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“Why’d you do it?Why attack witch royalty?”She’d been upfront with him.She might as well make sure he wasn’t out to kill every royal.She didn’t want to spend her few days at home in Kradnovtl worrying that her fake husband might murder her.
“The Revelare’s leader bound me with compulsion wards.I didn’t have a choice.”
“Do you still have those wards?”The last thing she needed was a demon using magic to turn him against her.Or someone turning the marks into a witch locator to track him.
“The Senate carved them out of me piece by piece.”His tone turned nasty.“Then they burned them and salted my skin.”
The agony he must’ve gone through.A sympathy pain pinched deep inside her.“Why?”
“They couldn’t risk the Revelare invoking them.”
“Were those wards the reason you joined the Revelare?”
“No.Their demon leader threatened to kill what’s left of my family before they killed me.”His voice went quiet.“And they had my older sister, Lili.Or what was left of her body after a succubus used her as a vessel.Plus, there was a prophecy.”He sounded as if he thought she might tease him for believing in fortune-tellers.
Not likely.She knew all about horrible predictions, like the one that said she was destined to be the second coming of the original goblin queen.“What kind of prophecy?”
He curled his hands into fists.Still, those sparks flashed.“The Revelare’s leader said I was destined to match with a royal.”
Vori’s earlier pinch of pity pain knotted in her stomach like two tons of dread.Did he know she’d been the crown princess in the goblin realm?That she’d been the only child of the mad king?He couldn’t.No one had any idea of her true identity except her adopted family and Baba Yaga.“Okay.”She hoped her tone came off more pacify-the-crazy thanOMG, what if their fake marriage was fated.
Perry shoved a hand through his tangled hair.“How do you plan to hide me from the most powerful magic wielders on the planet?”
“Let me handle that.”Kradnovtl, her homeland, definitely qualified as out of reach.Only royal goblin blood could travel through the one glass that existed in the human realm.The glass held by Baba.
“I’ve got serious trust issues.Forced servitude and prison do that to a guy.You want me to just believeyoucan deliver everything you promise?”
“Iwasn’t the one who left the club that night, the one who tried to take down his own government, the one who chose anarchy over me.”
“I didn’t know that was the choice I was making.Or I’d have picked you.”
“Now who’s asking for trust?”Although what if he hadn’t had a choice in ghosting her after all?Suppose he’d wanted to give them a chance?Maybe she’d kept his tracking charm for all the right reasons, even if it hadn’t led her to the amethysts.
He curled his far-too-sexy mouth into a sneer more bitter than goblin beer.“Why are you really here?”
Or he’d ghosted her because he was a self-centered prick who questioned everything.She didn’t have time for his suspicious self.“Do you see anyone else here offering to rescue you?Or any other supermodels proposing to fake marry you?Would you rather wait here for someone to finish you off?”
“Look at you.Look at me.Is this your version of some weird ‘Beauty and the Beast’ kink?”
She hesitated.If he only knew how close he’d come to the truth.“You’ll clean up.”She wouldn’t.No, she’d hidden her goblin side for years from everyone.Including herself.She could pull off both sides of the fairy tale by slipping skins, but she wouldn’t share that.Not yet.“So what’s your answer?”
“You’re desperate, or you wouldn’t be here.”
He was right.Powers damn him, but he was right.Anger flashed through her as bright as his magic.“Yes or no?”She bit out each word like a separate interrogation.“Choose.”
Hard stomping thundered outside the door, obvious and unwanted.“What is taking so long?”Alys yelled.
Vori bit back a piss-off comment.She’d just gotten her cousin back at the first prison break where she’d found Perry.No way would she’d incite family drama over a guy who’d ghosted her once and seemed set on doing it again.“A couple more minutes, and we’ll be going.”She managed to keep the irritation out of her voice.
“Vamonos.” Her cousin didn’t have the same problem with picking a fight.Or finishing one.“Leave his ass.We’ll find you a demon prince.”
“Thank you, Alys.”Vori congratulated herself on the fake nicey-nice tone when she wanted to scream.
Her cousin stomped away, a deafening racket for such a tiny woman.
Perry reached toward Vori, stopping with those magical sparks only inches away.“Was that Alys Maronov?”
“Yeah.”
