“I-I,” he stutters, not even able to get two words out before he’s pacing the room on booming steps. “I’ll deter Prince Ravar’s commands for punishment as much as I can.”
“And I’ll deter myattitudeas much as I can,” I say with poised rationality.
A pressing memory of how good he felt against me lingers in my mind.
Those heavy, prying eyes of his skim my features, searching me out while I simply gaze back at his barbaric disbelief.
“Fine.” He nods once.
I nod.
He does it again.
I do it once more.
And by his third time of him rattling his little puppy dog brain, it occurs to me that he’s still thinking about it.
And now I am too.
I’m seducing the Prince of Hell.
It’s my job.
At the moment though, I’m mentally undressing the Highest High Hell of the Prince’s guard. Even worse, he’s eye fucking me right back.
It’s a flame of heat to feel his attention warm against my skin. The memory of his body pressing down on mine feels like the weight is still there. The spot where his knee parted my thighs is fresh in my mind, and that pressure too is still present against my core.
Too, too present.
“You should leave,” I blurt suddenly.
His eyes widen as if I just threatened him.
“It’s my fuckin’ room,” he argues.
Why is he like this? Why?
“Do you want us to fuck and die of treason, or would you rather we continue our fun plot to kill the Prince?” My hands lift at my sides as if I hold the two offers there in my palms, and it’s like he actually sees them now that I’ve mentioned it.
“Yeah, I should go,” he says, striding to the glossy black door before the words are fully out of his mouth.
The door slams behind without him so much as tossing a second glance my way. It doesn’t hurt to watch him go.
It hurts to watch myself continue to shove away all of the good men in my life.
And for what?
A sense of purpose.
It’s what my father would be proud of. Bringing down the leader of this realm is indeed what my father would have wanted for my future.
I just have to keep reminding myself of that every single time one of these men gets close to me.
It’s an impossible future I’ve set out for.
Killing the Prince is only the half of it.
Nine
