Semua Bab TRADING MY CHEATING HUSBAND FOR THE LYCAN KING: Bab 371 - Bab 380

KNOX’S POV“Knox—” It comes out strained.“I told you that one day you’d be free of this house,” I say. “That you’d go out into the world, and it would finally see how clever you are, and it would be sorry it ever tried to make you small. That you wouldn’t have to work twice as hard to be worthy.” I hold her wet, furious gaze. “I meant it then, Hale. I mean it now. That’s what this is. It’s a punishment. It’s not a banishment. This house—” I gesture at it, the walls, the shelves, the grandmother’s crowded things “—this house is another linen press. A beautiful one. The most comfortable one in the world. You finally have what you always wanted: their respect. They don’t whisper about ‘Creepy Hale’ anymore; they bow to the former Lady of the house. I know exactly how intoxicating that tastes, and I know you’d burn the world down before you ever go back to being a joke. But you have spent your whole life being Knox Volkov’s cousin, who runs the house. And you are so much more than that;

KNOX’S POVNathaniel’s already got the tablet out when I slide in, thumbs moving, that constant restless motion of a man whose mind outruns his body.“There’sa Hale thing,” I say, once we’re through the gates. “I need your read on it, and I need you to tell me it’s nothing.”He doesn’t look up. “Can’t promise that until I hear it. Go.”“Ember says that when they sparred, Hale did something that stopped her wolf. Reached inside her and shut Sapphire off, mid-channel. Switched her off like a tap.” I watch the road unspool. “And there was blood from Hale’s eyes afterward. And Ember says she looked older after. Aged, in the space of the fight.” I make myself say the rest. “So tell me my cousin has a party trick, Nathaniel. Tell me it’s nothing.”Nathaniel doesn’t answer right away, and when I glance over, the tablet is face-down on his knee and his expression has gone genuinely still.“I can’t tell you that,” he says slowly.“Nathaniel—”“Because I’ve read about it.” He turns to look at m

KNOX’S POVNathaniel is staring at me.“The gala,” I say. “That’s your chance. Not to win her. Not to fix it. To stand up in front of the woman who never once gave up on you and let her see that you know exactly what she was worth—before you’re gone. Give her one thing that’s true. One thing with no engineering under it. And then let her forgive you, or let her not—but let her choose it, with the whole truth laid out in front of her.” I glance over. “Can you do that? One real thing. In front of everyone.”“…I don’t know,” Nathaniel says, and it’s quiet, and it’s the most honest thing he’s said in the car. “I’ve never done a real thing in front of everyone in my life. I don’t know if I know how.”“Then it’ll mean more when you do it,” I say. “Because she’ll know exactly what it cost you to try.”He’s silent the rest of the way into the city, staring out the window at the grey buildings coming up, and I let him be, because I’ve planted it—and Nathaniel, whatever else he is, has never on

KNOX’S POVAnd I understand exactly what she’s doing—burying the ugliness of Hale under something warmer, pulling us back out of the cold—so I follow her lead, and I let the corner of my mouth curl, and I dip my head, all mock contrition.“You’re quite right, Lady Aster. A grave error on my part.” I hold her gaze. “How do you plan to punish me for it?”The flush is instant, and furious, and she fights it valiantly.“That is—that is no way to—”“Anything,” I go on, lower, “like the handcuffs?”Her eyes go wide, and the color floods all the way up her throat, and she makes a small strangled sound, and Queenie, behind her, makes an entirely different sound, delighted and scandalized. “That,” Ember hisses, scrabbling for the character and losing, “is no way to talk to your boss—”“No?” I take a slow step in, closing the gap, insufferable, thoroughly enjoying myself for the first time all day. “Then how would you have me talk to you, ma’am? Because I’m your man for the night. I’ll speak t

EMBER’S POVA valet who appears to file his teeth for a hobby opens my door.And I step out into Casino Royale, Casino Royale on the invitation, the Slaughterhouse to everyone who actually comes here, and I make myself look bored.It is the single hardest thing I have ever done.Because the place is depravity made flesh.We come up out of the stone into a cavern that somebody has poured a king’s fortune into making beautiful and filthy in equal measure, gold everywhere, black marble veined with something that glows, honeyed light spilling from nowhere and pooling like liquor.And the liveliness of it is quite the surprise.Dancers are on raised platforms and swinging around gold poles, barely dressed and utterly unbothered, moving as though the music flows directly from their veins.A woman is reclining on a chaise being fed grapes by two shirtless men who are visibly competing for the honour.A fountain is running with something dark and effervescent, and people are drinking from it