Page 43 of The Anointed's Paladin

I needed help. I glanced at where Nidori was sleeping. I didn’t want to wake her, but what would she say?

Nidori, I think I should kill Talon.

What!? Don’t kill him. He’s so pretty!

Yes, he was gorgeous. Big (and that was an understatement), strong, fierce, with iron-black horns and dusky skin. Don’t get me started on his dick. And his tongue... it had been far, far too long since I’d enjoyed oral like that.

Even when he had knelt, his wings had spread down around him like a submissive cloak. I had been looking forward to seeing hismassive form kneel in front of me. His tongue, slipping out, swelling. People here didn’t consider lisps sexy, but that’s because they didn’t know what they could mean.

Sorry, sweetheart, that’s not a good reason not to kill someone. He could be dangerous.

But he’s so nice! He wouldn’t hurt us!

That was also true.

His apology… It was ridiculous how insecure he was, how surehewas the problem. When he’d found out I had Nidori, I’d thought that was it. He hated me.

But he…didn’t? He was an open book. Anything he felt, it showed on his face. His temperature soared when he got turned on, and his tail gave him away, lashing in impatience if I teased him.

And his safe word. I hadn’t used one before, but it was kind of thrilling to truly know everything I did, he was fully enjoying. And that I could tell him if he was too much.

He could still want to hurt us.

Even though he’s actually saved your life twice now?

She had a good point. I thought back to the cliff, how he hadn’t hesitated to save me. Patiently held me as I panicked. How sturdy he had felt as I clung to him, silently begging him to keep going. How safe I’d felt.

And when he’d found me later, close to death, I was sure he’d end me there. But he didn’t.

He’s not going to hurt us. He trusts us. And you trust him too.

I froze, heart hammering as I glanced at him again. The world seemed to spin, and blood pounded in my ears as I tried to reconcile the insane thought pretend Nidori had justgiven me.

Nope.

No way.

That couldn’t be it.

See, this was why thinking was fucking idiotic. I produced stupid, dangerous ideas like that.

Try again, Nidori. Give me a less crazy reason I shouldn’t kill him.

Fine. You really, really want him to be yours.

Thank the Gods for pretend Nidori. Yes. That made so much more sense.

I was free, finally, after three hundred years of bondage and compulsion, and I needed control back. Nidori was a powerful addition, and Talon would be too. Another hellspawn. A strange one, though. He behaved so perfectly. Other enferni with hot blood were unhinged in bed—aggressive, domineering. I could see that temptation bubbling under the surface, but he shoved it down. Submitted to me.

I wanted to own him again. Wanted him beneath me, his body shaking with need from my touch. I wanted to see him lose control again as he had tonight, his desire too powerful for him to manage. I wanted him to beg for me again.

That was all it was, nothing else.

Nothing else was possible if I wanted to live.Even if he wasn’t going to kill me now, he was another champion. Chances were, we’d be against each other sooner or later.

All right. I’ll let him live for now. Thanks, Nidori.

Nidori. Innocent Nidori, who almost broke down over the lives of two strangers. Who believed me when I said they were sleeping. Who thought I had married her. What a ridiculous mistake.

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