Demure.Modest… Available.
"She wants a title," Raaevik sub-vocalized, watching Miranda place a hand on the duke’s arm."Since she can't get one from the Emperor, she's looking for a backup plan.”
"The Duke is an idiot if he falls for that," Thyaar's voice crackled in his ear.
"The Duke is lonely and rich.That's all she needs."
The dinner ended.Daaynal offered Emily his arm.She leaned on the table for a split second before rising, so brief he might have imagined it, and took it.The smile she gave Daaynal was so convincing that Raaevik's chest physically hurt.Seeing them together, you would believe they were really falling in love.Or at least, the very start of it,
Daaynal murmured something to Emily at the door, too low for Raaevik to catch, and she nodded, her smile still perfectly in place.He turned toward his private wing, and she turned toward hers.
Raaevik fell into step behind her, Thyaar taking the opposite flank in the standard escort formation.She walked ahead of them, her spine ramrod straight and her skirts whispering against the deck plates.She hadn't spoken since leaving the hall.Hadn't turned around.Hadn’t looked at him once.
They were approaching the junction where the corridor split toward the residential wing when Miranda stepped out of a side passage.
"Darling, a moment?—"
"Not now, Mother."Emily didn't slow down, waving her hand dismissively.He almost laughed.Served the old harridan right.
Unfortunately, Miranda just looked for another target, her gaze locking onto him.
Draanth.
"Warrior."Her voice dropped half a register.Warm.Inviting."A word?"
Lengthening his stride, Thyaar closed the gap with Emily and took point.
Raaevik stopped.
Miranda stepped in closer.The corridor lighting caught the angles of her face, the careful application of cosmetics designed to make her look a decade younger than she was.Up close, the gown was cut lower than the court standard.Not enough to draw censure… but just enough to draw attention.
"I wanted to apologize," she said, her voice hushed and conspiratorial."For any...tension between us."
He said nothing.
"I've noticed the way you attend to Emily,” she continued.She was close enough now to touch, her eyes traveling down his chest with appraisal."The dedication.It's...impressive."
"I am assigned to her grace’s protection," he said."Nothing more."
"Hmm."Miranda tilted her head, and the smile she gave him was nothing like the one she'd been practicing on Kaarigan all evening.This version was stripped bare.Direct."I've heard stories about Latharian warriors.Their devotion.Their...stamina."Her fingers reached out and grazed his arm."A woman can't help but be curious."
He froze and looked down at her hand on the leather of his sleeve, then back up at her face.He let her see his eyes.Let her see the vertical pupils contract to slits.
"Ten minutes ago," he said, his voice low enough that it wouldn't carry past the five feet between them, "you were performing modesty and virtue for Duke Kaarigan.Yet now you proposition me in a corridor, like I'm something to be sampled."
She pulled her hand back."I don't know what you mea?—“
"You sold your daughter."His voice didn't rise.It didn't need to."You signed her into this program without her knowledge.You traded her for access and position.And now that the Emperor won't give you a title, you're hunting for another target."
"You're overstepping, warrior."
“Sub-Commander,”he corrected her.“And I’m observing."
Stepping forward, he forced her back until her shoulders hit the corridor wall."You play virgin for the Duke and seductress for the guard.You wear whatever face gets you closer to what you want.But I've stood outside your daughter's door and watched her break apart because of what you've done.So hear me.She is not your property.She is not your?—"
Mate.
The word almost ripped free.He felt it in his throat like a snarl, and the possessive fury behind it blurred his vision at the edges.
