A surge of raw emotion slashes my unguarded heart, and it’s an effort to keep my face smooth as my entire body threatens to fold around the hurt.
Don’t cry—
“You should berejoicing.You rescued countless people from a fate worse than death and cleared the path for us to continue our courtship. The Gods will be pleased, and I have no doubt you’ll climb from The Bowl next time you try. Then there will benothingstanding in the way of us bringing our great territories together.”
It feels as though he chose each word from a vast collection of leftovers that weren’t perfect enough to make the cut.
“Except my conscience,” I say, flipping the blade again. Watching it dance for me while Cainon’s gaze carves across my face.
“Why don’t you put the dagger down, Orlaith? Look me in the eye so we can hold a proper conversation.”
Look me in the eye so I can weave my words into a web and sting you with fragments of truth. Make you pliable enough to mold to my will.
I harden my regard and do as he asked, shredding the silence with my own words before he has the chance to wield his. “I intended to come in here and beg for you to take me back. Now, I realize I don’t have the stomach for it.”
A frown shadows his brow. “I don’t understand your meaning.”
“Beyond your wall is a city’s worth of sick people rotting. Slowly.Painfully.”
His head kicks back, arms folding over his broad chest. “Would you rather me blow them all up?” he asks indignantly.
Asshole.
“No. I’d rather you give them achoice.Drop a pallet of liquid bane into the mosh. Stop using their disadvantage to your advantage.”
He plants his fists on the table, leans forward, and looks at me like I’ve got sauce on my face. “I know you’re new to this, but a bleeding heart doesnothingto stack the stones of a great territory. Something you need to move past since you’ll soon be sharing my throne.”
I bristle all the way to my toes. “You’ll have tosolderme to it.”
He cocks a brow, the corner of his mouth curling into a salacious smile as he steals a glance at my cupla. “I’m good at that.”
Yes you fucking are.
Holding his stare, I flick my dagger into a spin, catching the honed tip between my thumb and forefinger. “And I’m good with a knife.”
A familiar flash of thrill ignites his eyes, making my cheeks flame. “Clearly. But if I’m to be perfectly honest, thatexcitesme.”
I stab it into the makeshift sheath, but his smile only grows.
He picks up a goblet and drains the contents with the remaining drabs of my patience, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm as he clonks the empty chalice down.
Watching me.
I break his stare. Let my gaze roam across the hog and platter of eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes it’s nesting on—all Ocruth produce shipped down the great river that weaves through the continent before spilling out here in Parith. I spentyearscreeping around Castle Noir, listening to conversations not meant for my ears. Bahari produces nothing more than sugar, seafood, and a shit ton of gold that buys almost everything it can’t pillage from the sea …
Get your teeth out. Bring him to his fucking knees if you have to.
Zali’s words bolster me, and I lift my chin, forcing myself to hold his stare. “While your territory might glimmer in the sun, it’s codependent. Vulnerable.”
That smile finally falls off his face. “Vulnerable, you say?”
The words seem to writhe across the table, coil in my lap, and hiss at me.
I nod. “You’ll send the ships to Ocruth. Now. Or I’lI stop all trade with Bahari and prevent any barges from sailing farther south of the border. You currently have an oil shortage, do you not?”
His eyes bulge the slightest amount, and he looks at me as though he’s seeing me for the first time.
A beat of silence.
