Page 101 of This Monster of Mine

“No,” he said softly. “Unless you want to leave.”

“And join Aelius? He had me branded with Tullus’s palmprint.”

His eyes narrowed. She started when he moved the blanket off her shoulders to survey the holes in her robes where burnt fabric had meldedwith her skin. When his fingers brushed her collar, she stilled at the silent question in his eyes. Heart in her throat, she nodded.

Silence itself seemed to hold still as he undid the first button. The pads of his fingers brushed her skin, moving down her neck to stop between her breasts. His hands lingered on her exposed skin, and she held her breath as his jaw turned to granite, before he returned to her wound with ruthless efficiency. Her pulse tripled as he peeled the material from her shoulders, only to halt when he brought out the same knife he’d threatened her with.

At her flinch, Kadra followed her gaze and cursed. “I’ll find another—”

Sarai gripped his wrist. “Do it.”

Looking grim, in a deft motion, he cut off the sooty fabric, revealing the handprint seared into her skin. Something lethal flared in Kadra’s eyes, jaw clenching so hard she swore she could hear the scrape of his back teeth.

“It’ll heal.” She tried to sound offhand.

“Will it?” The low gravel of his voice said he wasn’t referring only to the wound.

“Will tonight happen again?”

“No part of it ever will.” Every word was a vow. He took her chin between his forefinger and thumb. “You’re safe here. Forgive me for breaking my word to you.”

She blinked away the heat pricking her eyes. “Two apologies in a night. I must have some use as a Petitor.”

“You’re an excellent one.”

“Kadra, you have no basis of comparison for that.”

“I’ve seen at least a dozen come and go.”

Torn between horror and amusement, she sputtered. “You call that a frame of reference?”

His lips lifted faintly as though he was pleased at having made her laugh.

“What do you really want from me?” she dared ask. “Why let me in here and lead me through all this?”

“Because you’re strong.”

She almost rammed her head into his chin. When his eyes found hers, they burned with the same strange tenderness she’d seen at Aelius’s convivium.

“You don’t bend. You’d rather break, but this land needs strength like yours. I’ve waited for it for years.”

Her heart caved under a catastrophic flood of emotion, crumbling to ash when Kadra soothingly traced a line down her spine.

“I …” Her eyes watered. She glanced everywhere but him. “By all the Saints, if you’d said this that first night here, I’d have chosen you without question.”

“Would you really?” He sounded intrigued.

“No, I’d have tried to get you arrested.”

A semblance of a laugh from him.

“Aelius and Tullus”—she took a deep breath—“they came after me tonight so I’d ruin you. They’ve been asking me to do it since my first day. I agreed initially, but I gave them nothing.”

“Why not?” Kadra looked amused, confirming her guess that he’d known. “The debt-slave ring would have been a good time.”

She flushed. “You’re mad, but … you aren’t without honor. I had to agree tonight because Tullus would’ve burned me alive if I didn’t.”

“I’ll kill him.” Sounding terrifyingly sincere, he traced the swelling below her right eye, the bruises on her cheeks. “I’ll eviscerate him muscle by muscle, if you’d like.”

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