Page 1 of Dark Gambit Reliance

1

MARCEL

As Marcel lay awake, holding Sofia tightly against his body, wave after wave of anxiety swept through him.

When he'd told her his greatest sin, his crime, she'd been so supportive, so understanding, but would she feel the same when she woke up?

Would she want to tie herself to a murderer?

Cordelia's husband wasn't the first human Marcel had killed, but the others had been invading marauders, and he'd been defending his people. Those killings had been in the line of duty, sanctioned and justified.

Cordelia's husband had been a different story.

He'd murdered the man in cold blood. Well, in hot blood, but that was irrelevant.

Marcel had taken a life that hadn't been his to take.

He'd appointed himself the judge, jury, and executioner, and he'd convicted the man based on the words of a beautiful liar who'd had him wrapped around her little finger. He'd never stood trial for his crime, and his only punishment had been his self-inflicted flagellation and dreary existence.

What if Sofia decided to reveal his secret?

Perhaps he should just reach into her mind and suppress the memory of the murder story. He hadn't thralled her last night, but he'd done it the day before, and it was a little too soon for another thralling session. Still, given that he no longer needed to continue thralling her after every bite, it was probably fine to do it again.

Now that she knew he was immortal and that his venom bites came with several great benefits, like the possible gift of immortality, Sofia might be more inclined to forgive him his past sins.

Except, he didn't want her to be with him only because of what he could do for her. He wanted Sofia to love him for who he was, but maybe the first step toward that goal was learning to love himself.

Marcel had carried the guilt for long enough, and maybe it was time to confess his crime and submit to whatever punishment Edna deemed suitable.

Hopefully, it would be just a token whipping and some prison time.

Edna wouldn't sentence him to entombment three hundred years after the fact, right?

Enough time had passed that perhaps she wouldn't judge him as harshly.

Then again, he had nothing to say in his defense. Stupidity wasn't a mitigating circumstance, and neither was an emotional disturbance. Or was it?

He hadn't been thinking straight. He'd been in love, and Cordelia had played him like a skilled violinist, tugging on his heartstrings.

If only witchcraft were real, he could have claimed that he'd been bewitched. Three hundred years ago, that line of defense might have worked in a human court, but it wouldn't have worked in Edna's. Unless Cordelia was a powerful immortal who could manipulate his mind, she had no other power over him.

Except, she had.

She'd bewitched him with her smiles and her tears and her delicate touch, but he couldn't use that in his defense. It was entirely his fault that he had not only fallen for her deceit but had also committed a terrible crime to please her.

At the time, Marcel wouldn't have minded entombment. Hell, he would have welcomed it to escape the guilt. But now that he had Sofia, he didn't want to miss even one moment with her, and that meant keeping his crime a secret and living with the guilt because he couldn't guarantee that Edna would be lenient.

"Stop," Sofia murmured. "Your thoughts are so loud that they are waking me up." She opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy smile. "Last night was amazing. I thought I would be afraid of your fangs, but you look kind of cute with them."

"Cute?" Marcel arched a brow. "Those are deadly instruments."

Sofia stretched her long body, pressing her small breasts to his chest. "Instruments of pleasure. What a trip." She kissed the underside of his jaw. "If women knew what your venom can do, they would be beating down your door and offering you sex or lots of money just for a chance to experience that. It's like the best psychedelic on the market."

He cupped her round bottom. "How many psychedelics have you tried?"

"None, but I've heard people describe their experiences. I wanted to try it, but I was afraid. I don't like having no control over what's happening to me."

He gave her lush bottom a squeeze. "Last night, you didn't seem to mind giving up control to me."