She Wore My Twin's Hide, So I Carried Her Mate's Heir novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Terms

He came back after dark with a lantern and a bottle of plum brandy, and he looked like he'd fought the stairs and lost.

"The king's steward told me to be here by moonrise," Dane said. "So here I am."

"You said you wouldn't."

"I said I wouldn't sire a lie." He set the lantern on the sill. "I haven't decided what I'll do with the truth."

I took the bottle from him, pulled the cork with my teeth, and drank.

It burned all the way down.

"Then here are my terms," I said.

"Yours?"

"You're a man who's been given orders his whole life. I'm a woman who's been given a bed and a lock on the door. I'm not a cow, Dane. You don't get to treat me like one and I won't treat you like one."

His mouth moved.

It wasn't a smile, but it was the first thing near one I'd seen.

"Go on."

"One. You don't lie to me. About anything. Not about her, not about the king."

"Done."

"Two. If you want me, you say so. No pretending it's only an order."

"I want you," Dane said.

It came out rough.

I hadn't expected that.

He hadn't either.

He rubbed his jaw and looked at the floor.

"I've wanted you since I breathed you in," he said. "I don't like it. I don't like it at all. But I'm not going to lie to you about it."

I put the bottle down on the sill beside the lantern.

My hands were steady.

That was the calculating part of me, the one Lena had always teased.

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