Danaria looked at him in complete shock. There was no evidence that Lucas could see that she had even the faintest suspicion that this was coming, which, too, to be fair, he understood since he hadn’t pnned on doing this today, either.

  When he’d woken up, it was something he pnned to do someday or soon. It was only when she saw her beautiful face and boundless enthusiasm, though, that someday became today and soon became now.

  “I—” she gasped. Honestly, she looked like she was about to pass out, and for a second, he worried he’d badly misjudged the situation.

  “Listen, if this is too fast, or you don’t want—” Lucas said, trying to figure out what to say that might bring her back to life.

  “Of course I will!” she said finally, snapping out of her trance. “I just… Can I tell you something? Do you promise not to be angry with me or with Adin?”

  Fucking Adin, he growled mentally. Why didn’t I fucking guess.

  “Of course,” Lucas lied. “I could never be mad at you, and Adin, well, when he comes back from rehab, I’m looking forward to giving him a second chance.”

  “Well, before all that, after you talked to me about the prospect of moving out, I talked to him about it, and, well…” she started before faltering. “He wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He told me that you weren’t such a good person and that he could probably find me a better match.”

  “He didn’t, though, did he?” Lucas asked, squeezing her hands tighter. “No one else proposed to you, have they?”

  Lucas had many reasons to hate that prick. Between the attempt on his life, addiction, and embezzlement of the group’s drugs and funds, he had more reasons to want him dead than to want him breathing, but trying to fuck over his retionship with Danaria was worse than all of that combined in his mind.

  “No, of course not,” she said. “He just… Well, he said a lot of troubling things after we went on our walk and before he left. I think he was looking for a suitable match, though, despite the fact I told him I didn’t want him to.”

  “Tell me,” Lucas said as he got off the ground and sat beside her again. “Tell me everything.”

  She started to expin then, or at least summarize what her brother had told her about him. Most of it was based on some little fact that was true. That slender fact was a nail that the man had hung other garish lies off of, though, or facts that had been so distorted that they no longer bore any resembnce to the truth.

  Adin told his sister that Lucas had killed men, which was true, but he’d also told her that he had a bloodthirsty streak a mile wide. He told her not just that Lucas had tried to sell prostitutes his potions and perfumes but that he’d taken payment in the form of sexual favors. He even told her that most of the Blue that Lucas made he did himself.

  “That’s why I’m going to get clean,” Adin had told her when the Prince’s men had come for her. “Because I don’t want to go down that same dark road.”

  Lucas was in shock. For a long time, Lucas had kept himself from killing that motherfucker because he didn’t want to upset Danaria; now, he thought it probably would have been better for everyone if Adin had never come back from the woods after the owlbear attack.

  The prick wanted to poison her against me, so she wouldn’t believe me if I ever tried to tell her the truth about the way he offered her up to the Prince, Lucas realized.

  “I’ve never had a drop of blue in my entire life,” Lucas promised here, squeezing both of her hands in his. “And the Red Lantern gang? Well, I can tell you the whole ugly story if you want. There’s plenty of betrayal but no sex involved.”

  “I know that,” she answered. “I just—”

  For a moment, Lucas thought she was going to cry. Instead, she just embraced him before she murmured, “Even if everything was true, I don’t know how I could turn you away.”

  “It’s not,” He reassured her. “You can ask Kar’gandin or—”

  “I don’t need to ask anyone but you,” she said, sitting up and looking into his eyes so closely that she was practically daring him to kiss her.

  Lucas did just that. Not just because he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say in the face of all these lies or because his heart was pumping with rage. He did it because he wanted to completely blot out the moment that had threatened to overshadow his entire proposal.

  This wasn’t their first kiss, but it was their first kiss in months, and the first one that actually lingered, and as their tongues danced together, Lucas was sure that it was worth the wait. By the time they both came up for air, his murderous rage was all but gone, at least until he heard Adin calling his sister’s name.

  “Oh dear sister, where are you… there’s someone I’d like to introduce you to…” Adin called from somewhere closer to the house.

  As soon as he heard that, Lucas was on his feet to beat his ass, but even as he tried to stride around the hedge to find him, Danaria was grabbing his right hand with both of hers and pulling him back. “No, please don’t fight him,” she pleaded. “In fact, don’t tell him anything about this conversation. Just let it go.”

  “Let it go?” he partially snarled. Lucas immediately regretted that when he saw the way that Danaria pulled back. “How can you expect me to let something like this go. At the very least, I should beat his ass or challenge him to a duel, or however, it is you guys—”

  “I don’t believe his wicked words,” Danaria promised him. “I know that even if you’ve done some bad things, you’re a good man. Soon, we will be free of this pce, just as you promised. Surely, we can live peaceably until then. Please? For me?”

