Page 46 of Apprentice to the Villain

Oh. Oh dear.

The best course of action would be to wait there in the hall while he grabbed them and then they could head to a more neutral location. Her tangled thoughts didn’t much care, however, as jumbled words spilled out of her lips like an overflowing dam she was about to drown beneath. “Then we’ll go to your bed!”

He stared at her, expressionless, but she saw his mouth tighten. Never a good sign. She kept speaking, unfortunately. “I meant to your bedroom. Your bedchambers. Not your bed. I wouldnevergo to your bed, sir. I assure you!” She laughed, trying to clear the awkwardness, but she failed miserably. It was in the air like noxious smoke.

His brow twitched, but other than that, his face didn’t move. “Prefer to share a bed with Terrence McChalice, do you?” The low words prickled along the top of her scalp like someone was running their nails over it.

“Oh, um—no?” That didn’t sound convincing, so she tried again. “That is, I don’t really have an interest in sharing a bed with anyone again for the foreseeable future. Every time I was with Rick…” She paused. “You remember him? We used to court?”

“I do.” She wasn’t sure what expression he was giving her—she was too busy staring at her fingers. But his tone sounded serious. Hard.

“Well, he was always so… I don’t know, every time we were intimate, I just always felt so lonely and unsatisfied after. I think I don’t want to be with someone like that again until I’m sure they can give me everything I want.” There! She’d wadedthrough the embarrassment rather eloquently, if she did say so herself.

But her opinion on that changed when she saw her boss standing so rigidly before her, she thought he might crack in two. “Sir?”

He turned down the corridor. “Just come,” he barked. “And bring your plate.”

She scurried after him until she was right beside him, holding tight to the food. “Sir, did I make things very awkward?”

His whole body remained rigid as he moved, like he was made of tin. “No.”

“Then why do you look like you might weep?”

They reached a black door at the end of the hall, surrounded by several torches. It was the brightest point of the corridor. He yanked it open and gestured her forward with one hand. “In,” he ordered.

She didn’t hesitate, just poked her head through first before entering.

The Villain’s bedchambers.

Oh, cruel world.

Chapter 27

The Villain

FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.

“So, this is your room?” Sage’s voice glided over his tidy, secluded sanctuary. Her hair moved as she did, teased from sleep and looking so soft in the low-burning candlelight that his hand twitched at his side.

This was ill-advised—and frankly foolhardy.

Her eyes scanned every inch of the space, and it felt like an invasion. But not an unwelcome one. The room was large but sparse. There was one oversize four-poster bed adorned with black curtains and his collection of throw pillows. He had a small desk off to the corner with one comfortable chair, an armoire against the wall, and a fireplace with a log that never burned out… That, along with his—

“Nightlight!” Sage squealed, rushing over to the corner and finding the tiny lantern that made the space glow. “You really do have one!” She turned it over, and he rolled his shoulders to relieve the tension. “But what is this shape? It’s almost like a cone?”

Trystan rushed to make up an excuse, but Kingsley had awoken from his slumber in the small, gilded bed on the table beside his own.Don’t, he mouthed at the frog threateningly.

But of course, he didn’t listen. Just held up a sign that read:Tornado.

Edwin would serve frog legs tomorrow.

Sage squinted at the sign and then back at the nightlight before giving him a thousand-watt smile. “Is this a little tornado, sir?”

He ripped it out of her hands. “It was the only one left at the shop,” he grumbled, returning it gently to its place.

Trystan had finally been steering himself back into line, back to his one true purpose: revenge. Stealing the kingdom from Benedict was a far cry from what he’d set out to do a decade ago. It was better; it was worse. It was perfect, and they were getting close. All he needed was Nura Sage, and then he could enact the prophecy. He’d find a tiny patch of land with butterflies and sunshine and send Sage where she belonged—away from him.

He only needed to muddle through the next few steps, the ones that would lead him to Nura. All he needed to do was remain indifferent, as he’d always been.