Read Online Hold Their Peace (Vampire Assassin League) by Jackie Ivie - Free Book Online Page B

fashioned your breastplate and why you wear it now. Defense. No arrow can pierce it. Nor any wooden spikes aimed at your heart.”
    “Where am I going to run across arrows and wooden spikes?”
    “You would be surprised,” Thanos replied.
    “I feel like I’m wearing a small car. And it’s stifling.”
    “Forgive me, love. But I insist.”
    “And I can still complain. I’m not used to having an extra two inches around my body. It’s affecting my aim.”
    “The thickness is necessary, love. That particular breastplate was forged of three layers of the lightest steel alloys with gaps of air between.”
    “Three? No wonder it’s stifling. But you forgot to factor in the two layers of dresses you gave me. And are making me wear, too.”
    “I allowed room for that.”
    “Really? Well, maybe you should’ve allowed for things like...you know...breasts.”
    “Ah. You are still annoyed at the design. Forgive me, love, but a bosom is a handicap in battle. Women of my time bound their breasts for that reason.”
    “Maybe they liked looking as flat as a pancake. I’m from a different generation, Thanos. I wear push-up bras that lift and enhance for a reason.”
    “Truly? What is it?”
    Darcy raised an eyebrow as she regarded him. He was giving her a blank look, as if what he said wasn’t remotely sarcastic.
    “To attract the opposite sex,” she informed him.
    “Precisely. That is why you wear the long dress. A woman does not show her legs on a field of battle. It would create all kinds of havoc.”
    “No lie. What’s your excuse then?”
    “Mine?” His head went back a bit and his eyebrows rose.
    “How am I supposed to keep my attention on my sword work with you running around almost naked?”
    She should’ve required him to find a pair of trousers. And he had to own a shirt. Getting fully dressed first should have been in the rules because his little leather skirt thing kept gapping, flashing side butt-cheek that hadn’t seen as much sun as the rest of him, as well as a lot of leg. The only other thing he wore was his sword band across his chest, and all that did was highlight all kinds of muscle in his abs and chest. The view was extraordinary. And he acted innocent.
    “My attire...bothers you?”
    He lowered his chin and looked at her with a bit of line across his forehead, as if he puzzled it.
    “Yes. And then some,” she answered.
    “Truly?”
    “Oh, come on, Thanos. You’re babe gorgeous and packing major muscle. And you’re amazing in the sex department. And then you add to that by wearing little teeny skirts to show it all off. Why on earth do you even ask?”
    He could manage to look stunned. His eyes were wide as he met her gaze, enhancing their brown color.
    “You think those things...of me?”
    “Oh. I’m fairly certain I’m not the only woman who would.”
    “But you are the only one that matters.”
    “Do we really have to go into that again?”
    “What?”
    “The mate thing. Look. Thanos. Don’t get me wrong. I like you. I do. But I don’t happen to believe in love at first sight, okay? And why does this feel like a blog on gender reversal?”
    “Darcy.”
    His voice raised shivers. Hair. He had an incredible voice and could wield it so easily! The tones sought out and conquered the cavern they fought in before sneaking around the corner where it dissipated somewhere out in the corridor. They were in yet another cave room, this one lined with all kinds of weapons displays, mostly shields.
    “Don’t take that tone with me, Thanos. I’m trying here. I already said one l-word. I’m not willing to say the big l-word.”
    “Love?”
    “Yeah. That one. That word smacks of lifetime commitment and I’m not doing divorce. My parents did one. My mom then had four more before cancer got her. I’m not repeating history.”
    “Oh Darcy. Darling. You are wrong. What we have is not a lifetime. It is forever. And I am already committed. Fully.”
    Darcy gave him her best deadpan