Elysia let her eyes go heavy and a touch of a smile played at her lips, fingers dragging over the gentle line of her throat. “Hi, Topp.” His name was a barely there sound and yet his focus onher turned brilliant, as if she had spoken some truth he longed to hear.
And just like that, she was irrationally angry. So godsforsakenly angry. That he couldlook at her that wayand still miss so much: the lost hours she couldn’t explain, the lies that fell like a veil over what had once been vibrant between them, the irrecoverable distance between who he was and the magic that would get her killed. She needed him to not notice, and yet, it killed her that he didn’t.
Topp lifted his chin, giving her a tempting sort of smirk. “You look good, Parker.”
Much to her fury, he was an expert at evading her frustration. Always defusing her anger in just the nick of time before she blew. It didn’t help that when he was in a good mood, he walked around with tricks playing in his gorgeous eyes. One look at them and a laugh wanted to bubble up like spring no matter how mad he made her.
If she was meticulous in her beauty, then he was unkempt perfection. Tousled and defiant, he always looked like he’d just been outside. She wanted to run her hands through his hair until it was mussed beyond all possible redemption.Thatwas how she liked him.
He was magnetizing. An ax-wielding, forest-raised bear of a man with the brains of a fox who had been given a crown. And she was the fool who had fallen into his path, thinking she could outwit him.
He swiveled, his feet spreading wide and palms coming to rest on the smooth curves of her hips. His fingers pressed until she stumbled forward, her thighs now brushing his. He held her there, hands running up and down from thigh to hip as he stared into her wind-flushed face.
“You are such a curious thing,” he murmured, his eyes a vivid green spark in the low light.
The warmth of his breath ghosted over her, and she inhaled instinctively, pulling in the scent of him. Violent flutters rose within her chest and she cursed herself. Silent and ensnared, her attention was fully diverted.
“Tell me, why did you subject yourself to a thirty-minute walk in this unbearable weather?” His fingers trailed over the goosebumps covering her skin. Her responding shiver had absolutely nothing to do with the cold, and the wicked shine in his eyes said he knew it.
She pulled back against the loop of his arms, answering honestly. “Can’t stand being inside all day.”
He laughed, a short sound that broke the building tension. It was a sentiment he knew all too well. Always trying to hide such untamed blood behind a prince’s face.
“Ah, but you hate ruining pretty things even more.” He lifted the skirt of her dress to reveal her soft, practical leather boots. The silk fell back down, hiding all evidence of the sensible shoes.
She scowled, swatting his hands away and settling into her own chair. The server wisely chose this moment to step out of the shadows. Setting down a steaming bumblebee next to her, he departed without a word.
Elysia toyed with the cinnamon stick garnish, swirling it until the lemon twist swam through the drink’s amber waters. Taking the mug by its handle, she gingerly blew on its surface before taking a scalding sip. Eyes closed, a small sound of contentment slipped out of her. The spiced tea and gin was the perfect winter tonic, warming and loosening her frozen muscles.
She opened her eyes to see Topp’s face soften, his own eyes drinking in the sight of her melting—the day’s stress turning her languid instead of harsh. But then his eyes focused, narrowing the slightest bit as his mouth formed an unspoken question.
Her attention flared, seeing him lean back and kick his long legs out, crossing one ankle over another. She knew that face. Itwas the face of a man who was about to be a serious thorn in her side.Tap, tap.His fingers moved restlessly against his glass.
Oh, he was paying far too much attention this evening. She really had been hoping things wouldn’t have to go this way. She loved the food here, and now she wouldn’t get to eat it barely at all.
“You know,” he drawled slowly, “I seem to have been remiss in my duties to you, sweet Elysia, and I want you to know that the Crown takes this matter very, very seriously.”
She kept her face in her mug, hiding the stupid smile doing its best to take shape at his words.
“Is that so, Prince?”
He sat up straighter now, his elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward. “The servants whisper that the reason the Crown Prince’s woman looks so tired all the time is because the cold bastard never lets her stay. They say her heart beats anxiously with unrequited love.”
There was something in the shape, the glint of his eyes that had never seemed quite natural to Elysia, like there was a part of him that belonged to the woods and the trees and the hidden wild things that had no right or wrong, and she saw it there now, gleaming in the shadowed light of the flickering oil lamps.
It frightened her almost as much as it called to her.
Months of sliding out of his bed like a wraith in the night, and now he pinned her here without ever asking a single question.
One finger continued tapping the edge of his glass as he waited. Waited for the lies to spill off her sugared tongue.
But he knew lies as well as she knew secrets, and Elysia knew better than most when to hold her cards.
His hand stilled, the only hint of his frustration in the subtle work of his jaw when she didn’t respond to his subtle opening. “I knew I should have saved this conversation for after dinner.”
“And why didn’t you?” She kept her voice light, as if his insinuations meant nothing.
He held her eyes, his voice taking a heated edge. “Because I didn’t think it would be fair to ask you with my head between your thighs.”
