“Give her privacy,” the Velli said, the suggestion laced with a note of annoyance.
“No.”
The single word crashed like a hammer into an anvil.
I was trapped. With Tallon. With a servant too frightened to speak, and a door too far to reach. If Egath could not compel him, I had no hope.
Still, I tried, resisting the urge to swallow past the lump in my throat. “You wouldn’t want to make a bad impression on your new court.”
Please—please, leave.
“They know who I am. Impressions don’t matter.” He jerked his chin toward the servant. “Go on. Change your clothes.”
Cold fingers brushed my neck, and I flinched away. “No. I refuse.”
“Oh, Egath,” Tallon sang. “She refused!” He sounded like a tattling child, basking in satisfaction. “That means I get to make her.”
“Make me?”
He leaned forward, and I recoiled, slamming into the servant. Fabric rustled as I hurried toward the center of the room, placing distance between us, searching Egath’s face for intervention.
Sharp teeth flashed as the Velli shook his head. “Nienna, let’s make this quick. Get dressed.”
They would bite me. Bend my will with blood. Strip rebellion from my bones and force me into compliance. How far would their power extend? Only while I changed—or longer? How long would I lose my freedom for a breath of defiance?
“Tallon, just leave. And I’ll change into that sad excuse of a dress.”
He stuck out his lower lip in a show of mock consideration. “How about—no.” Those green eyes sparkled with malice. “Strip.”
Fury surged, hot and violent. Heat climbed my cheeks. How dare he? The humiliation burned deeper than fear. Not only had Egath seen me naked—now Tallon would. The wrongness of that bastard seeing me bare was sickening. I belonged to Kallias. I bore his touch, his vows, the life we had made. My body was his, not to be viewed at the whim of some boy.
What if they saw the swell of my belly? What if they knew it was more than the softness of the female figure?
“Now.” His tongue dragged across his lips in a slow, deliberate sweep. “Or else.”
My heart lodged high in my throat. I crossed the room with my chin lifted and turned my back to the servant. Her fingers moved fast this time, unfastening each button along my spine. Despite the warmth in the air, it bit at my exposed skin.
Fabric pooled at my feet.
I stood bare beneath Tallon’s mocking gaze. I did not cover myself. Did not hide. Angry, helpless tears burned, but did not fall. Let him look. He would see only flesh and fury.
I could only hope my virtue would distract from the secret cradled in my womb.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Kallias
“Where is she?!” The Prince of Draconia slammed his fist onto the map before me, the impact rattling the table.
I stared down at the sprawling web of streets in the Heart of Sol, tunnels snaking like veins across the parchment, my vision blurring under the strain of blind rage.
Calm. Where would they take her?
“This is your fault! If you hadn’t brought us–”
“It was your dragon who turned on us!” My head whipped toward Ronan, fury slipping through my control like water through clenched fingers. “The blame does not rest solely on my shoulders!”
His lip curled in a sneer as he bent over the map, leaning closer, the scent of blood and smoke clinging to him. “She wouldn’t be here if not for you.”
