Page 2 of The Dark Lord’s Guide to Honeymooning (and Other Acts of Tyranny)

“None.”

That didn’t shock me. After Arabella and I crushed their invasion, the remaining Hero’s Guild had retreated with their tails between their legs and Auremar’s forces on their heels.

“This feels too convenient,” Arabella said, studying the empty buildings with narrowed eyes. “All these villages, abandoned? No resistance at all?”

“It’s not a trap.” I gestured to the shadow warriors gliding through the ruins, double-checking everything. “It’s a strategic retreat. Auremar doesn’t want to leave us any resources. No food, no shelter, no civilians to conscript. He’s pulling everything back to defend what matters.”

“The Golden Rose Fields,” she murmured.

“And the palace.” I nodded. “He’s starting to believe he can’t stop us in open terrain, not with the magic at our disposal. He knows something’s changed and his borders no longer hinder me. So he’s concentrating his forces where his own magic is strongest. Classic defensive strategy when you’re outmatched. He won’t sit there for long, though.”

“Still.” She frowned at a collapsed storefront. “I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it. You just have to trust that I know what I’m doing.” I flashed her a grin. “Besides, when have I ever led you astray?”

“Do you want the list chronologically or by severity?”

A strangled yelp made me twist in the saddle. Griffin, my jittery yet brilliant enchanter, was locked in a battle of wills with his mount. A sturdy mule that seemed determined to walk sideways rather than forward. Griffin’s unnaturally long limbs flailed wildly, his straw-like hair sticking up in a permanent state of electrocution that no amount of combing could tame.

“Griffin,” I called, unable to hide my exasperation. “Did you never learn basic horsemanship?”

“My lord,” he gasped, adjusting his new spectacles. “I’m convinced it’s possessed by a minor demon.”

“If that were true, it would be more cooperative.” I eyed the stone tablet clutched to his chest. “And why did you bring that blasted thing out here?”

Since Sims’s death, Griffin had appointed himself keeper of the Doom Scroll—a misnomer, as it was actually a stone tablet roughly the size of a dinner platter, covered in shifting lines of glowing text.

“I thought it might be useful,” Griffin insisted, nearly dropping it as the mule lurched. “The tablet shows troop movements, magical disturbances, weather patterns.”

“No weather reports. Tell me something useful or put it away.”

A shadow passed overhead. Massive, dark wings that made my chest seize unpleasantly. But when I looked up, it was only Nyx soaring above the village. Her scales caught the light in a way that made her look…

“Is it my imagination, or is your dragon pink?”

Arabella raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, though I caught her glance at me from the corner of her eye. “It’s more of a rosy shimmer over her black scales. I think she’s going through a phase. She’s been very moody lately, and yesterday she refused to eat unless I hand-fed her.”

I snorted. “And you indulged this behavior?”

“Says the warlord who changed our route because his wife mentioned she’d never seen Dead Man’s Falls.”

“That was tactical.” I lied. “The Falls offered superior vantage points.”

Arabella’s knowing smile made heat rise to my face. I cleared my throat. “How much longer until she’s large enough to carry you?”

The thought that Arabella might use the dragon to flee had long since evaporated. She was bound to me, in magic and in heart.

“A few more weeks, perhaps?” Arabella looked up at Nyx with unmistakable affection. “Her wingspan has nearly doubled since the Guild attack. The beast master thinks the exposure to all the magic at Skyspire has accelerated her growth.”

Arabella began using a ridiculous baby voice to praise Nyx as “the best, cleverest dragon.” Nyx preened at the flattery, executing a showy spiral that made several soldiers duck.

I couldn’t look away.

I was besotted, completely and utterly obsessed with my wife, and I no longer bothered to hide it. Even a minor hint of her attention had me feeling like the most powerful man in the world. Not because of the armies at my back, but because she was at my side.

And soon, she’d be able to fly into battle. The vision of my brilliant, ruthless wife swooping down to obliterate our foes sent such an immediate surge of desire through me that I shifted in my saddle.

Arabella was still fussing over Nyx, who was now turning somersaults in midair.