26. Husband #3
He continued to avoid my eyes as his words turned scathingly polite.
“Of course, I’m to extend an invitation for you to come and live in the castle with us, wife. He wished me to tell you that you’re welcome to come stay with me full time, whenever you want, with the promise of our own bedroom and only partially monitored conjugal visits.”
He gave me a hard look.
“He even offered Varya as companionship while I’m away…
given how busy I’ll be, helping him to burn down our world one city at a time.
And your brother will be there too, of course.
Just think how cozy it would be, the whole family together, he told me.
How prosaic.” Bones smiled, but it didn’t touch his eyes.
“He finds imagining you there, with my traitorous mother and your mongrel brother quite enjoyable, I think.”
I stared at him, breathing harder.
His words felt like a gut punch, and I honestly couldn’t tell if he’d even done it on purpose. I almost wondered if he was joking.
From his face, I knew he wasn’t.
“Well, that’s certainly broad-minded of him,” I said coldly, my fists clenching in the sheets.
“Enveloping me into the love of a respectable family, particularly given my own rather embarrassing ancestral background. Even welcoming your new brother-in-law into the fold. Do you think I should take up this kind offer… husband?”
His jaw ticked again.
After a weighted pause, he turned to glare at me, his words vicious.
“If you even think about it, I’ll kill you myself,” he growled.
My jaw clenched as I nodded. I folded my arms, fighting back a lump in my throat.
“Does he know you’re not exactly pure in blood either, Bones?” I asked. “Or hasn’t he managed to get that out of Varya, yet?”
His glare swiveled off me as he focused back on his buttons. I watched the glint of gold metal disappear as he buttoned the high-collared shirt over it.
“Back to this,” I muttered, pressing my lips together. “Silence.”
Even in my frustration, I seemed to be physically incapable of looking away from his face, something he clearly had no trouble doing with me. My eyes fell only once, to the blood on his shirt, which had stiffened the cloth, making it bunch where he buttoned it up.
Sunrise was lightening the windows.
“The death threats are getting pretty tired, Bones,” I added, a touch louder. “If you really wanted to kill me, you could have done it by now. You would have done it by now. It’s not like I haven’t given you plenty of opportunities.”
I bit my lip, then said it anyway.
“…And we both know how easily killing comes to you.”
He flinched at my words, intensely enough that I instantly regretted them.
He looked away before I could think about apologizing.
Pain crossed his expression a second time when he bent down to grab his long coat.
I struggled with what to say as he stuffed an arm into one sleeve, then threw the bulk of the heavy fabric over his back to finish putting it on.
“Please,” I said, quieter. “Please, Bones… don’t leave like this.”
He froze.
For a few seconds, he only stood there, his back to me, his coat still only halfway on. Then, like a switch flicked, he pulled it the rest of the way up over his shoulders, yanking it tight over the front of his chest. Only after he’d adjusted the collar did he turn.
He walked over to me, still avoiding my eyes as he reached the side of the bed. When I leaned up, kneeling on the bed, and rested my arms on his shoulders, he only stood there, his face taut. He stared past me, over my shoulder, and swallowed.
“Please trust me.” He said it quieter than anything he’d said until now.
He kissed my face, and his fingers stroked my cheek.
“I’ll get Arcturus out. Somehow. I’m working on it.
But don’t come back to the tower, Leda.” He swallowed again, a pleading look in his eyes.
“He really does want you there. Badly. Don’t make it easy for him. Please.”
He leaned his forehead against mine and swallowed again.
“If I can’t threaten you convincingly, believe this,” he murmured as he nuzzled my cheek. “It would kill me. It would fucking kill me, Leda, to have you there. Please don’t do that to me. Don’t do it to Arcturus, either. Or my mum.”
Tears came to my eyes before I could hold them back.
I kissed his mouth, and he returned it, bending lower to reach me.
He kissed me tenderly again, but didn’t pull me against him, and it was over before it felt like anywhere near enough. He pulled away from me with a reluctance that closed my throat, only pausing to press his face briefly against mine.
I could only kneel there on the mattress, gripping his shoulder and the back of his neck. I still hadn’t moved when he began to disentangle himself from my hold. I fought to speak, to say something, but he didn’t seem to want to hear whatever he could see in my eyes.
I hadn’t yet managed to get to there, to form words, when Bones turned away from me entirely and walked towards the wall beside the bed.
An instant later, he disappeared in a flash of white light.