“A window,” I say. My voice is husky and raw, and his eyes glimmer at the sound of it.
“You saw it through a window? Little mortal, there are no windows that overlook this garden.” His voice is tantalizing, hypnotizing, and I lean into it unconsciously. Our lips hover a breath apart, my body aches and throbs, desperate for just a simple touch. My tongue flicks out over my lips, wetting them, and the subtle movement breaks his focus. He pulls away, eyes hardening with anger again until he looks just as he normally does. I bite my tongue, clamping my mouth shut so I don’t mewl my disappointment.
He studies me curiously, arms crossed again as if to bar himself from me. “This was my mother’s garden before she chose to leave the Underworld. People are forbidden from entering this place, and yet somehow, it opened for you. Curious.”
“I didn’t know,” I say softly, tugging on my gown to hide from him.
“It matters not.” He waves a hand lazily. “It opened for you. You may visit whenever you like.”
“Thank you.” I am grateful. I needed somewhere like this garden, somewhere peaceful and blessedly empty. Once my dress is mostly laced, I abandon the rest of it, I would need help from a lady’s maid. “Your mother?”
“Desona,” Kane drawls, a mask of boredom on his face. “The Goddess of Life.”
My brows raise in surprise. Desona is one of the most revered deities in the world above, one of the Three, though I never knew she birthed Death himself. “Will she mind if I use her garden?” I ask. I want to ask why she left and if she will return—if she even knows about me—but I hold back.
“It doesn’t matter, the Underworld is my realm,” Kane says bitingly, lips pressed into a thin line. I nod solemnly but then his eyes soften and he sighs. “If it makes you happy, I want you to use it.”
My heart flutters in my chest as heat flushes through me. I smile stupidly at Kane, his words sparking fresh happiness in me. “You’re nicer than you let people believe,” I say. “Kinder than you want people to think.”
Kane grins, but the smile isn’t one of joy, it’s a cruel grin. He’s closed the distance between us in a single stride and presses my back up against the stone wall surrounding the garden. I gasp, winded from the force of the jolt. His hand wraps around one my wrists painfully, and the other caresses my throat. I can hardly breathe as his eyes rove over my neck, as if he would tear my esophagus out of my throat with nothing but his teeth.
“You know nothing about me,” he hisses. “Stupid, naïve, mortal girl.”
I hiccup as fear courses through me and his lips lower to my neck, teeth bared. I wish I had the dagger my father gave to me before the day Kane collected me. Years of training in self-defense make my fingers twitch but I hold back. His teeth graze my flesh and my fear skyrockets. “But,” I breathe. “I want to know you. Please.”
He pulls back, breath wafting over my cheek. His eyes are dark, as black as night, and just as powerful. “You want to know me?” His lips brush over my cheek, sweet and gentle. But when he leers at me, hand tightening around my wrist, I know he’s anything but sweet and gentle. “You can know me. But only if you fuck like a grown woman, naïve little mortal.”
His words, spoken with such silky condescension I almost lean into him, hit me like a boulder. I flush scarlet, anger and shame blooming in me. He knows. He knows I had to keep myself pure ever since I was a child. I hardly even touched myself in anticipation of our betrothal. Kane is no fool. He speaks only to humiliate me.
I bring my knee up into his groin. Kane doubles over, releasing me and I drop shakily. I don’t wait for him to recover before I dart past him and out of the garden. I slam the door shut behind me, adrenaline pumping in my veins. I assaulted a god. I struck my future husband. I look nervously over my shoulder, afraid the door will fly open and Kane will storm through. Suddenly, I yelp as I rush into a hard chest. I bounce off it, looking up just long enough to recognize Willem.
Our last encounter in the dining room flits through my mind and I swerve around him before he has a chance to speak. The Underworld is no place for a human like me. Everywhere I go, I'll be surrounded by creatures that are stronger than me, smarter than me, and crueler than me. I slip into my room and lock the door. My father was right to train me to fight. If only they could have taught me to be brave.
Chapter 6
Kabe
Pain lances through me as Briar’s knee makes contact with my groin. Her aim is remarkable despite the fact I never saw her eyes flit towards her target before she struck. She pushes away from me, running out the door without a backward glance. I lean against the stone wall surrounding the garden, trying to collect my breath as the pain fades. I feel a flicker of anger that quickly douses itself to become amusement.
The little mortal struck me. I feel a smile prick at my lips and I straighten, the pain dulling to a light ache. I never expected Briar to react in such a way to me. I had thought she was nothing more than a timid,
