Read Online My Dangerous Pleasure by Carolyn Jewel - Free Book Online

let you know my decision.”
    “Unless you decide to swear fealty to Nikodemus, that won’t be necessary. He’ll know the moment you’re sworn. Otherwise, I’ll be happy to put you in contact with Nikodemus.”
    She watched him for a moment. She wasn’t pulling any magic, but there was power in her gaze. “Thank you.”
    “I’ll turn things over to Maddy, then.”
    Emily looked at the other woman. “Am I going to jail?”
    Maddy snapped out of whatever funk she’d been in. “No.”
    “Why not? I killed my husband.”
    “I’m sure you’re aware,” Maddy said, “that your husband’s death was a complicated matter.”
    Emily laughed, and God, what that did to her face. Harsh envied Kynan. “Murder isn’t complicated.”
    “Nevertheless,” Maddy said, “he was a mage, and your actions that night saved a lot of lives.”
    “I don’t remember my husband as an evil man.” She lifted a hand. “I’ve been told what he had planned for my sister and poor Ian, but that’s not the man I thought I was married to.” Her eyes teared up. Briefly, she put a hand over her mouth, and they waited for her to gather herself. “I’m sorry. Do go on, Maddy.”
    Harsh restrained his urge to stroke her shoulder. “With respect to the magekind and warlords, it was not possible to suppress your involvement in his death. It would have been a disaster for all of us if one of the demonkind had been blamed. There would almost certainly have been war.” He met Emily’s gaze. “It was beyond convenient for Nikodemus that you were the one to kill Christophe.”
    “If everyone knows, why haven’t I been arrested?”
    From the desk, Maddy said, “As far as the civilian world is concerned, Christophe’s death has been ruled a murder that occurred in the course of a home invasion by a person or persons unknown.”
    “Not so far from the truth,” Harsh said. As he now knew, Maddy and a few others, including Kynan, had been there the night Emily killed her husband. Durian, one of Nikodemus’s assassins, had gone there to retrieve Gray, who had been taken mageheld by Christophe in a violation of the peace agreement Nikodemus had forged with the magekind living in his territory. Given the current fragility of relations between the demonkind and the magekind, whatever her personal justification, Emily dit Menart had done Nikodemus a favor by killing Christophe that night.
    Maddy filled the awkward silence. “You’re his widow, and you and your son are his only living relatives.”
    She didn’t react to that. Harsh left her to her thoughts. Maddy did the same. Eventually, Emily said, “My son might not be Christophe’s.”
    “Legally,” Maddy said, “he is. You were his wife. The child is presumed his.” She waved a perfectly manicured hand. “In any event, there’s no one left to dispute paternity. Not that it would matter.”
    “Let me be clear,” Emily said in freezing tones. “I have no recollection of having sexual relations with anyone but Christophe during our marriage. But, considering that he intended to have one of his magehelds impregnate my sister, why wouldn’t he have done the same to me? And wiped my memory of it.” Harsh heard the tiniest break in her voice, but her features were serene. “Why should I assume Christophe is my son’s father?”
    “If he wasn’t,” Maddy said, “why would he marry you?”
    She answered quickly, which was interesting. “He liked beautiful things.”
    “Forgive me, Emily,” Harsh said, “but he could have had you without marrying you.”
    Maddy glared at him before returning her attention to Emily. “Do you want a paternity test? I can arrange it.”
    “I don’t care who his father is.” She spoke with cold certainty. “Not for an instant. He’s my son, and I love him. Whether any of you accept him or not. Whether his father was a mage or a demon or some stranger off the street.”
    Harsh glanced away until he was sure his face would reveal nothing of