Page 61 of Seduced By Darkness

Eris looks like a spitting tom faced with a vicious dog.

“And then you may return her,” I promise.

“You have ten minutes,” Eris warns.

Finn winces. “Our prince may need slightly longer than that, my love.”

“Ten minutes.” She stalks toward the tent flap. “If he’s that desperate to have her, surely that’s long enough.”

Oh, she’s furious all right.

But I wave the others out after her.

I’ll deal with Eris’s misgivings later.

* * *

“You saved him,”I murmur as soon as the tent is empty. “Thank you.”

Iskvien pushes to her feet as if sitting leaves her at a disadvantage now we’re alone. “It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing.” I take her hand. “I was about to sacrifice any claim upon Mistmere. Instead, your mother is left with a hand of useless cards.” My voice roughens. “Can she trace this back to you?”

“I don’t think so. We weren’t seen. Edain will suspect someone helped him, though I doubt he’ll think of me.” Iskvien bites her lip. “Nobody ever suspectsme.”

I capture her face in my hands. “Come to me if you think she knows. I’ll protect you.”

But Vi tears away from my grasp. “I didn’t just do it for you. She was holding him over my head. Now I’m free.”

“To break this marriage contract?” I hate those words. To even think she’s being forced to marry another….

She hesitates. “Yes.”

My eyes narrow at the tone of voice used. That wasn’t an emphatic “yes”. Our eyes meet. “You don’t have to marry him.”

“If not Finn then it will be someone else,” she says with a shrug. “My maid perhaps. My groom. She’ll put a knife to their throat and force my hand and—”

“No.” I slide a hand through her hair. “You donothave to marry him.”

Fury suddenly blazes in her expression. “And how do I avoid such a fate?”

“By marryingme.”

The words simply force their way past my lips.

Vi freezes.

Even I can’t believe I just said it.

But the second I put them into the world, I know they’re real.

This has been where my heart has been heading from the moment I laid eyes upon her.

I stroke my thumb over her satiny cheek. “Marry me,” I whisper. “Be mine, Vi. She’ll never be able to harm you again.”

“As tempting as that is,” she whispers, “I barely know you.”

“You trusted me with your body.”