I breathed in that woodsmoke-and-greenery scent. “Why are you looking after me?”
“I want you to feel guilty in the morning for not trusting me.”
“I’m not going to trust you in the morning.” My hand was draped over his taut stomach, and his muscles tensed and rippled under my palm every time he shifted. I should probably move, but I was too tired.
Instead, I draped my leg over his, snuggling down, trying to get more comfortable. My hand accidentally brushed lower, and he stiffened. “Why, really, Fear?”
“Oh, I’m the one who’ll feel guilty in the morning.” He took my hand off his lean lower torso, and wove his fingers through mine. “And every day afterward.”
“Why?”
“Because you deserve better than to be dragged into all my schemes.” He raised our joined hands in front of my face. “Do you know you won’t remember much of this, if any, when you wake? I’ve taken that same sleeping draught many times. Dairen has either played some truly terrible tricks on me or lied about it, and I will never know.”
“Are you playing a trick on me?” The words came out soft, slurred.
“Yes. But I might be playing an even uglier trick on myself.” He laid our joined hands back down on his chest.
“Everything you say is nonsense, Fear.”
He laughed, his chest rising and falling. It felt nice being this close to him, hearing him laugh.
“The sleeping draught must really ruin you,” I murmured. “Tomorrow…I’m going to hate you again.”
“Oh, I know,” he said. “And I’ll deserve it. But tonight, while those walls of yours aren’t quite so steady, I want to ask you something. You have to promise me you’ll forget, because if the queen knows my plans, she’ll destroy them. She’ll destroyyou.”
“I’m going to remember,” I said rebelliously. Then, “But tell me anyway.”
The slurring in my voice might have convinced him. I tried to commit every moment to memory, afraid I’d lose this conversation the way he expected.
“If I could save your sister’s magic…but it meant I’d have to manipulate you, would you let me? I need the queen to believe a lie. She can glamour a mortal like you to tell her the truth, so I need you to believe that lie.”
“What’s the lie?”
“Maybe you could let her believe that we’re falling in love. Let her think that’s why I keep you so close.” His hand traced slow circles over my back. “Let her think I’m using you to make Ander jealous.”
“Ander’s not jealous.You’rejealous of Ander.”
He grinned. “You don’t want Ander. You want me.”
“I don’t.” I nuzzled my face into his throat before I noticed what I was doing. His hand went to the back of my head, stroking my hair; his fingers running through the strands and massaging my scalp felt soothing.
“When she realizes I’ve brought you here for another reason, we can make her think that I found a way tomakea dragon-marked mortal. That you are a gift from the rebellion. We shifters can offer the mortals as great a prize as do the Fae.”
“You didn’t make me,” I grumbled. The conversation was too confusing for my pounding head. I just wanted to go to sleep, and Irolled over further, my thigh sliding over his. My bare leg brushed against his erect cock, through the fabric of his pants, and he made a faint groan that he bit off savagely.
But there was always one burning thought that was the only thing that cut through the mist. “If we convince her of those lies…do you really think you can save Lidi’s magic?”
“If we can convince her of those lies, I thinkyou’llsave Lidi’s magic.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“But I’ll lie to you and manipulate you, and you’ll hate me.”
“But not forever.”
His hand in my hair stilled. “No, not forever.”
“Then lie to me,” I murmured, and he went on teasing his fingers through my hair as I finally let go and drifted down.
