You’re all I ever wanted…

In spite of everything her soldiers had done to him, a part of him wanted to run to her and hold her. To have her soothe the blackened misery that consumed every last molecule of his soul.

He hated that part of himself.

She betrayed you. She spit on you like you were dirt beneath her feet. When he’d been helpless and torn apart by her friends, she’d slapped him.

He still bore the scar on his cheek from the ring he’d given her. It bisected the one his brother had given him.

But worse was the agony deep inside. The part of him she’d kicked the hardest.

His heart.

All of his volatile, competing emotions slammed into him with resounding violence. In that one heartbeat, he wanted only to kill her. He could already feel her last breath. Smell her blood on his hands.

“What is she doing here?” he snarled.

Zarya swallowed as she heard what Maris had warned her about. That wasn’t the lyrical, refined voice that used to whisper in her ear. It was a gruff, raspy growl that sounded like it caused him pain to speak. One that told her just how badly the muzzle had damaged his throat.

Her poor Darling…

Maris faced him bravely. But for his reassuring hand on her arm, she’d be running for the door.

“I thought she’d make you happy.”

Darling came out of his chair with a feral snarl. “Get her out of my sight.”

“But—”

Before Maris could utter another syllable, Darling let out a fierce roar and overturned his ornately carved desk. Everything that had been on top of it went flying.

The air was charged with Darling’s fury as he stormed toward them.

Fearless, Maris released her and put himself in Darling’s path. “If you want to hit someone, hit me. I’m the one who bought her for you.”

“You’re going to tempt me one time too many to hit you, Maris. One day, I’m not going to pull back.”

“And I’ll still love you, even if you knock my teeth out.”

Those words seemed to calm Darling a degree. At least that’s what Zarya thought until he looked at her. Then the bitter, insane rage returned to his eyes.

He stepped around Maris to grab her by the arm.

“Darling? I—”

The frigid look he gave her froze her vocal cords. “I am the Caronese governor, with one of the purest aristocratic bloodlines in the United Systems. You will refer to me as ‘Your Majesty’ or ‘my lord.’ Do you understand?” He literally spat every syllable at her.

She nodded.

His grip tightened on her elbow as he pulled her from the room.

She looked back to see Maris following after them. She considered fighting Darling, but her sanity kept her from it. In the mood he was in, he might kill her if she tried.

Without slowing his determined stride, Darling hauled her through the palace and into a huge, industrial kitchen. There he flung her toward an older, portly woman who appeared to be in charge of the area.