Page 17 of A Debt of Darkness

It isn’t because it’ll stop me from getting what I want.

It’s because I want to be kind.To her.For her. She deserves it and needs it, even if she hasn’t earned it.

It’s the very thing I swore I’d never be. It’s a fucking weakness and yet I’d gladly give it for nothing more than her goddamn happiness.

“Of course it does.”

I lie. I fucking lie.

I contemplate if it’s a kindness as I wait for the simple, complicated girl who’s become all my reasons to make her choice—and either damn or save us both.

“This is just tonight.”

I grin and thank fuck my back is turned as I select some bite-size cakes. Ivy huffs and I hear her turn, and I walk back without her seeing my erection. I sit close enough to box her in and she snaps back around, startled.

“Open.”

And like an obedient pet, she lets me place a profiterole in her perfect mouth. Her eyes shoot open and she moans, unable to stop herself sucking cream from my fingers.

My dick jerks and I ignore it.

I won’t be able to much longer.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

6

BE A GOOD GIRL

HENRY

“What now?”

Ivy curls up as she stops trying to pull away, trapped between me and the arm of the sofa. She stares into the distance, waiting for the executioner’s axe to fall—and I can’t find it in me to deliver the lethal blow my ruthless instincts tell me I should.

She’s behaving like a spoiled brat. She’s also terrified and I don’t understand why. Ivy’s known the expectations of our arrangement and I’ve given her time to come to terms with the bargain her father struck.

I’ve fed her. I’ve been reasonable. Considerate. Certainly patient.

I could have manipulated her and I haven’t. I’ve allowed her to have her head and now she’s pulling against me, railing against what should be second nature to her.

But this isn’t the time to press her. Especially not when her defiance turns her eyes into beacons calling to me like a lighthouse in a storm.

My arm stretches over the back of the chair as I recline, oozing confidence. I smile easily as my gaze wanders over her body, following the creases of her dress as they cover her curves. Or not, depending on how the fabric falls.

“We both know the answer, Ivy.”

She swallows and her hand trembles. Her ivory skin turns deathly white and her heart skips a beat before it judders to life. The girl whose braveness defies me needs a gentler touch. She’s fascinating and it’s another piece of a puzzle I don’t understand.

“We figure this out,” I say, offering her the lifeline her silence screams she needs.

It hurts. But it’s necessary.

It’s a kindness cruel enough to make her trust me.

Her eyes flick back and flood with relief.

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