“Did you see him throw the assassin and his own guard?”

“May the gods help us with him in power.”

“We’re doomed!”

“No wonder Arturo kept him in institutions. He must have been terrified of him since he was a kid.”

As their comments and anger against Darling built, she knew she had to do something.

Fast. But what?

Suddenly, a stupid idea came to her.

Before she could think better of it, she grabbed Darling’s arm as he went for Giran again.

He turned around, his hand raised to strike her, too. Just as she thought he’d put her through the wall behind her, he caught himself. His breathing ragged, he stared at her and lowered his hand. The agony on his beautiful face hit her like a blow. He cupped her head in the palm of his hand, then gently pulled her into his arms.

She hugged him close as his heart pounded fiercely against her breasts. He continued to cradle her head and hold on to her like she was his lifeline.

Maris approached them slowly. “Are you better?” he whispered to Darling.

His eyes started jerking. “No. I didn’t get a chance to kill the bastard.” He turned in Giran’s direction. “No one insults my lady. No one.”

Nykyrian wiped the blood from his lips as he neared Darling with a look that said he craved retaliation. Luckily, he didn’t give in to his anger. “We need to get you both out of here. And whatever you do,” he said to Darling, “say nothing else.” That last sentence came out as a fierce growl.

Darling inclined his head to him.

As they started walking, the gerents noticed Darling’s eyes.

“He’s blind?”

“No wonder he had on sunglasses.”

“How can a blind, insane man lead an empire as powerful as ours?”

“I wouldn’t trust him to lead a herd of dogs to water. Never mind lead us.”

His jaw locked to keep from responding to their erroneous speculations, Darling allowed his friends to escort them from the room. He kept his arm around her waist as if he was afraid of letting her go.

Once they were clear of the building, Caillen released a low whistle. “That was a strategic blunder the kind of which I normally make. You know, Dar… the ones you usually crawl my ass over when I do them?”

“Yeah,” Ryn agreed. “That little explosion of temper just cost us every nano-inch of ground we’d taken.”

Darling glared at Ryn. “I don’t care.”

Ryn scoffed. “Hope you feel that way in the morning.”

“I will. Trust me.”

Hauk tested his teeth with his thumb. “I forgot how hard you punch, you little bastard. If I lose a tooth, I’m taking it out of your hide.”

Kiara cast Darling an evil grimace. “Better be glad I’m pregnant. I’m not exactly fond of seeing my husband thrown into walls, especially since we were only trying to help you.”

Drake sighed. “I understand why you did it, Dar. But damn… this is one ugly mess.”