Page 13 of Empire of Dark

“No. I’m Ada.” I stood up from the sofa and gave the bottom of my shirt a slight tug. I was woefully underdressed standing next to this man. I hadn’t bothered with fresh clothes this morning as we were just travelling today and I thought I could freshen up and change when we arrived, but that hadn’t been the case. “Was there some sort of confusion—wait—Maude?” I scoffed out the question.

His jaw ticked to the side. “Yes, Maude.”

I chuckled, my head shaking. “Triaten told you that, didn’t he?” The instant hatred that bloomed in my chest for any of Folotto blood near me was curbed by the absurdity of what Triaten had done.

He’d left a little parting gift for me.

“Of course he did.” His arms folded across his broad chest, his impatience turning into ire. “I beg you to tell me this instant what is going on. For I will catch him and drag him out of his car before he makes it off my mountain and pummel him if he thinks?—”

My hand flew up to stop him. Leave it to a malefic to go straight to the violence. “No—no—wait—it’s not necessary. He wasn’t lying to you. I am Maude. I mean, technically, I am. But no one has ever called me that. Ever. My father named me and I never knew him. My mother, everyone, has always called me Ada. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard anyone say the name Maude out loud, so when you said it, it made no connection in my brain. None.”

His brows collapsed inward. “So your name is Maude?”

“Yes, but no. Triaten wasn’t lying. But it’s really not my name. Ada is.” I only partially attempted to stifle the laugh that bubbled up my throat. “I don’t know—maybe you want to go find Triaten and pummel him. It sounds like he deserves it.”

I expected him to storm out of the room, hell-bent on catching Triaten because malefics didn’t know how to control themselves—especially when angry—but instead, his eyes closed as a long exhale slipped through his lips. “No. It is fine. Ada, is it?”

Color me a rainbow of surprise.

He recovered well, better than I expected his kind to. I still hated him, though.

I nodded. “It is Ada.”

“Good. It suits you better and I don’t think I could spend much time calling you Maude.”

For a long beat, I considered changing my name just to torture him, but that name would probably end up grating on me more than him. I shrugged. “I would never answer to it.”

“Agreed, then. You don’t have to hear it and I don’t have to say it.”

I nodded, glancing about. “You set me into the lamb room.”

The right side of his mouth quirked upward. “Did I?”

I moved to the side table and picked up one of the porcelain sheep, flipping it over and over in my hands. My gaze settled on him. “Yes, you did. I can only imagine you did so as I am to be the lamb to slaughter?”

A flicker of respect flashed in his eyes. “You deduced that?”

“It wasn’t hard. I’m the kind that likes to look for meaning in everything and this”—my hand swung about and I set the lamb back down on the table—“this is pretty obvious.”

His hard brown eyes narrowed slightly in sudden interest and he looked me up and down, assessing me like cattle he’d bought. His nose wrinkled. “You’ve met Josie. She or Rupert, my butler, will get you anything you need. I assume you would like to freshen up? We can start tonight.”

“Start what?”

“Mating, of course.”

My head snapped back, my look going to pinpricks on him. “You’re not serious.”

“I am.”

“No.”

His head cocked to the side. “You don’t know why you’re here?”

“I may be more innocent than most, but I know full well why I’m here, Damen.” My tongue curled around his name, spitting it out. He hadn’t even bothered to introduce himself, arrogant prick. My arms crossed, locking in front of my ribcage. “I also know the deal you made with Triaten and what you’re suggesting was not it.”

“Yet if you know why you’re here—for mating—then we may as well start tonight.”

“Can’t keep it in your pants for a few hours?” My lips pulled tight as I tried to keep my feet grounded to the floor in front of him, the need to escape his Folotto blood itching like raw burs under my skin. “No. I am here. I put in the time that Triaten bargained for—your prisoner here for one year. I will not leave. But you cannot rape me. In fact, you cannot touch me without my permission, or I get to leave and Triaten’s debt is paid.”

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