the stairwell to the upper floor. “Do you regret any kills?”

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