Lord of the Abyss - By Nalini Singh Page 0,21

pastries like some greedy, ill-mannered child. "The baker keeps it as a pet, though the kitten is forever spitting and clawing at everyone she meets."

Taunted, she was being taunted. "This spitting kitten is your cook," she said, unable to sit back and allow him to get away with it, though no sane woman would have argued with the Lord of the Black Castle. But then, as evidenced by her sinful fantasies, she was in no way sane. "I beg you don't forget that, or I might forget which is the salt and which the chili."

Ignoring her threat, he waved her forward. "Pour me more chocolate - " the order of an emperor to his concubine " - then you may go and bathe."

She really wanted to smash the teapot over his head, but she poured the luscious liquid into his cup, watched his eyes glaze over for an instant as his mind tried to drag him into the past. It was the truth she'd told. She hadn't ensorcelled either the cinnamon or the chocolate - but some sensual memories were strong enough to act as spells on their own. "Now, may I go?"

"My lord," he said, licking out his tongue to capture a drop of chocolate on his lip.

Her entire body hummed. "What?"

"You forgot to add 'my lord.'"

She grit her teeth and put down the teapot with extreme care. "May I go, my lord?"

He took a sip of his chocolate, paused for a second. "No."

"No?" Her vision was starting to blaze incandescent red.

"I haven't finished breakfasting yet."

Suddenly, she could see the spoiled princeling all too well - except that she was also certain there was a cackling imp riding on his shoulder at this moment. No, not a spoiled princeling at all. More akin to an adolescent boy pulling the pigtails of a girl to annoy her.

It should have been a ridiculous thought when faced with the black-armored Guardian, his hands tipped with bladed points, but this man had grown up in a cage of sorcery that had turned into a solid wall of armor. As she had never had a chance to be a child, he had never had a chance to be a boy, never had a chance to do mischief. The fact that he might be doing so now, with her - it created the beginnings of a terrible weakness inside of her, one she knew she should fight, but couldn't.

Several long minutes later, he finally finished his meal and stood. Picking up a piece of toasted fruit bread, he closed the small distance between them. "Try it. It's very good."

She took it with a bad-tempered scowl, attempting to hide the vulnerability within. "I know. I made it." Eating it though she wasn't that hungry, having snacked as she cooked, she narrowed her eyes when he continued to loom over her. "Now what?"

"My lord."

Oh, she just wanted to -

"My lord."

"You don't mean it."

Smiling because it wasn't her imagination - he was teasing her - she finished off the bread, then dropped into a ludicrously ornate curtsy. "Oh, my lord," she simpered, fluttering her lashes. "What would you have of this poor wee maiden?"

A rusty sound, harsh and rough. Startled she looked up - and realized the Guardian of the Abyss was laughing. He was even more magnificent than she had believed.

"Why do you stare?" he asked suddenly, stopping midlaugh.

"I didn't know you could laugh."

A hush fell over the room, as if the ghosts themselves were holding their breaths.

Lines formed between his brows. "I don't remember laughing before."

"Did you like it?"

He considered the question. "It's a strange sensation." Not giving her any more of an answer, he said, "Come, I'll show you where you will bathe."

Will, not may or even can.

Gritting her teeth against the impulse to call down nasty curses on his golden head, she followed him as he walked to the back of the great hall. Once they were through the door and in a gloomy corridor that went on to a nothingness so deep it seemed impossible that light existed, he led her up a flight of stairs barely illuminated by a small window on the landing.

"Why must it be so dark in here?" she muttered. "A maid could fall and break her neck."

"This is the Black Castle."

"I realize this is the gateway to the Abyss, my lord, but surely you don't intend to harvest souls here on your staircase."

He turned and looked at her, then at the tiny window now at her back. "I