Page 47 of The Captive's Curse
“Our healer’s been sent for,” Enzo said. “She was attending a birth, but she’ll be back as soon as possible. I’m sure Lord Cyril’s doing his best,” and he glanced at me, his tone going so sourly sardonic that I wondered how he didn’t choke on it, “but I never said he’s the most skilled mage you’d find—”
“As if you’re in any position to judge!” Rage spiked into my temples, blurring my vision and setting my teeth on edge. He’d been the one to insist on my attending the prince, not me! And he couldn’t do any magic at all! “You utterly ignorant, stupid son of a—”
“Enough, both of you,” Andreas said, with exhausted finality, and I stuttered to a halt, still seething, but—fuck, this was a sickroom, and my voice had begun to rise above the level of propriety.
“I beg your pardon.” Enzo had taken the words out of my mouth, and for a moment, I thought he meant to apologize for his own part in this—but then he went on with, “Lord Cyril likes to stand upon his dignity. If he wants to be argumentative, he should go further from your prince’s sickbed. And if he wants to be known as a competent mage, he should learn how to be one.”
Ifhewants to be argumentative?It took two to argue, thank you very much! Andwants to be known…I’d never claimed to be competent, damn it.
“I told you he’s alive,” I gritted out, with admirable restraint. “What more do you want from me?”
Enzo spun to face me, eyes flashing. “Good thing we consulted you, then. The fact that he’s breathing and has a pulse never would’ve been enough for mundane idiots like us to—”
“Don’t include me in that, even thoughmundane idiotprobably describes me fairly, I’ll admit,” Andreas cut in. “I want no part of this argument, if you please. I appreciate all the assistance you’ve rendered, Ser Enzo, more than I can possibly ever tell you.” Ser Enzo? He was going about and introducing himself to everyone that way? “And you have my word of honor that—”
I simply couldn’t contain my indignation any longer. His possibly genteel birth mattered far less than his behavior, whichwas far from noble. A man could be born to a title and still not deserve it in the slightest.
“SerEnzo?Ser? Are you joking? He’s a common ruffian, and if you had any honor at all you’d be rescuing me from—mmmph!”
Enzo’s hand slapped over my mouth, and he had his other arm around me, yanking my back against his chest, before I could so much as blink.
“My apologies,” Enzo said, more loudly—he had to, because I couldn’t struggle effectively, but I was spewing every insult I could think of behind his hand. “We’ll leave you alone, but there’s someone in the hall if you need anything. I’ll take Lord Cyril out of earshot, I promise. Yours, anyway, I’m stuck with him.”
Stuck with me!Stuck withme! How dare he! He dragged me away, his prisoner, the man he’d bloody well kidnapped, as I kicked and made it as difficult as possible. Not very, as it happened; he had me through the door within seconds. As one of the soldiers in the hall shut it behind us, I thought I saw Prince Nikola stirring and Andreas leaning forward eagerly and gazing at him, my plight completely forgotten.
Gods fucking damn it.
I prayed fervently that the prince was waking up and would be completely all right, but—there was an abused prisoner right in front of their eyes, and they didn’t care at all!
“Summon Leander if you need orders,” Enzo called back as he bore me down the hall, passing the staircase in favor of—yes, we were going to my bedroom. He hustled me in without an invitation this time, and practically flung me at my bed, slamming the door behind us.
I pinwheeled across the room and spun around, landing out of breath on my bed, sprawled on my ass and propped on myhands. Opening my mouth, ready to tell him off, I looked up—and froze, pinned in place.
He’d fixed his gaze on me as if nothing else existed, eyes darker than I’d ever seen them, and his jaw had set like granite. Tension sang through the lines of his shoulders and arms, his fingers flexing. He crossed the few steps that separated us until he loomed over me, giving me two choices: tilt my head all the way back to meet his eyes, or stare straight at the thick bulge in the front of his trousers.
The first left me dry-mouthed and afraid. The second…everything between my legs throbbed, as if my heart and lungs and all the magic in my body had migrated downward. I shouldn’t have wanted him this much, not after the way he’d insulted and coerced and manhandled me.
Maybe I really was just as much of a slut as he thought.
“Fuck,” he said, hard and abrupt. He rubbed his hands over his face, and when he lowered them, he’d wiped all expression away, grimly neutral. “You should pack your things. You’ll be going home today.”
It took me far longer than it should have to make sense of the words. He’d been about to fuck me. Hadn’t he?
Wait, I’d be going home? Home. The odd, cold clench in my chest didn’t make the slightest bit of sense…and who the hell had paid for me? Bruno had sworn he wouldn’t, and my mother wouldn’t go against his decision in a matter like this.
“You told me it was against your principles,” I said, voice betrayingly hoarse. “That you wouldn’t let me go unless someone paid my ransom.”
“Someone did pay your ransom,” he ground out. “Yesterday. Via a messenger I’d had posted near the village at Montefime.” Enzo smiled, and it didn’t reach his eyes. “You know, you failed to mention that your cousin’s betrothed, whose cock you sucked, was also Lord Constable Graf.”
“What the hell does Hans have to do with—” And then it twigged. “Hans?Hepaid my ransom? But why? Rivina’s going to kill him, if she’s even still engaged to him. Actually, fuck, is he ransoming me to kill me for her? That’s the only thing I can think of. Don’t let him take me!”
Even three quarters of the way to panic at the thought of Enzo tossing me out the door and into Hans’s waiting noose, or worse, oh hell, his waiting arms—what if he thought my sucking his cock hadmeant something, fuck—the way anger, disgust, eyebrow-raised disbelief, and finally open-mouthed shock flitted across Enzo’s face as I spoke fascinated me.
“Don’t let him,” Enzo repeated. “Don’t—why are you on a first-name basis withhimand—how did you not think this was information that—”
“Well, honestly, what business is it of yours?” I sprang to my feet, forcing him to take a step back if he didn’t want me ranting directly into his face. Except that he didn’t, and instead he put his hands on my waist, sweat instantly prickling on my spine at the heat of him. His cock poked me in the stomach. If it had been him instead of Hans standing over me in a masquerade costume…no, no, not the time. “It’s not like the fact that he wants to hang you is really relevant to his cock going in my mouth. No one’s cock in my mouth is your business! And I’m on a first name basis with him because I was almost related to him and because he had his cock in my mouth, which—”
“Those two things should never go together! And I’ve had my tongue inside you! How the fuck is that not worth dropping the title?”
