The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles 3)

I took the bottle from her and set it in the middle of the table, then shoved the pile she had accumulated into the middle as well. “Gentlemen, enjoy your game.”

“It’s been a pleasure,” she said to her new comrades, and put her hand out for me to escort her.

Neither of us said a word until we were outside.

I turned to face her, rested my hands on her waist, and then gently kissed her. “It’s not like you to give in so easily.”

“They were nice young men but lousy players. It was only something to pass the time.”

“And taking Colonel Bodeen’s red-eye was a challenge?”

“It was a more genteel stake than the one I offered last time. I was only thinking of you.”

“Well, thank you for that. I think. What spawned this diversion?”

She eyed me with frustration. “It seemed everywhere I went to today, I needed King Jaxon’s permission to pass. First the merchant wagons outside, then trying to access the outpost wall, and finally Tavish all but threw me out of the surgeon’s bungalow—”

“What were you doing in there?”

My tone came out sharper than I meant it to, and she stepped free from the circle of my hands. “What difference does it make?”

“We need to talk.”

Her expression sobered. “About what?”

“In my tent.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

He nearly dragged me across the courtyard, and my thoughts tumbled trying to figure out what had disturbed him so. Colonel Bodeen’s red-eye? Playing an innocent game of cards? Or had something happened in his meetings today?

As soon as we were in his tent, he spun. Every muscle in his face was tight with restraint. A vein twitched at his temple.

“What is it, Rafe? Are you all right?”

He walked over to a bedside table and poured a goblet of water, swilling it back in one swallow. He offered me none. He looked at the goblet in his hand, and I feared it might shatter in his grip. He set it down carefully on the table as if it held poison.

“It’s probably not important,” he said.

I huffed a disbelieving breath. “It clearly is. Just say it.”

He turned to face me fully. There was a mountain of challenge in his stance, and I felt my shoulders bracing.

“Did you kiss him?” he asked.

I knew he could only mean Kaden. “You saw me kiss him—”

“When you were alone together in the Cam Lanteux.”

“Once.”

“You told me nothing happened.”

“Nothing did,” I answered slowly, wondering what had brought this all on. “It was a kiss, R

afe. That was all.”

“Did he force himself on you?”