I just wanted my peace, my woods, and a life of my own.
Well, and now that list of desires included Adele, the woman I’d fallen for. I just wasn’t sure how I fit the damned royal Princess and heir to the throne of Berne into my plans.
I pushed my way through the crowd of elites and upper class, my face souring as I moved past a group of princely-looking types making a crack about “finding some” that night.
Little pricks.
These assholes were all much younger than me, and yet far richer. Far more “esteemed” with the family and the names and the titles they’d been lucky enough to be born with. And I knew deep down that this was the type of guy someone like Adele should have been with it. It’s just the way the world worked, and I got that.
But that didn’t mean I had to like it. And it didn’t mean I had to play the world’s games.
I shouldered my way past another group of people, and then I froze, because that’s when I saw her.
God damn she was gorgeous.
She was standing with her three cousins — the princesses Ilana, Imogen, and Isla of Avlion. And as lovely as they all were, it was my Adele that just out-shone the lot of them. Hell, next to her, it was like the rest of the beauty of the entire world paled.
And yet, even dressed like that, in a place like this, surrounded by her cousins, she looked sad. Her face was tight, and she toyed with her fingers in this nervous way that had me frowning.
I immediately wanted to go to her, though I knew that wasn’t a smart idea. I fucking hated that this thing of ours was a secret, and my mind was working on overtime trying to devise a solution where it wasn’t, but I just couldn’t see it.
Embracing her and kissing her passionately in the middle of her uncle’s royal ball probably wasn’t the best step towards that dream goal, though.
I was staring at her, watching her talking with one of her cousins, Princess Ilana, when she suddenly looked up. Her face paled, her eyes going wide as she saw me. I frowned. I’d expected surprise, of course, when she eventually realized I was there. But that look hadn’t been surprise.
It’d been fear.
Something was wrong, and I knew it. I watched her pull away from her cousin, shaking her head quickly and giving me another quick look, before suddenly, she was gone.
Shit, something was definitely not right here.
Forget my plans of teasing her with sexy vibrating panties all night while dumbass princes tried to hit on her. My new plans were seeking her out and figuring out what the hell was going on.
Chapter 10
Adele
I made it as far as the hallways before I felt the hand grab my arm. I gasped, whirling, my heart jumping into my throat, even if I knew who it was.
Or maybe because I knew who it was.
Damon’s eyes narrowed at me, his jaw tight as they searched my face.
“Something’s wrong,” he said quietly.
I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong,” I said quickly.
“You’re shaking right now, I can feel it.” He frowned. “Adele, just tell me what’s—”
“Maybe you should go,” I said quickly, hating the words as I said them. But all I could think about was the conversation in the throne room with my father and Mallory.
“He’s a killing machine is what he is.”
A killing machine. The man I loved, who’d shown me things I’d never dreamed of, who made my heart soar, who loved so fiercely, was a man capable of killing.
“Tell me what the hell is going on,” he growled, pulling me against him.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I snapped, jerking away. “Don’t you have a war to go fight in?”
He scowled. “Where the fuck did this come—”
“Some people to go murder?”
His mouth snapped shut, and his eyes narrowed.
“I see.”
I laughed a hard, brittle laugh. “Oh, you see?’
“I see that you’ve been talking to people about me.”
“Don’t accuse me of—”
“Adele, stop.”
I gasped as he yanked me against him, his hand going to my cheek.
And I melted. Instantly, I went right back to the part where I was so crazy in love with this man, before I heard those terrible things about him. Before he scared me.
“I wasn’t accusing you of anything, I only meant that you’ve heard things about me.” His jaw tightened. “Things I wish you’d never had to hear. Like my war record.”
I looked away.
“Ask me.”
I glanced back at him. “What?”
“Ask me. It’s here, between us, so let’s talk about it.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t know if I want to know anything more about that.”
“I want you to know,” he said quietly. “So you can understand. You want the truth? Well, the truth is, yes, I’ve killed. A lot. But I’m not a murdering psychopath, Adele. I’ve killed in war,” he growled.