House of Lies and Sorrow (Fae of Rewyth #1)(36)

“Your brother seemed to be looking just as closely as you,” she said, a smirk on her face and a hand on her hip. She was taunting me.

I didn’t stop the growl that rumbled in my chest. Jade’s eyes only widened. “Does that bother you?”

She held my gaze, testing me. She was brave, that much was certain. But I had already told her I wouldn’t hurt her.

Maybe she was getting too confident.

In one second, I grabbed her around her waist and hurled her against the wall, pinning her there with my arms.

“I could kill you right now,” I growled.

She lifted her chin in silent defiance. “Then why don’t you?” she whispered.

The feeling of her breath on my cheek made me shiver. I held her there for a few more seconds, pressing her body against the wall, staring into her eyes. She wasn’t going to back away. She knew I wouldn’t kill her, and she was too damn stubborn to admit she was wrong.

Saints. This girl was going to get me killed.

The sharp, copper smell of blood distracted me. “Are you bleeding?” I asked, backing away from the wall and looking her up and down.

Jade took a deep breath and looked down at her leg. Her trousers were black, but I could now see the thick coat of blood that covered them, dripping down to the floor.

How had I not noticed that before?

“It’s not that bad,” she mumbled. “I can barely even feel it.”

“That’s because you’re stubborn,” I replied. I didn’t wait for Jade to protest. I put an arm under her knees and picked her up, carrying her to the bed.

“It’s seriously fine!” she said as I knelt before her and rolled up her pant leg.

Jade hissed in pain. “You should have told me you were hurt,” I whispered.

I grabbed my shirt and ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom.

Jade went still as my fingers traced up her leg, just above her knee, where the slice of a claw began.

“You shouldn’t have been out there,” I whispered. She didn’t respond. I began tying the fabric over her wound, aware of every single time my skin brushed against hers.

Jade was silent. When I finished tying the knot, I looked up at her. And I immediately wished I hadn’t.

She was staring at me with the same longing that I was feeling. The same longing that neither of us could act on.

My hand lingered under her calf. I slid it up, just an inch, and waited for Jade’s reaction.

She inhaled sharply, as if my touch affected her just as badly as hers affected me.

“I should get ready for the court meeting,” she insisted.

I cleared my throat.

“Right,” I said. I stood up and backed away from the bed. “Of course.”

“But thank you, Malachi. And thank you for saving my life today. Again.”

“Anytime,” I replied. Jade smiled at me before heading to the bathroom, leaving me alone in the bedroom.





CHAPTER 17





Jade





“How does it look?” I asked Malachi. He was standing in the corner of the room, his massive black wings tucked behind each shoulder blade. He had changed into a sleek black t-shirt and jeans, which matched his wings and his hair.

A Prince of Shadows, indeed.

“You look fine,” he said, although I could tell he didn’t even bother glancing at me. Since our encounter earlier, he had been ignoring me completely.

But maybe that was for the best.

I had let myself forget who Malachi really was. I had let myself fall for his soft touch on my leg.

Saints, I had nearly kissed him.

Malachi might have been my husband, but he was still fae. And I was still trying to survive.

I looked at myself in the mirror, smoothing down my black corset and matching skirt that fell past my feet. “How the saints am I supposed to fight off an attacker in a skirt like this?”

His shoulders shook in laughter in the mirror’s reflection, but he still didn’t meet my gaze. “Your five minutes of training won’t help much anyway, princess.”

Jackass.

The nerves in my stomach were enough to make me want to vomit, but I didn’t dare tell Malachi that.

Show no weakness, as he said. Yield no mercy.

These fae weren’t about to see me cower.

I took a deep breath and let go of the nerves. I was a survivor. A fighter. “Let’s get this over with,” I said, turning from the mirror.

Malachi looked up for the first time since I got dressed. His expression was blank, which made me more nervous than if he were pissed off. “Don’t forget what I told you,” he said in a low voice. “Keep quiet.”

Warning laced every word. I just nodded.

He looked at me, eyes finally moving from my face, landing on my new dress. I had never worn something like this. My gown at the wedding had been a singular piece of fabric that flowed with my body. This dress was thick and structured, and I couldn't take a deep breath without my chest nearly spilling from the top.

He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but we were both interrupted when the bedroom door creaked open.

Serefin.

“I’m here to escort you, my lord,” he said in an unusually polite voice. Malachi nodded, as if the two of them had done this dozens of times before.