“Yes, provocative. That little garment shows your curves beautifully,” Rarev said—he was still looking at her in that way that made her feel hot and flustered, Em thought with irritation. “It also accents your lovely silver mane. Besides, you brought your curves to my attention yourself. I thought you wanted me to look at you.”
“Well, I don’t,” Em snapped, frowning and wishing her face didn’t feel so hot. It was ridiculous for him to speak to her this way—ridiculous and completely unprofessional, she thought. But she also couldn’t help thinking that no man had looked at her like Rarev was looking in…well, she couldn’t remember the last time it had happened.
“Forgive me. If I have offended, then I am sorry,” Rarev purred, not sounding sorry at all. “I simply thought that a Mature Elite like yourself ought to know her own beauty.”
Em didn’t know what to say to that. She could handle insults and slurs from the angry crowds and the nasty tabloids all day, but compliments had always rather caught her out.
“It’s fine,” she said shortly, not sure what else to say. She sipped her tea and watched as the Monstrum Commander took a careful sip of his own steaming mug.
Was it really true that the Kindred liked their women curvy? She couldn’t help thinking that might be nice for a change. She tried not to care so much about her shape, but the weight did tend to creep up a bit once one got past forty. And the tabloids were terrible about it—always running articles about how she’d gained stones and stones and printing the most unflattering pictures they could find any time she was the least bit bloated…
“This is good.” Rarev nodded approval and took another sip from his mug. “I like it. It reminds me of a hot drink we have aboard the Monstrum Mother Ship called zau. It is also made with herbs and hot water. Though we also include the dried blood of a zable flower.”
“Dried blood?” Em tried to keep her face impassive, then the rest of what he’d said sank in. “Blood from a flower?” she asked.
“The zable is a kind of hybrid creature—” Rarev began to explain.
But just then, a brick came crashing through her kitchen window and a voice shouted,
“Monster lover! Filthy beast fucker!”
Em gasped and jumped to the side, her arm landing on the rounded side of the still-hot tea kettle. She yanked it away with a cry. But she barely noticed the burning pain—circumstances were getting grim.
“My God—that came from the back garden. They’ve gotten over the fence!” she exclaimed. The blood in her veins felt like it had turned to ice. The angry crowd must have overcome her security detail—she imagined her bodyguards being trampled on the street and felt sick.
Rarev peered out the broken window.
“They seem to be using a ladder to get to the back of your domicile,” he remarked, his deep, purring voice sounding remarkably calm. “We need to go quickly before too many of them come over.”
“Go?” Em stared at him incredulously. “What are you talking about?”
He frowned down at her.
“I’m talking about getting you out of here, Minister Oxley. Don’t worry—though you can’t see it, my ship is just outside in your back garden—it’s cloaked.”
“But we can’t go out there.” Em gestured to the back garden where more and more angry men were pouring over the tall fence. “They’ll rip us to shreds—especially you, Commander Rarev. They’re angry at me for helping the Monstrum Kindred but they’re even angrier at the Monstrum Kindred themselves.”
“Listen to me, Emilia.” He took her by the upper arms and ducked his head, catching her eyes with his own. “I’ll keep you safe,” he rumbled. “As long as you’re with me, no one will hurt you. And if an oath is necessary to satisfy you of that, I’m willing to swear one.”
“An oath?” Em wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at so she was extremely surprised when he dropped gracefully to one knee and took both her hands in his much larger ones.
“Emilia Oxley,” he murmured in that deep voice of his that was a cross between a roar and a purr. “I swear by my honor as a Monstrum Kindred that I will keep you safe, no matter what the cost. Not a single drop of your blood shall be spilled until the ground is red with my own. I will shield you with my body and protect you until my last breath. Will you come with me now?”
As oaths went, it was definitely one of the better ones she’d heard, Em thought faintly. And there was no doubting the sincerity in his wild, golden eyes. Though she’d thought he must be crazy to consider going out amongst the angry crowd just a moment earlier, somehow, she found herself nodding.