“So, you came to gloat.”
His brows pinch over the bridge of his nose. “I came to celebrate.” He glances south. “Though I suppose we have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”
“I don’t want this. I can’t be a host. I can’t have your—” I choke on a sob. “Please, don’t make me do this.”
His eyes glow with energy I never thought I would ever witness in a vampire. It’s a soft hue in those chestnut eyes like light filtering through muddy water.
Empathy. He’s feelingempathyfor me.
He licks his lips slowly and squeezes my shoulders. “Tell me about the tower.”
“What tower?”
“Don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you, Amber.”
This is it. This is the part where I run away. This is where he finally sees me as damaged goods and disposes of me.
I’ll have no choice but to run back to Jasper.
He shakes me once. It’s not hard, but it impresses me with the command he issued earlier.
“I told you not to think of him anymore.”
I whimper. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to know. I wasn’t going to feed you for long, so it wasn’t important.”
“What wasn’t important?”
“The tower—where King Marr kept my sister.” I close my eyes, my lids flutter like I’m about to cry. I might as well. “And me. That’s where he also kept me.”
His grip softens. “What?”
“King Marr asked Jasper to keep me overnight a lot. He took me one night into the tower. He chained me up. He wanted to…” I didn’t have to open my eyes to see Darius’s reaction. I felt the flood of rage whack me as hard as the nausea had earlier in the evening. “He wanted me to have his children. He kidnapped Tessa at one point and tortured her just to make me change my mind.”
“He... violated you.”
My eyes snapped open as I stepped forward. “No. Jasper stopped him. He didn’t do anything... specific to me.”
“So, he wasn’t a putz after all.”
I frown. “What?”
“I assumed your dear Jasper had been piggybacking off the riches of his court. Perhaps he had been stationed there with a greater purpose.”
“What?” I swallow hard. And then I start piercing together a web I never knew existed. “That would explain why Jasper was always with Marr…”
I close my eyes. I just can’t keep thinking about all this right now.
“Amber, look at me.”
He knows very well I can’t do that. Even with his hand cupping my cheek and his arm circling my waist. Even with the heat growing between us. Even with the safety that encompasses me…
I look into his eyes. I see his empathy double. I witness the way it transcends from possession to protection.
“He’s dead,” Darius assures me. “His head is in a spelled cooler. We’re burning it at dawn. He’ll never hurt you or your family again.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
He clings to me. “It’s your business. I shouldn’t have pried.”