"Lady Cordelia," he said, and his voice had changed again — lower now, quieter, the voice of a man who had just made a decision and was not going to unmake it. "I was told you were dutiful and accomplished and suited to the traditions of my court. I was told you were dark and compliant and eager to please. I was told, in short, that you were exactly what I was looking for."
He paused. Those iron eyes found hers and held them with a force that was not physical but felt physical — a pressure, a weight, the gravitational pull of a creature who had been alive for centuries and had learned that the most dangerous thing in the world was not violence or power but attention. Real attention. The kind that sees through walls.
