Page 18 of To Charm a Dark Prince

Grigory looked as terrified as she was. He bowed low at the waist. “M—my liege, my prince—I am Grigory Lamor, mayor of this—”

“I do not care.” The Prince in Iron stepped toward the cowering mayor. “Explain.”

“I—I apologize for the rash actions of the man you have executed for his treasonous—”

“Not him.” The prince snapped a gauntleted hand around Grigory’s throat and dragged him closer. “Her.”

“I—I do not know much more than—than you do, my liege. She confesses to be the source of the meteor. It was she who fell to Avalon from above. She is an elemental, somehow escaped from—”

“I can see that.”

Grigory looked like was going to be sick. “—I took the liberty to sedate her in order to—”

“Sedate her how?”

“Through—through poisoned wine, I—” Grigory gagged as the prince tightened his grasp on his throat. He grabbed at the metal gauntlet, trying to pull it off him, but it was useless.

“We have strict laws of hospitality in Avalon, Lamor. It is some of the only meager scraps of decency we might boast on this destitute isle. You took her in under the auspices of providing shelter to a frightened young woman. You betrayed this covenant of trust.”

“But—but she—” Grigory coughed, his eyes growing wide as saucers. “I did not mean to break the laws, I was only thinking of—”

The prince was not having any of it. “If she cannot trust you, how am I to trust you? Hm?”

When the prince grabbed Grigory’s head with his other hand, Gwen had the presence of mind to look away. But the sound of crunching bone was worse than witnessing the details, and she couldn’t help but see what had happened.

The prince dropped Grigory’s crumpled body to the ground. His head was onbackwards.The Prince in Iron must have snapped the man’s neck so hard it swiveled all the way around.

Gwen wailed and started yanking on the chains harder, desperately trying to free herself. It was pointless. But her panic didn’t know that.

The prince walked back to her, wiping the claws of his armor off on his cape. “Where were we?”

“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!”

“Ah, yes. That was where we left off. Thank you for reminding me.” He stopped in front of her again, only a foot away from her. She could smell the tinge of metal. He sounded vaguely amused—as if he hadn’t just snapped a man’s neck.

He reached out a hand, trailing his claws through her hair. When he brought a strand of it forward, it was as though it were also made entirely of fire. It flowed like usual, but fire licked up from it like she was a bonfire.

“Would you kindly extinguish yourself?”

She blinked up at him. “I—what?”

“Extinguish yourself.” He let go of the lock of her hair. “Kindly.”

“I—I can’t.” She was shaking again. She really didn’t want to have her head ripped off. Or to have a sword fly through her rib cage.

He tilted his head slightly to the side. “Oh?”

“I—I don’t know how, and I know it’s probably not important, but I’m also naked again, and I—” There she went, babbling again. “And I know you could probably kill me anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I’m on fire or not, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to try to—”

He chuckled. “Calm yourself. I do not plan to kill you.”

“I don’t wanna go into the Crystal either…” She cringed.

“Ah. The mayor told you of that, I see.”

“Kinda?”

“Kine-dah.” He repeated the word as if it was foreign to him. When he clearly figured it out a second later, he grunted. He pulled the hood back from his face.

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