Especially now.
Slowly, his hand lifted.
Eliza's heart forgot to beat as his fingers rose to the ties of his mask. She stared, frozen in a kind of terrified fascination, unable to look away as he worked the bindings loose.
And then—he pulled it free.
For the first time, she saw the face behind the mask.
The monster she had imagined was not there.
Instead, hard, elegant features came into view. His skin was grey, with the faintest green tinge, like stone tinted with moss. His eyes were black, bottomless, unreadable. A proud forehead, slashed by dark brows that angled sharply. High cheekbones, a strong, cut jawline. A faint hollow to his cheeks gave him a lean, honed look—less brute, more blade.
And his mouth?—
Full lips, shadowed by the jut of tusks emerging from his lower lip, pale ivory against the darkness of his skin.
Eliza's chest tightened. He was no brute.
Not the savage monster she had been told or taught to believe.
He was…
Handsome.
The thought struck her in dismay, reverberating through her as her heart hammered wildly, betraying her.
"My name is Rakhal Karthan," he said quietly.
The words rang through the chamber, low and deliberate, each syllable carrying weight. They seemed to hang in the silence long after his voice had fallen still.
Karthan.
The name struck her like a hammer blow, reverberating through her chest. Her blood went cold even as the fire cast warmth across her skin.
She knew that name. Everyone did. It belonged to the ruling line of the Varak. The blood that commanded their armies, their clans, their endless war.
Of course.
It hadn't been an ordinary soldier who had come for her. Not an assassin sent to slip through the shadows.
It had been him.
Rakhal Karthan.
The name echoed inside her, dark and resonant, as if it had been meant to. As if he had known exactly what it would do to her.
"Kardoc would never agree to marry a human."
His voice was soft, almost flat, but there—just there—she thought she detected the faintest flicker of amusement, like a shadow beneath the words.
Eliza's jaw dropped. Her breath caught hard in her throat.
"You mean…" The words slipped out before she could stop them. "You?"
Her chest heaved, her pulse hammering against her ribs. Bewilderment crashed into her, colliding with anger, confusion, disbelief, leaving her raw and unsteady.
"You were going to kill me," she whispered, her voice breaking into a tremor of fury. "Now you want to force me to marry you? Why?"
