Page 79 of Hateful Prince
Who knew a wee mate was all I’d needed to keep him in check all these years?
“Me.”
“All right, you scallywag. On your piss-covered feet.” Hook pointed the dagger at Brian and waited for Tor to release his hold on the man’s skull.
As soon as Brian got to his wobbly legs, Cas notched the blade against his throat. “You’re gonna come with me, you’ll stay silent, and when I leave you, there won’t be a moment you consider returning. Understand?”
Brian whimpered and gave the barest of nods.
“Careful, my blade is sharp enough to kill a man, Swiftie.” He snickered at his own joke, the two of them exiting the room.
Tor stared after them for a beat before that obsidian gaze returned to me. “What now?”
I crossed my arms, shaking my head as I answered. “I’m not sure. He’s the only one on paper who matched the mermaid’s description. So I guess we’re back at square one.”
“Well, if it’s not him, then who is it?”
“Someone who isn’t at all what they seem.”
Chapter
Twenty-Five
DAHLIA
“Ican’t believe you all wouldn’t let me be there. I mean, he’s after me. He’s trying to kill me. The ghosts said so. And you think I would look at you differently if I saw what you could do to him? What if that turns me on, huh? What if I’m a dark, twisty creature who thrives in the shadows, but you think I’m a sweet sunshine girl? Do you even know me? I guess not.”
Hades watched me with the same amused expression he’d worn since we got up to his room. Somehow he’d maneuvered me into the big armchair by the fireplace, where Asshole had immediately jumped up onto my lap and started licking my face.
But not even the sweet puppy had been enough to distract me from my snowballing thoughts.
“You done, baby doll?”
“Ha! You’d like that, wouldn’t you? This is what you get for hauling me away from the action. Now you have to listen to me rant.”
“I love your rants. I love your quiet moans even more, though.”
I spluttered. “I . . . you . . . stop trying to distract me.”
“Go on. Rant away. It gives me more of an opportunity to watch your fuckable mouth move.”
Said fuckable mouth was still hanging open when my brain finally registered that he’d managed to shut me up. “You...”
“Me what?”
“Are something.”
He smirked. “I sure am.”
“Why are you enjoying my misery so much?”
“Because it gets you so fired up. One of my favorite things about you is your temper. It translates into passion. Makes me think about ways of working it out of you.”
“Fucking it out of me, you mean.”
“Same difference, really.”
Hades jerked his head to the side, and Asshole sprang from my arms and jaunted over to the door.