  Lucas had no idea how he was supposed to live peaceably with the man for another few minutes, let alone another few months. Still, he took a deep breath and said, “I’ll try.”

  That was a lie, of course. I’ll try didn’t mean he wasn’t going to kill Adin; it just meant that he wasn’t going to strike the first blow. Taking a punch or two from that little bitch would be a small price to pay for what I can do to him after, Lucas decided as he strode toward the voice.

  Lucas found Adin, but unfortunately, he wasn’t alone. He was there with his wife and an older nobleman whom Lucas didn’t recognize. “Ah, there’s my sister, and it would seem my, uhmm… cousin has returned to us as well,” he said snidely. “Welcome home, cousin. I’m gd you’re here to help me celebrate my return to the wider world.”

  “Well, met to you too,” Lucas answered dismissively. “Feeling much better, I see.” That was a lie, too, of course. Even as Danaria left his side to hug her brother, Lucas could see that the man had lost a lot of weight. Normally, Adin was handsome enough to cut a fine figure, but today, his clothes hung off him limply enough that they looked like they belonged to someone else.

  “Thank you, Lucas,” Adin said hardly enough that his fragile smile barely covered his resentment. “I would have to say that in a word, I feel rejuvenated, but we can talk about my health ter. I come bearing excellent news. I have finally found the perfect suitor for my beloved sister. You know my beautiful wife of course, but may I present to you, the Baron of Belgrave? He’s heir to vast titles to the north, and his house is as ancient as it is honorable.”

  “Charmed,” the Baron answered as he bent to kiss Danaria’s hand.

  The older man was most definitely not the perfect suitor. He was about three times her age, and as he bent before him, Lucas considered knocking the man on his ass for his trouble. The time that Danaria had taken him to a ball, two dozen men had kissed her hand. It was a common enough gesture in this medieval society, but somehow, at this moment, it made his blood boil.

  “House Belgrave really is a perfect partner for house Parin in so many ways,” Adin’s wife, Arissa, chimed in. “Really, it's a wonder such a fine match wasn’t made before now.”

  Still, Lucas waited until the man stood, and Adin opened his mouth before he dropped the bomb. “While I thank you for your matchmaking services, Adin, they will not be necessary. Your sister has already accepted someone else’s proposal.” The look of shock that both men gave him then was priceless.

  “But that can’t be!” the Baron said quickly. “We—” Lucas thought it was particurly telling that the Baron directed his words at Adin’s wife and not Adin himself. That made sense. Adin was clever enough for petty revenges, but trying to marry Lucas’ woman off behind his back definitely had a feminine touch to it.

  Adin talked quickly over the other man, apparently eager to hide whatever their deal had been. “As you well know, cousin, it is my choice to decide these things, ultimately. No matter who might pluck at my dear sister’s heartstrings, it is my role as her loving brother and the head of her family to make the right decisions for her.”

  Lucas swallowed his growing bile as he looked at Adin’s smug expression and decided that he was going to enjoy dropping the hammer on him, though not just yet. “Well, cousin,” Lucas said, matching the Viscount’s tone. “If you were known for making good decisions, I should absolutely entrust you with this, but since you’re a—”

  “Please, can we not fight?” Danaria asked. “While I don’t want to lead the good Baron on, I want no rancor in this house.”

  “Who's fighting?” Arrisa said smoothly. “This is simply a discussion where your cousin is uninformed about the facts of life.”

  “Exactly. There’s no rancor, dear sister,” Adin said, fshing that fragile smile. “Just as there’s no one in our home that can overrule me in this. It is my opinion that despite whatever passing fondness you might have for—”

  Lucas could see that everything was on the verge of exploding at that moment. The Baron feared that he was being pyed for a cuckold, Danaria worried they were about to fight, Arissa was ready to crow in triumph, and Adin was trying to dance fast enough to keep all of this together. That was when Lucas decided to drop his bomb. “The Prince decided to go over your head on this one, buddy. You got a problem with it, you talk to him.”

  “I— But— Why would he—” Adin sputtered.

  He exchanged gnces with Arissa, but she shook her head in disbelief. “You’re lying. I can tell.”

  Lucas shrugged, and as a smile pyed across its lips all on its own, he changed his mind. He’d wanted to use this moment to pick a fight and beat the shit out of Adin again, even though he told his betrothed he wouldn’t. The presence of Adin’s wife hadn’t changed that, but their befuddlement did.

  Instead of trying to aggravate them further, he took Danaria by the hand and said, “Well, you can write to him on the subject if you like, or better yet, bring it up at the ball in a couple weeks in front of everyone and see what he has to say on the subject. For now, Danaria and I have an engagement feast to pn.”

  He didn’t even bother to look back as he escorted his bride-to-be into the house.