I rolled my eyes. “So that’s why you’re flopped out here like a noodle? To enjoy the weather? Really?”

“Well, I did hope I might have a visitor, if I was lucky.” His smile widened. “And you see? How fortunate for both of us that I was here to greet you. Why don’t you come in for a glass of red wine? I found this bottle in the vaults of a centuries-old tomb, so it’ll either be delicious or horrific. Why don’t we open it and find out together?”

He held out one pale, inviting hand, and to my horror, I felt myself instinctively start to lean towards it.

“No!” Wrapping my arms firmly around my waist, I dug in my heels hard. “I did not come here for pointless socializing.”

“No?” His head tilted. “But if I could offer you a point—?”

“No.” I didn’t trust that glint in his eyes at all.

I was an inventor. I understood logic. I’d been raised amidst the tools and cluttered shelves of my father’s workshop before he’d stepped down and given it over to be my own. Streaks of oil smeared my cheeks and my hacked-short hair more often than not. Even before our old neighbors had turned against us for my magic, the local girls had laughed and snorted whenever they’d witnessed my outfits. The boys had simply, carelessly ignored me…which made sense.

Any man as beautiful as Leander Fabian—necromancer or not—would never look at me with that glint of blatant interest unless he had some underhanded scheme in mind—and over the past year, I’d learned better than to trust anyone outside my family. I didn’t need anyone outside my family. I’d built a happy life for myself and my father within the safe bounds of our new home, and I didn’t want anyone tempting me out of it.

So I was already turning on my heel as I said, “I’m not going anywhere with you, especially not a necromancers’ ball, of all the nonsensical nightmares. So you can tell whoever’s hosting it that you made a mistake when you said I’d be coming, and—”

“But you promised,” he said gently. “I have your word, remember?”

My jaw dropped open as I spun back around. “I would never—!”

“We entered into an alliance.” He blinked innocently. “You swore you’d do whatever it took to protect my creatures against invaders, and I swore to return the favor for you and your father. Don’t you care about your sworn word anymore?”

I stared at him. “You…!” The ball of paper still lay on the ground by his feet. I pointed at it accusingly. “You told me I was coming with you to a stupid ball. That has nothing to do with invasions or alliances—”

“But it does,” he said. “Don’t you want to know who’s hosting it?”