That seemed promising. Sort of. He held out a hand, beckoning her forward with a finger. “Come down here and kissme, then. Teach me how you liked to be touched. I’m always open to learning new things.”
She ignored his palm and her voice got harder. “I amnotkissing you. That is not negotiable either, so don’t even try it.I will not kiss you. Not yet and probably not ever.”
Trevelyan didn’t even like kissing. It was just a boring precursor to getting a woman naked. Still, that statement aggravated him. He let his hand drop. “Because I don’t play the goddamn guitar?”
“Because I won’t kiss someone I don’t believe in.”
“You want tobelievein me? What the fuck does that mean?”
“Trust you. Respect you. Have faith that you won’t deliberately hurt me. Have a vision for a future together. Know that you’ll catch me if I fall. Or at least try.Believein you, as a man and as a partner.” She shrugged. “And right now, I don’t.”
Trevelyan’s jaw locked at that ridiculous list. “This is Marrok’s fault.” He wasn’t sure how, but he knew it was true. “The wolf and his bleeding-heart bride are filling your head with lies, and stupidity, and wholesome fucking values and it’s…”
“Trevelyan!” The Walrus’ alarmed shout came from the doorway. “Dear Lord, the witch is attacking him! Guards, come quickly! She’s going to ruin everything!”
Oh for Christ’s sake.
Trevelyan rolled his eyes in disgust, as a cadre of idiots stormed into the room. (He wasendlesslysurrounded my morons. It was like a curse.) He gave up on hiding his weakened condition and rubbed his aching temples, wishing the throbbingin his brain would lessen so he could make sense of the woman’s pointless…
“Stop!”Esmeralda cried.“Ow!Let go!”
Trevelyan’s head snapped up, the pain forgotten.
A mountain of a man in a heart-patterned executioner’s mask had grabbed hold of Esmeralda and was half-carrying her towards the door. The witch fought to get free, but she was outweighed two-to-one. The man chuckled maliciously, enjoying her struggles as he overpowered her. His meaty fingers bit into her arm, digging into her delicate flesh and leaving angry marks.
What the fuck…?
For a beat, Trevelyan was so flat-out astounded that all he could do was gape.
Another man was hurting his True Love? Right in front of him? Another man was marring her perfect skin, and making her cry out in pain, and dragging her away? Right in front of him? Another man was trying to steal from a dragon?Right in fucking front of him?
Had everyone lost their goddamn minds while he was asleep?
“Get that crown back.” The Walrus was telling the executioner. “It’s on there with some sort of magic, so chop her head off. That should do it.”
“You toothy son of a bitch!” Esmeralda raged at the Walrus. “When my family gets here, they’re going todestroyyou! Marrok is going to rip your heart out and nail it to the wall! Then, Avenant will bury you in ice forever and Letty will make sure everything you’ve ever owned is confiscated by…Hey!”
The scumbag executioner released her so suddenly that Esmeralda tripped over her own boots. Her crimson eyes swung around to stare at the giant hulk, who was now levitating two feet off the ground.
“Help!” The man vainly tried to get free of the unseen force suspending him. “Help me!”
Then, shit gotreallyBad for the jackass. His huge body went rigid. He screamed in agony, but no sound came out. It was more peaceful when victims suffered quietly, so removing tongues was always an advisable first step of villainy.
From Esmeralda’s blank expression, it was clear she had no idea what was happening. Not even a glance in Trevelyan’s direction.
Okay. Now, he was getting annoyed.
“Does no one here understand who Iam?” Trevelyan asked very softly in the silence that descended over the room.
As if their heads were all connected by a string, everybody looked over at him. Which was excellent. Dragons did their best work with an audience. Deep down they were all attention whores.
“Does no one here understandwhatI am?” He continued coldly. “Do I need to show you? Would that help?”
He was still sitting on the floor, one fist extended in front of him. Very slowly, he twisted his hand in the air and the executioner’s flailing body… deflated. It collapsed into liquefied mush, falling to the ground. It hit like a half-filled water balloon, sloshing against the linoleum in horrible jiggly ripples.
Esmeralda scrambled backwards from the gelatinous mess, which was unnecessary. Nothing sordid was going todamage her precious boots. All the man’s insides were still trapped by his flaccid skin. The witch didn’t even bother to thank Trevelyan for his thoughtfulness.
“Holyshit!”She blurted out, her eyes wide.“What did you just do?”
