He tossed back the rest of his glass, setting it down with a crack that made her jump. “If I was as cold or as ruthless as they say I am, then that’s what I would have done. What a smarter man would have done, since it’s the only time you seem to show yourself these days.” A short laugh rolled through his chest as his grin took a sharp twist. “But look at me. Being generous. Playing fair and giving you a chance before I lick the truth from your pretty cunt.”
Her eyes went wide and every last word choked in her throat.
Heat roared through her. Blood pounding and throbbing in inconvenient places. She should have known he would act out like this. Even on a good day, he loved torturing her in public. Seeing how flustered he could make her before he took her home and worked her over. His grin widened. He knew exactly what he was doing. And he clearly thought it would work.
Smug. Cocky.Bastard.
The waiter bravely cleared his throat and spoke dryly into the mounting tension. The tension Topp had so purposefully crafted. Elysia watched it all evaporate with four simple words.
“Your dinner, Your Highness.”
The server looked down his thin nose at the prince. His lips pressed into a smirk as he waited to be dismissed.Oh, he had definitely been listening. Elysia really couldn’t fault the man. Snoopingwashow she made a living, after all.
Topp stared as if he could light the man on fire with looks alone. Elysia raised a brow, watching him struggle to contain his blatant irritation. A feeling of airiness swooped through her as she bit back a grin. It was never fun having your plans foiled.But personally, she could have kissed the brash server for his interruption. His polished disregard for the crown prince was a delight that brought Elysia back into the room and out of the clutches of Topp’s filthy words.
“Thank you.” She gestured for the waitstaff to begin serving, shooting Topp a look that had him rolling his eyes and flopping back into his chair, his easy grin returning as quickly as it left.
She slowed now, basking in the ambiance of the candle-soaked room. Somewhere in a hidden corner, a woman poured herself into the keys of a piano. The rich timbre of her voice lamented that she was already one foot out the door while a man begged her to stay with the croon of his reply. Elysia sighed, sipping her drink and letting the music wash over her. There might not be a lot of restaurants to choose from within Relaclave—but the places that had survived the Fall sure did deliver.
She tore off a piece of bread, chewing and thinking carefully. Yes, she’d been worried. Worried that Topp might have noticed something was amiss. But the question was, whatexactlyhad drawn Topp’s eye back to her? She needed to know just how fucked she really was before making any drastic decisions. He’d been distracted, content to let her come and go as she pleased. Months without comment and yet he struck now.
Somewhere there was sand running through a glass, and like animals closing in, those nearest and dearest to her were letting her know they were on her trail.
Elysia rolled a few pinches of herbs between her fingers, releasing the aromatics before dropping them into her soup.
“It’s funny,” she began. “I’ve been sneaking in and out of your rooms since you first came back to Relaclave after all those years away. And you know, I don’t think a servant ever once saw me.”
She stirred her soup leisurely and took a small mouthful of soup, musing on her own words. “It’s almost as if they werealways sent away when I came over. Threatened, I would even dare to guess.”
She rolled her eyes at the unabashed expression on Topp’s face. Of course, he’d been threatening them within an inch of their lives all this time. Honor and propriety and all that nonsense.So ridiculous.
“Strange that they would now suddenly know my comings and goings, even though I have not seen a single face in these long months.” She kept eating as if this were their normal talk.
“Servants, guards, people in the street. They all watch you, Elysia, they watch you because who would not?” He crooked a grin, but then became deadly serious. “And they also watch you because you are with me.”
He raked a hand through his hair, the motion only serving to emphasize the thick muscle of his arm and make his hair even more unkempt than before. Elysia ripped her eyes back to his face. He was honestly trying to kill her. With looks and muscles. It was downright foul play.
Frustration bracketed his mouth. “Forget the servants.Idon’t like you leaving in the middle of the night.Iwant to know why you’ve been slipping out like some one-night stand instead of the woman who’s been by my side for years. I’ve been busy, Elysia, but I have never been close to a fool. I don’t have to tellyouthat. You know exactly who I am. You know that I am many things, but blind and stupid are not on that list.” He breathed the last words, leaning closer over the table.
She choked, her spoon hovering in midair. “Topp... I just—” She should have planned better for this. She should have come up with something to say. Anything to say?—
The electric current that always seemed to spark like lightning on his skin, in his space, now viciously thrashed through his contained words.
“Didn’t want to tell me that someone threatened your life?”
Her spoon dropped, clinking and splattering soup on the table. The thunder that was his energy rolled over her, lifting all the tiny hairs on her skin. She lived for when he was like this—a raw, inhuman storm of emotion. She dreamed of being in the eye of that storm. Getting to see him unleashed and true. Maybe it was because no one here ever was and she was desperate for even a taste.
Elysia caught herself—her stomach bottoming out as reality crashed back in. It was too easy to see things where they were not when the heart was involved. It was too easy for her to want to believe the broken little girl’s dream that he would save her, protect her. That the man who had been her friend and lover would choose her in spite of her curse. She knew better than that.He will be your death.
She held still, her lips pressed. “Daphne. Daphne told you, didn’t she?”
Damn Daphne and her giant pastel mouth.
He took several breaths with his eyes clenched closed. “The problem, Elysia, isnotthat Daphne told me. The problem is thatyoudidn’t.”
And then her gut rumbled on cue. A loud, painful cry from the pit of her stomach that made it clear what was to come. Sweat beaded on her brow and a fevered coloring blotched across her cheeks.
Call it a hunch. Woman’s intuition. The secrets that sung to her ears.
