Page 12 of Wings of Cruelty and Flame

I stared at him in a state of shock as he produced a similar band of fae gold, thicker than the one he intended for me, sturdier, with a single large dragon opal in the middle. It had been faceted like a checkerboard and sparkled in the torchlight.

“You have more money than sense,” I said without thinking, my brain-to-mouth filter in tatters.

Varidian shrugged, drawing my eye. I tried extremely hardnotto look at him. Instead of changing into clean clothes, he’d made the questionable decision to forego a shirt. A whole plain of gold-brown skin was on display for me. Surely no one needed that many muscles? Surely no man before had possessedthatmany?

Shit, I was looking.

I dragged my stare back to the rings in his hand, but it didn’t erase the image of his naked chest from my mind. The serpent tattoo that began at his throat flowed down his collarbones and coiled on his chest. I flexed my traitorous fingers, trying to erase the sudden need to trace every scale etched in the snake’s body.

“If wanting to spoil my wife makes me mad, so be it.” Varidian wasn’t deterred by my remark. Worse, with every too-sharp, careless word from my mouth, the gleam in his eyes grew, like he was delighted by me. It threw me completely. I was prepared to have to work for my husband’s tolerance, let alone his fondness, and yet Varidian looked like he was enamoured with me.

Like I said, the man was mad.

“You know how much a ring like this is worth, surely,” I said, my stomach knotting for a whole new reason as I took the thick band from him and reached for his other hand. It had been a long time since I’d touched someone, and since someone hadletme, even with the gloves protecting him from direct contact. My heart pounded. Varidian didn’t flinch. Maybe he lacked critical self-preservation. Maybe flirting with death at the border and possessing that deadly magic of his had dulled the fear of dying we were all born with.

Whatever the reason, it gave me butterflies, and that was damned inconvenient.

I liked the act of putting the ring on his finger, liked the visible claim I had on him. My husband, the warrior, theprince.I fought a bubble of wild laughter.

“My turn,” Varidian said with obvious relish, that spark in his eyes even brighter. His irises shone like sunlight through precious stone. The butterflies in my belly went wild.

What washappening?I wasn’t supposed to have a real marriage, where my husband truly wanted me. Had he suffered a solid knock to the head before our celebration ceremony?

“Over the gloves,” I said quickly when he reached for my hand. Fear and panic joined the heat boiling in my blood.

“What secrets are you keeping beneath this silk?” he asked, taking a graceful step closer, peering down at me with enough heat to start a fire.

“Stop looking so curious,” I huffed, shaking my head.

“Stop being so alluring,” he countered, one corner of his mouth curling into a crooked smile.

“I could kill you,” I pointed out, exasperated.

His smile grew. What was wrong in the mind of this man? He was drivingmemad now. “If that’s the will of my wife, I’ll accept it.”

I had to turn away for a moment to compose myself. It didn’t work.

“You—you’re awarrior.You ride your wyvern into battle and face enemies who would kill you, yet somehow, you’ve managedto survive certain death. And you’d letmekill you? Are you insane?”

Varidian shrugged. Shit, now I was looking at him again, trailing my eyes from the snake on his chest to all those tempting ridges and muscles carved into his stomach.No, be strong, Ameirah! It’s just a body.A drool-inducing, pulse-pounding, insanely attractive body with so much coiled power that it could bring me both paradise and torment.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’ll kill me,” Varidian said, still far too close to me, the heat of him brushing against me like the slow arch of a cat’s back. “But you’re free to give me a little wound if it will allow me to place my ring on your finger.”

I barely resisted the urge to drop my head in my hands. This man was… ugh!

“I’ll put it on my own finger. That way I won’t kill you,” I proposed, the amber and oud scent of him invading all my senses as I reached closer, taking the obscene ring from him. Ten dragon opals. Ten!

“Dissatisfactory,” he rumbled, with the same pouting scowl I’d seen on his wyvern’s face. “But as long as it gets my ring on your finger, I’ll cope.”

I slit the glove down my arm, giving Varidian a strange look when he fixated on the movement, catching his bottom lip between his teeth.

“No warts, curse tattoos, or gruesome scars,” he said, his head tilted.

“No touching,” I warned, sliding the ring onto my finger and surprised by how well it fit and howgoodit looked on me. Covetousness flared as I stared at those sparkling pools of light in each opal, my heartbeat deepening.

“It looks good on you,” Varidian said, quiet and rough.

I was too busy fluttering my fingers to admire the play of colour on the stones to look at him. “It’s a beautiful ring.”

---