Page 124 of Threaded

Mariah turned her body to face him more fully, leaning her left side against the balcony and crossing her arms across her chest.

“You’re not going to give me more than that?”

His blue stare met hers again, just for a second, before hardening and looking back out at the Attlehons.

She sighed and turned back to face the mountains as well.

“I spoke with Ryenne today.”

He didn’t move a muscle, but she could feel his attention on her, nonetheless.

“She told me of when she’d first been Chosen. When she was going through the bondings with her Armature. She told me Cedoric was the second one she’d bonded with.” She paused for just a moment, steeling herself for her next words, the other piece she’d been dwelling on since her conversation with the queen. “She told me she’d needed his steadiness to ground her, after … after her bonding with Kalen. With her consort.”

Andrian was still utterly motionless beside her.

Mariah continued. “She told me of the draw that had existed between herself and Kalen from the moment he’d been Selected. How no matter what, they’d craved each other, that they couldn’t get the other out of their heads. She told me—”

“What are you getting at here, princess?” Andrian’s voice was almost pained as it cut through her speech. She froze, slowly turning her head to face him again.

His eyes were blazing, no longer dark, but returned to their wild and startling blue. The shadows in his blood were slowly beginning to unfurl around his shoulders, winding down his forearms as he gripped the railing.

“Are you trying to convince me of something,nio? That I am yourconsort? Is this an attempt to try to get me to take the bond, to do theonething that I swore upon everything I value in this world I wouldn’t do? Even knowing the risks to yourself, is this still something that you’re asking of me?”

And once again, Mariah was left speechless, her stomach dropping from her body and falling to the game park far below. She could only hold his gaze, hold her body still to keep from trembling, as she nodded to him once, slowly. She’d just been curious, had wondered if his possessive words in the game park had meant anything real. But in a way, she supposed shewasattempting to convince him. Convince him of her, of what they were to each other.

For him to take the bond.

Goddess damn this man for knowing exactly how to steal every ounce of strength from her bones with just a few biting words.

Andrian’s eyes flashed again at her nod, and his next movements were a blur.

Before she could pull herself together enough to react, he had whirled away from the balcony, an arm sliding around her torso, twisting her until her back was pressed against the railing and he was pressed against her. His shadows unfurled further around his body, tendrils sliding off his skin and onto her arms, wrapping around her legs, twisting into her hair. Her breath caught in her throat: from surprise, from fear, from the warmth suddenly pooling low in her belly, she wasn’t sure which.

And then his voice was at her ear.

“Do you long for your own death,nio? Is that it? Do you wish to be free of all those duties the world has shoved onto your shoulders, to return to a simpler existence, one without crowns or bonds or threads of magic?” He pressed into her further, and Mariah felt him, hard and demanding against her stomach.

Yeah. It definitely wasn’t fear that had her breath hitching higher. Her blood was now heated and thrumming in her veins as he continued.

“There are other, easier ways to die, princess. Maybe I can show you one. See how much it satisfies that suicidal streak you just can’t seem to scratch.”

Finally, she found her voice, and the darkness inside her thrummed at the game he dangled before her like a carrot.

“I have no wish to die, asshole,” she growled, her breaths coming in whispery pants. She tried to pull her arms up, to shove his chest away from where it pressed against hers, but found that her wrists were bound to the balcony railing by soft ropes of darkness. She turned her lips into a snarl, the beast in her now giddy, as Mariah lifted her gaze back up to meet the matching fire burning in Andrian’s expression.

This dance they played was so toxic, so addicting, but every fiber of her being craved it beyond measure.

“And besides,” she continued, the snarl on her lips curving her voice into a purr, her own magic unwinding and dancing in her veins. “I know your threats are empty. You would never put my life in danger. Your refusal to take the bond proves that.” Her snarl turned into a cruel, wicked smirk.

An answering smirk, a mirror to her own, spread across his impossibly handsome face, twisting it into something brutal and feral that had her magic writhing and practically singing in answer. He leaned in even closer, the bands of darkness around her wrists and ankles pulled even tighter across her skin.

“You underestimate me, princess. You always seem to do that.”

“Prove it.” The taunt slipped past her lips before she could stop it. Andrian pulled back slightly, the only hint of his surprise, before cold flames licked behind his eyes.

Shit.

“As you wish,My Queen.”