Page 68 of The Blood that Binds Us

“I assume you are staying the evening and riding home tomorrow?” I ask.

“Yes. His Grace has generously offered to put us and our driver up for the evening. I dare say we’ll be seeing more of each other if our troops are to be drilling on castle grounds.”

“Do you think this will escalate Legion’s next attack?”

“Most definitely. I hope it has them furious. It’s always more fun to kill them when they’re all stirred up about something.” He winks as if what he just said would somehow be a turn on for me.

I feign a laugh. “You’re confident your men are able and ready for this fight?” I sink my claws into his collective before he has time to respond.

He shrugs. “Men are ready for anything when you pay them well enough. There is a reason my family has stayed in power for so many generations.”

I comb through his mind with invisible fingers and resist the urge to gag as I sift through layers of pride and lust. Nothing to indicate he says anything other than what he believes to be true. As I told Sin before, the Langston boy is honest. Pompous, arrogant, and irritating—but honest.

We step into the Spiritwood trees, and I lead us to the small pond where Sin and I dueled with magic. “Speaking of your family—will you be taking your father’s place when that time comes?”

I sit on a worn-down rock near the edge of the water, and Bennett relaxes on a nearby tree stump.

“Yes, unless Cornelius decides he wants to be a part of the family again.”

“Cornelius?”

“My elder brother. My father and him had a bit of a falling out a while ago, but he has sent word he intends to return to Blackreach soon. I’m not sure about his reasoning, but I would be surprised if it wasn’t because he found trouble and doesn’t have the coin to get himself out of it.”

A brisk wind rips my hair forward and chills the back of my neck. As the breeze settles, it leaves an eerie silence in its wake as if the birds and evening critters sensed the darkness within me and scattered.

“I hope your reunion goes smoothly, my Lord.”

“Sin says you’re going to be fighting alongside us?” He poses his words as a question.

My shoulders pull back when I look at him head on. “Yes. I’m willing to do what I can to help stop those…dogs,” I mutter, the insult bitter and unflattering on my tongue.

He lets out a sound of approval from his chest and moves to sit at my feet. “I think a woman willing to fight for what she believes in is very,verysexy,” he whispers, slipping a hand onto my knee. “You’re very beautiful, Wren.”

“You’re too kind, my Lord, but perhaps you’ve had a touch too much mead at dinner,” I laugh without humor, attempting to dismiss the compliment.

He pushes up to his knees and tilts his head so his mouth hovers near my neck, his breath hot and unsettling against my skin. “I don’t need a drink to know you look absolutely… tantalizing,” he murmurs and presses his lips to the side of my neck.

I lean away, but his hand races to grab the other side of my neck, and he pins me in place, while his other hand finds the slit in my dress and slides up to my thigh.

“Bennett, n—”

He presses his mouth to mine and forces his tongue between my lips. As quickly as he invaded my mouth, I slide my hands up between our chests and shove him back.

“This is making me uncomfortable. Let go of me.”

He pulls his head back to look at me and cradles my face in his hands, brushing his thumb across my cheek. “There’s no reason to be uncomfortable, darling,” he says quietly and dips his mouth to my collarbone. One of his hands grabs my thigh again, and his fingertips stroke the fabric of my underwear. This time, I grab both his shoulders and push him back harder.

“I want you to stop,” I say, now louder and firmer.

“You won’t want to stop once we start, I promise,” he breathes against my skin. In one swift motion, he stands, hoists me off the rock by my bottom, and lays me back in the tall grass. He covers me with his body, his mouth crushing mine as his fingers begin undoing the buttons on his coat.

I slam my palms into his chest. “Bennett, I saidno. Get. Off. Of. Me.”

He shushes me and drops his hands to his waist belt, unfastening it with impressive speed. “Let’s just try—you’ll love it. Come now, you’re not going to say no to a Langston, right?”

“I just did,” I say, sliding out from under him and yanking my dress down that slid up in the entanglement.

Bennett looks at me with his mouth slightly dropped and arms splayed out in front of him as if he truly can’t comprehend I’m telling him no. “Are you being serious right now? Come now, Wren, don’t be a fucking idiot.”

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