He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms though she caught the pained twinge of his cheek. “And what would those be?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me, Destonne?”
The King blinked at her. Blinked again, slower this time, a slight tug to the corner of his mouth. Mocking her. Like the connection at the pond, and everything that happened between them, had been part of his plan. All of this was.
“Something funny?” she asked sharply, echoing his words from the night he hauled her back to her bed after catching her at the Tree of Eternal Blood.
“You’ve never said my name before. Though I can see that rage thundering in your eyes, I’ll count it as progress.” Cocking his head in that predatory way he always did, he said, “And to answer your question, I knowexactlywhat’s happening in my territory. In fact, I’m cataclysmically aware of it, and I don’t needyouto tell me.”
“So you see your people starving and simply choose not to care?” she spat. Anger burned in her throat. “You see people living in filth and out in the cold and it doesn’t eat away at your conscience? I guess you’d have to have one first. There are children falling to their deaths in the mines to fill your coffers. You’re executing people everyday to maintain fear. I can’t believe—”
“Stop,” he said, his voice hoarse. His stare bore into her.
But Emmery wasn’t even close to done. “I can’t believe Ieverthought you cared about anything besides yourself. All you do is hide out in that damn room of yours and do gods know what. You treat this place like your own personal prison though you choose it.”
“I donothide in my room.”
“You do!” She launched the words like an arrow. “And maybe you’re trying to convince everyone else of something. Shove an image in front of people. Not that you even take audiences, but this place is cold and miserable, Destonne. It isn’t a home.”
The blow landed and a jagged breath lifted his chest. “No one said you had to stay, Emmery. I gave you permission to leave if you wished. But the conditions were if you stay here, you’re under my protection. So that’s what I did. I protected you all this time, whether you choose to see it or not.”
“By locking me in my room? Because that’s all you did forweeks,” Emmery scoffed. “If you truly think that, you need to take a hard look in the mirror. Are you protecting yourself by being locked inyourroom too?”
“What if I am?” His quiet tone was almost sad. “Since you’re such an expert on me and the things I do, what if it’s true and I hate this place as much as you? What if I see my father everywhere and it makes me …sick?” He spat the last word.
The vulnerability in his tone made Emmery clamp her mouth shut. But once again, he admitted nothing. It was a question. Bait for her to fall for it without him directly spilling deception. This is what he did. How he slept at night with all of his half truths and twisted words. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you.” His arms unfolded and dropped to his sides. “And if you hate me so much, why didn’t you leave, Emmery? You had your chance. But you chose me, remember?”
“It was a mistake,” she snapped, her face flaming. How had they gotten here? How had this conversation inflated so quickly? All of her frustrations peaked and she couldn’t flatten them before they unleashed.
Destonne stepped into the room and swallowed all the air. The candlelight illuminated his face as he prodded, “Tell me why. Be honest with me and I’ll be in return.”
“I’ve played that game before, Your Majesty. I have no interest in being swindled again.”
Destonne sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “How about two truths for your one then? Would that be fair?”
“Three,” she demanded. “I wantthreeof your truths. Three things to hold over your head. And no coin flip or game. I want your raw words.” Emmery got to her feet and outstretched her hand. A seal for this trade.
Destonne turned his head to study their shadows cast along the wall, flickering in the candlelight. To another it might appearshe was reaching for an embrace, but all she saw was a deal, a bridge they would stand on the opposite sides of and agree to disagree.
Unsurprisingly, he stepped toward her, their bodies nearly flush. “Five.”
Emmery’s breath stuttered as she looked up at him. The flame danced in those dark eyes. She hadn’t expected that, and her hand dropped. “What do you mean five?”
“Five truths for your one. I think that’s more than fair. However, I offer three now and the other two at a time of my choosing.” He shoved his hand between them in a challenge. “Do we have a deal?”
Of course he would shift this. Change power from her hands to his. But it was a deal Emmery couldn’t pass up. So, she lifted her chin and looked up into his eyes with a challenge of her own.
“Five for one, how generous. I accept.” She grasped his hand, yanked him toward her, and closed that gap between them. His body heat blazed like a fiery sun, and wrapped her in its orbit. Gods, why was he so warm?
Destonne’s eyes widened as she caught him off guard. Her gaze simmered and she stood on her toes, close enough for her breath to brush his neck. Her breasts pressed against his chest and if he had a heartbeat, it would have thundered against her with each of his disjointed breaths.
“But if this is a trick, you’ll regret it. Do you hear me, Destonne?”
A shudder went through his body but he nodded.
She turned her head so her lips brushed the short scrape of stubble along his jaw, and said, “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”