“I need to talk to her. Alone.” As Zane spoke, he made a few rudimentary signs. He’d learned them from me. For long meetings, to talk on hunts, and to share moments of privacy. I’d told him about Finn, speaking of my childhood friend like a fond memory. I never thought they’d meet like this.
Finn released me and rubbed at his wrists.It is late. I will head to bed,he signed. He flashed a tired smile my way.See you soon, Princess Chocolate.
Sleep well, Lord Duke Dungheap.
Grinning now, Finn sauntered off. Butters followed, fluffy tail upright.
Chapter 17
Sidney
Zane raised his brow at me. “What did you just call him?”
“It’s an inside joke.”
“Uh huh.”
I tensed. If his anger wasn’t obvious from the tight set of his body, he’d taken a sharp tone I recognized down to my bone marrow. “My quarters are this way. Let’s at least get some privacy if you’re going to do this.”
He trailed after me as I set off for the relief of a real bed. “Do what?” he snapped.
“You know what.” I lifted my chin and squared my shoulders.
He went silent as I navigated the halls of the mansion without trouble. My stride was a fast clip, racing to this next confrontation with my hands balled into fists.
Once I had him in my quarters and the door was locked behind us, I hit the wood with my fist. “All right, here’s your chance. Throw rocks,KingZane.”
He sucked in a sharp breath. “King-in-waiting,” he said in echo to Mathias, eyes widening and jaw dropping for awordless moment. “I didn’t touch your grandmother. Aetherius’s light! I would never. Not willingly…”
I turned to see he’d had a seat on the couch. He rested his face in his hands.
“Let’s not do this. Please. I don’t want to fight,” he mumbled into his fingers. “I’ve dreamed of this moment, when I could have you back despite…everything. And I don’t want to taint it.”
I breathed out some of my tension, sagging without the promise of another battle to prop me up. “We don’t have to fight.”
Zane turned my way. The shadows across his face were stark, emphasizing the grief trapped just under the surface of his skin. They swirled, seemingly at his command, joining the play of darkness in the room. When he crooked his finger to invite me to join him, a shadowy echo beckoned with him.
“We need to talk,” he stated. The four words I dreaded hearing from any partner, never uttered by Zane until now.
I settled onto the couch next to him. We kept a few inches of space between our hips, though our knees pointed square at one another. His gaze roved over my face before he breathed a pointed sigh. “Take that fake face off.”
Wordlessly, I stripped off the bracelet and put it in my pocket. I loosened the ties of my leather armor with relief as it constricted my curvier body.
“Sidney,” he breathed with longing. “I never thought I’d see you again. I hoped you thought I was dead, not worse. Not…this.” He gestured to his mouth, baring his sharpened fangs.
“I’m working on a cure to turn you back. The temple’s spies received a report on what Nemea did to you…” Carlyle hadn’t wanted me to read it, trying to spare me from knowing of my betrothed’s pain. But of course I’d snuck it off his desk and memorized every word of my failure.
Zane shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure… Listen, if anyone could devise a cure, it’d be you. But no spy could understand just how much pain that bitch put me through.” He bared his fangs in a purely vampiric show of his rage. Anger, pure and bright and wholly not like him, emerged from between his gritted teeth. “Your preventative saved me from her first bite, I think. She bit me several more times after she kidnapped me. The venom and the curative burned in my veins, head to toe. I thought she’d set me on fire.”
“Zane, I’m sorry?—”
“It’s not yourfault. I know you’re going to blame your science for failing, but it just…it was just bad luck.” He reached over and took my hand, squeezing it between his palms. “Nemea targeting me wasn’t part of the future we were building.”
Despite myself, I chuckled dryly. “It sure wasn’t.”
“She died before she could force me into anything. I’m a ‘king-in-waiting’ as a title only. But despite that…I have this bad feeling that her turning me has changed everything. Hasn’t it?”
I found it difficult to maintain eye contact with him. But I breathed, “Yes.”
