Overlord: The Fringe, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

me. You figured I’d be like a farm donkey forever following the dangling carrot.” She lifted her glass. “A toast to the first person in the Void you can’t buy.” She drank deeply, then dropped into her chair.
    He unfurled himself like a great banner that dwarfed the immense room. Surely, the wine made him seem larger than life.
    “If I have insulted you, I apologize.” He tossed his napkin to the table with a deferential bow. “My intention was to—entice—not insult. I offered you the best of my home to compliment you as a guest, yet everything I say and do is colored in that you are not my guest, but my captive. For that, I will not apologize. You taunted me into capturing you.”
    She held his gaze by sheer force of will. “You make it sound like I wanted to get caught.”
    He eyed her speculatively. “You preach to me of not selling your honor, yet think I should walk away from one who steals from me, for you only steal a little bit. Would things be different if I were to steal only a little bit from you?”
    He had a good point. Not that she was likely to admit it anytime soon, especially to him.
    “Honor is as honor does, is it not? Explain to me how you stealing from me is honorable, but me stealing from you isn’t.”
    Fidgeting in her chair, she flushed. “I guess the difference is, I steal because I have no other option. I’m a bandit by circumstance, not choice. If you could steal my honor, that would be one thing, but you seem to be of the mind you can buy it. That is what is insulting.”
    His sleek eyebrows rose, but he said nothing.
    “I’m sorry I stole from you. If I could give your goods back, I would, but I can’t because they’re gone. Keeping me prisoner isn’t going to get your goods back, and I’ll never tell you where they went or why.”
    His eyes narrowed, but still, he said nothing.
    “My honor may be a bit rusty, but my loyalty isn’t. If I tell you, it’s not my life that’s at risk. One person, me, for all the rest?” She shrugged. “I’m willing to make that sacrifice.”
    “Are you the leader?”
    She froze as she searched for a diversion.
    A slow, quirky grin slid across his face. “You are the leader.”
    “So what if I am?” She belied her trepidation by standing. “I don’t see how that helps you.”
    “Really?” He sat and rang the crystal bell with an insistent clink.
    The young girl popped her head out of the kitchen.
    “More wine, Clara, and dessert.” When the girl retreated, he pointed one massive finger. “Sit down and we’ll discuss the matter over dessert.”
    “I think I’ve had enough.”
    “Not yet you haven’t. Sit.” When she hesitated, he flung the fragile crystal bell to the floor, where it shattered into delicate fragments. “Sit down.”
    Mary did. His destruction of the fragile bell made it pretty damn clear she’d pushed him right to the edge. He was a man who few disobeyed and he’d tolerated enough of her insolence and defiance. “I won’t tell you—”
    “You don’t have to.”
    Clara brought in dessert and wine, then hurried away, the rubber wheels of the cart crunching through the remains of the crystal bell.
    Dessert looked like two big white eyes with red pupils staring up from her plate. Strawberries ringed the strange cartoon gaze. “What the hell is—”
    “Poached meringues with strawberry sauce.”
    “Freaking child’s nightmare.” She shoved the plate away. “Wouldn’t your life be a lot easier if you just let me go?”
    “Back to your life of crime? I don’t think so. If I have the ringleader, it’s unlikely the gang will continue to rob me.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    “Won’t cost me but a pittance to keep you around and find out for sure, now, will it?” He took a casual bite of his dessert.
    “Fine.” She shrugged. “Keep me here. Eventually you’ll get bored. Something else will come along, strike your fancy, and you’ll gladly send me on my way without a second