Page 65 of Dance with the Dragon Duke

“Can you sense her? Take me to her, Ruby!” Dark commanded.

Jabbering and chittering, Ruby pulled on his jacket, leading him out of the ballroom, down a servant’s corridor that dumped into the kitchen. Under the gas lamps and the glow from the stoves, Ruby’s cheeks were puffy, and her eyes were tear-streaked.

Being shot at earlier was surely no coincidence. Those ruffians had been sent to kill him.

“Did you see a man with blue hair and pale white skin?” Dark demanded.

“Essss!” she hissed.

“Does he have her?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Esssssssss! Rower bibka!”

Dark shoved past staff, sprinting through the kitchen and out the scullery’s back door. Smoke poured from his nostrils. Ruby flew out ahead of him. He ran after her, toward the trees, thinking of the future he could expect if he wasn’t fast enough, wasn’t strong enough to save Tomorrow.

He’d be trapped as a mountain, looking up at her longingly while she walked amongst the stars.

And with that picture boiling in his mind, he erupted into his dragon form, flattening parts of the forest under heavy scaled plates.

Chapter 15

Tomorrow

When Tomorrow’s eyes opened, the sack that reeked of root vegetables and dirt was still pressed over her face. She struggled through a moment of dizziness that made her uncertain what was up and where was down, but then one of her slippered feet came in contact with hard floor. She righted herself in a lumpy chair. The fabric felt worn and stank of mildew.

Scrambling, Tomorrow pulled the canvas off her face and blinked in the darkness. Most of the furniture in the room was covered in white oilcloth. A single fat candle burned on a desk beside a rusty letter opener and a dried-up ink well.

Movement in her peripheral stole her breath.

“You’re awake,” Glen said. He was seated somewhere off to the side in a chair draped in more sheeting.

It took her Seelie eyes longer to adjust, but she could make out his form in the shadows, his long legs crossed in front of him.

“Why am I still alive?” Tomorrow wondered aloud. Her mind was spinning, but her question seemed most pressing. She assumed he planned to kill her in some clever way that would look like an accident, but after peering briefly out the side window, it seemed he’d brought her to some old country estate in desperate need of attention. They were on the second floor.The grounds were overgrown. Rolling hills disappeared into wild woodlands.

Was this his sad excuse for a house? Was this what he meant about being a second son?

She could see stars in a clear night sky but no moon. She wasn’t sure what time it was or how long she’d been asleep.

“You’ll stay alive while you’re still useful,” Glen said. Smoke rose from a pipe in his hands. His knee bobbed.

From outside came the whinny of horses and the crunch of hooves on gravel. Shortly thereafter, footsteps climbed rickety stairs that squeaked and moaned under the weight of two people.

The door swung open, letting in more light from the hall gas lamp. Tomorrow glared at the fae scoundrel with the blue skin.

“I’ve brought Magistrate Balder here for you, Lord Freest,” the fae said, then he stepped aside.

Tomorrow recognized the name. This was the same magistrate who was supposed to be creating her engagement agreement.

Balder pulled a bowler hat from his head, a short Lunar fae broad through the chest with the tail of a lemur. He wore a thick, midnight-black tunic and a bright blue cravat with a silver crescent pin at its center, like he’d come to the estate straight from the House of Judges.

“Lord Freest,” the magistrate greeted.

“You’ve brought the document I require?” Glen rose smoothly from his chair and sat his lit pipe on a crooked end table.

The magistrate produced an envelope. He opened it and pulled out a stamped and sealed bit of fancy parchment. “And it’s ready for your signatures.”

“What are you up to . . . ?” Tomorrow’s keen eyes picked up one of the words.Marriage, the certificate read at the top. “You’ve got to be joking!”

---