"I have been honored to make your acquaintance, your majesty," I said. I glanced over at Dain, who neither looked at me nor shifted from his stillness. "I look forward to speaking with you again. Perhaps next time I will have better answers for you, and know whether I ought to learn how to kill a man."

Her smile turned into something that on a less ethereal woman would have been called a smirk. She looked like a predator discovering that the prey was walking itself into her jaws.

"We will surely speak again soon," she said in reply. Her silver eyes flicked up to her son. "You may go," the Queen said, waving towards the door and picking up her book.

8. There's the Roses

Chapter 8

There's the Roses

Dain led me out of the Queen's presence without speaking or looking at me. I'd tolerated it from Susan, who'd been terrified, and from the guards, who were more a vehicle to the Queen than anything else, but I sure as hell wasn't going to tolerate it from Dain. I opened my mouth to say something snarky, and he cut me off.

"Do you plan on killing me, then, mortal girl?" he asked with what sounded like dark amusement. "Succeeding where a century of attempts and a legion of soldiers have failed?"

I flattened my mouth in annoyance. I might be convinced to kill him if he kept talking to me like that. I'd never been pushed quite into a rage by condescension before, but there was always room for personal growth. "Don't tempt me," I said. "Heroines in human fairytales always manage to become bang-up warriors with a nice little training montage. No doubt it will work exactly like that in reality."

He barked a sharp laugh, and when I jerked my head over to look at him in alarm, he looked as shocked as I did. Dain's brows drew together, and he looked sideways at me as he led me through the palace, still holding my hand in his.

"You're foolish with your fire," he said after a moment, his voice flat. "I'm not inclined to forget that anyone with a beautiful face and sweet smile might be hiding a poisoned dagger behind her back."

"Aw, my master plan," I said, with mocking sorrow. "At least you think I'm pretty."

Dain exhaled sharply through his nose. "Are you trying to make me hate you, Leah?" he asked, a growl underneath the words.

"Frankly, I don't care either way," I said, as he led me out a tall archway into a magnificent formal garden. "Though if it will get you to send me home, I'll reconsider."

"A year and a day," he said.

"Really only three hundred sixty-four days," I said brightly. "Since apparently I was unconscious for two of them. Why have you killed four people for me? I don't recall asking for such a gift, and you haven't even presented me with skulls for verification."