Page 36 of Dance with the Dragon Duke

“And you bet against her.” He kept his tone matter of fact, but a flare of heat coiled in his belly.

“Not against your love.” She buried another fresh piece of bread in the meaty broth and cabbage mixture. “That was certain the moment we got to know the two of you. Whenyou’d fall in love was up for debate. Susie thinks you’ll both be head over heels before your false engagement is finalized. I guessed you were both too cautious to give in to your wounded hearts until after.”

Dark speared a cabbage on his plate with his fork. “She’s my mate.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Margot groaned, slapping her hand against the edge of the table. “That’ll be the third gold crescent I’ve lost to you immortal lot and your magical instincts.”

His grip on his fork tightened. “Don’t be so sure. Tomorrow isn’t interested in being my mate.”

Margot lifted a brow at him. “That so? That’s got to hurt some.”

“Stings a bit,” he confessed.

She fingered her next piece of bread, one brow raised archly. “You’re pulverizing your favorite food there like it stings a whole lot. Good news is, I don’t lose the bet yet.”

Dark smashed another stuffed cabbage under the tines. He set the utensil aside, saving the remainder of the dish from himself, and he mussed his hair around his horns. “Do you ever get the feeling there’s something Tomorrow’s not telling you?”

“Well, yes, but I get that same feeling about everyone I meet. Most people aren’t as unhindered by the chains of propriety and as fascinatingly forthright as Susie and myself. Present company included. You’re as chained up as they come, Dark.”

He frowned. “I care nothing for propriety.”

“Perhaps, but you’ve got chains all the same,” Margot said, forking a bite into her mouth and continuing with her cheek stuffed full. “So does poor Tomorrow. I just hope she gets them off before they crush her flat.”

Dark stood then, uninterested in consuming his food. “Thank Cook for me.” He kissed Margot’s cheek and quit the dining room.

Through the window above the stairs, he caught sight of the sky. The sun was gone. The clouds were as purple as the magical ones he replicated in his hoard.

He was tired, and he was hurting, and he was ready to have it out with Tomorrow. She could insist their relationship remained pretend all she wanted. He remembered well how she’d reacted to his touch, how she’d kissed him. She wanted him and had even looked joyful the second he called her mate.

He was done with not knowing why that had soured.

Dark was ready for battle as he pushed inside his bedroom. He found her nestled in the furs, curled in on herself, and his temper melted away. Bathed in candlelight, her chest rose and fell gently. White lashes feathered across her freckled cheeks.

His heart did a brutal somersault. He’d banished her to that chair for the night, had even planned to send her to her own bedroom in the hopes that she’d spill her secrets, but that was all done now. He couldn’t punish her.

He went to Tomorrow and lifted her in his arms. She stirred a little but didn’t open her eyes. Dark lowered her to his bed, his tail dragging back the covers before tucking her in, blankets pulled up to her chin. He crawled in behind her and made himself comfortable, flattening his pillows to the height he wanted them.

On his side, his tail lying across her hip, he watched the candlelight flicker along her pale face. Even in slumber she appeared tired and worn down.

“Are you going to stare at me all night?” she asked drowsily. A secret smile hid itself in the corner of her mouth.

“I might,” he warned. His tail curled around her waist.

She hugged the scaled length. “I think I do feel something of our bond, in a way,” she confessed. “It’s probably not how you feel it, though.”

“What do you feel?” They whispered to each other like lovers, at a volume that could only be meant for intimate secrets surrounded by pillows. In the back of his mind, he recognized it as a moment he would cherish until the end of time.

She licked her lips, eyes squeezed shut. “Well, first there was that scoundrel who pulled an iron dagger on you. I didn’t think. I just reacted when I leapt out the window. I’ve never been violent before.”

“So fierce,” he said reverently.

“And then there was that first night, when I climbed into your bed and, instead of kicking me out, you tucked me in beside you. I had the strangest desire to brick up the door and never let you leave this room again.” Her eyes opened then, and the corners crinkled.

“You wanted to hoard me,” he teased.

“Hm. I guess I did.” Reaching for him, she touched his cheek, a tentative brush of her fingers.

He turned his head and kissed her palm. “You can tell me things, Tomorrow.”

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