Page 117 of Bloodguard

“Issomething going to happen to him?” I ask, barely getting the words out.

His darkening eyes travel from my face to the front opening of my nightgown. I clutch it and step back.

“Shall we sit?” he asks.

He’s not really asking. Vitor has pushed him to the brink, and I think the rest of us are meant to pay for it.

I nod, trying to steady my nerves as I lower myself onto a wooden chair at the kitchen table. Soro sits opposite me, brushing the eucalyptus leaves I meant to mash today onto the floor. “He doesn’t believe in me, Maeve. After all I’ve done for him…” He reaches for my hand. I give it to him, only to keep him calm. There’s something very wrong with him.

“You believe in me, don’t you? You know that I’m better than Filip ever was and that I’ll always be better than anyone else.”

“Soro, we already discussed this. I need time. We don’t need to rush into this.” I try to give a carefree laugh, which fails miserably. I stop myself from looking in the direction of the door. Does he know Leith just left? Of course he does.

He spreads his hands. “You’re out of time, my wife. Say you’ll marry me, and I’ll have your papa released from jail. Hell, I’ll free Andres myself.” He leans forward. “Now, say it.”

I hold my breath. How am I going to get out of this? I only need to hold him off until Leith wins two more matches, but by the look on his face, I doubt Soro is willing to wait.

I jump back when he whips out a dagger.

He arches an eyebrow and grins, then slices his palm. Words of the blood oath he intends for me to take flare and spiral along his arm. “No more games, Maeve.” The shadows darkening his eyes leave me cold. “Swear on your life that you’ll marry me.”

I rise. “I’m not marrying you unless you free my father first,” I tell him.

Time. I need to buy Leith and me more time.

“And not before my birthday,” I add.

Soro pushes away from the table and slowly rises, lifting his sliced hand to his face. He swirls his tongue against his palm until the blood is licked clean and the words from the oath disappear into his skin. I shudder with disgust.

His demeanor is disturbingly hollow, but the way the corner of his mouth delivers a sudden twitch scares me in ways Soro has never done before. “I’m no longer asking, Maeve,” he says. “Tell me yes. Last chance. Or I’ll make you fucking regret it.”

There goes another odd twitch in his otherwise ghostly features. It’s haunting. No…it’s evil.

“Soro, listen to me—”

“I am done listening. I am done waiting. You no longer have a choice, and neither do I.” He walks around the table. I walk, too, keeping the slab of stone between us. “How else will you sit on that throne? How else will you free your papa…” He closes his eyes, leans back on his heels, and smiles. Sin cuts into that grin. “Never mind. You mustn’t worry about him anymore.”

I feel the blood drain from my face.

“One royal hand washes the other, Maeve,” he says. “But if…” He shakes his finger at me. “If it doesn’t, it’s time to cut that hand off.”

“Soro, what did you do?” I think that he’s threatening me, that he hasn’t acted yet, but I can’t be sure.

“Consider it motivation to become my bride,” he says. He watches me for a moment, quiet, calculating in a way that has me stepping back in search of a weapon. “And consider it a taste of what’s coming if you deny me. Now say it. Say you’ll marry me, or I swear to the great phoenix youwillregret it.”

chapter 43

Maeve

Forget fear. Anger rushes to the surface, heating my face. “Get out. Get the fuck out!”

This time when he looks at me, every plane along his sharp features hollers that he’s won. “Very well. If you prefer things the hard way, that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

He calmly strides across the room and leaves, shutting the door quietly behind him. It would have been less menacing if he’d come at me with the knife.

My body feels numb, and I swallow several times, so unnerved that I can’t move right away…until the prickly feeling of being watched creeps over my skin. I rush to the window that overlooks the garden. No one is here.

But I’m not alone. I feel it in my bones.

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