Sophia Vander Der Sar was going to be Theodore’s next kill, and she was already trembling when he turned to face the nobles once again.
“I am innocent,” she said in alarm from where she was still sitting.
“Are you?” He taunted as he took a step forward.
“I truly am innocent, Theo,” she tried to reason with him.
“That will be your highness to you,” he muttered darkly.
Her eyes bulged and she gulped down her fear and then begged some more, “Your highness, please. I had no hand in this.”
“It was your name she said last,” he shrugged as he took another step forward.
“I am sure there are plenty more Sophias to go around,” she tried to laugh it off, and giggled humorlessly.
He made no attempt to respond, only closed the distance between them.
That was when she tried to unwisely bargain with him. Indeed, she grabbed a knife and pointed it at her neck, “I would rather perish by my own hands than have to die that gruesome death. You will have my death on your conscience.”
“I do not have or care for a conscience,” he told her in a deadly whisper next to her ear. He grabbed her hand, stopping her, and said, “Give me one valid reason why I shouldn’t plunge the knife in your heart right here right now?”
“Because I deeply care about you, Theo,” she had the nerve to call him by his given name again. “I only have your best interests in mind.”
“Really now?” He asked sarcastically. “Funny how you think that poisoning my mate would be in my best interest! we don’t see eye to eye, I’m afraid.” He paused and then asked her, “Any last words?”
She smiled pitifully, her eyes tearing, and then said a hushed, “I love you.”
He didn’t blink as he plunged the knife in her heart and twisted it until it no longer beat and life left her body.
A part of him wanted to kill everyone present and be done with the damned court already. It went to show how irrationally protective of his mate he was. But he tried to reign in his beast.
He spoke in a deep commanding tone even as his eyes flashed crimson, “Let this be a warning to you.” At that point, no noble was foolish enough to try to defy his stare. “You are dismissed.” They all rose to their feet in unison, and he could smell the fear emanating from them. “Someone clean the damned dinning hall already.”
And that was when the servants showed up.
He looked at each and everyone of the servants. All were afraid of him like there was no tomorrow. All wouldn’t meet his eyes, and not one of them dared to utter a word. They worked efficiently and silently.
“That was such a show,” his mother observed calmly from where she was still seated at the head of the table. “You should have let your mate stay to enjoy it.”
“And give her nightmares to last a lifetime?” He raised an eyebrow at his mother, not in the mood for her provocations.
“Why not?” His mother shrugged. “You sure don’t seem to care about us.”
He was in no mood to have a pointless argument with her, and thus he kept himself from telling her that he indeed didn’t. Instead he let out a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat.
“Have we not taught you any good manners?” His father exclaimed. “The least you could do is refute your mother’s statement.”
“I have no wish to argue,” he said calmly as he took a few steps away from them. “I’ll be in my bed chambers if you need anything.”
** ** ** ** ** ** **
Emily couldn’t help but replay the way Theodore had reacted efficiently back when she was about to eat that damned slice of cake. He stopped her in the nick of time as she was about to have a taste… just because he had a hunch.
What kind of sixth sense allowed him to sniff out treachery among the nobles? She didn’t know but she oh so desperately wanted to be like him one day. Sadly enough, she wasn’t of the observant kind. But that ought to change, she guessed.
She loved him with a passion that had for only equal her fear of staying at the court.
She wished, deep in her heart, that they could escape the palace he never called home, and go back to the estate that had become theirs.
Liam had grown silent after a while, and looked to be deep in thought. She didn’t dare break the silence.
It was nearly half an hour later when Theodore appeared at the door. He was a bloody mess – literally. And Emily’s eyes went wide in shock.
She crawled across the bed before jumping off it and rushing to his side.
“Are you okay?” She asked in a worried tone. There was so much blood tainting his previously pristine shirt that she couldn’t help but worry even though he was a dragon. “Please tell me you are okay.”
“I’m fine, dorogaya,” he told her softly, then looking at his shirt, he said almost awkwardly. “This isn’t my blood.”
“That’s a relief,” she sighed before cupping his face. “I love you so much, I cannot imagine my life without you.”
“Then don’t,” he told her, a smug smirk stretching his lips.
Liam, whom she had long since forgotten, rose to his feet at that and said, “I’ll take that lovey-dovey attitude as my cue to leave.”
She blushed in utter embarrassment.
“Thank you, Liam,” Theodore said simply as his brother was leaving the bed chambers.
“Anytime, brother,” Liam nodded curtly.
Theodore returned the nod, and it wasn’t long before they were left alone in the overly spacious room – or as they fancied calling it their bedchambers.
“Would you care for a bath, lover?” Emily then asked hesitantly.
“Only if you join me, dorogaya,” he said sweetly as he nuzzled her neck lovingly and inhaled deeply.
She couldn’t see his eyes – and she could not read him as well as he read her – but she sensed that he was troubled, and thus she didn’t try to argue in the least.
On the contrary, that afternoon, she was more yielding and pliant to him than ever. He needed her to be there for him. Even if he didn’t express that need in so many words, she just knew it. And thus, she merely supported him and helped keep him busy – distracted from whatever troubled him.