“No,” he said finally.
“Pity,” I murmured. “You should. You’re likereallygood at it. And if I wasn’t already taken, holy shit would I throw my panties at you… erm… forget I said that.”
“That’s hard to do,” he admitted dryly, making me smirk.
“Then let’s go back to the things you are good at… so top of the list, being super intimidating, sitting on your throne, being bad ass at killing mean dudes in the woods. Looking handsome… Oh, I know, smelling good…anything else?” I said, listing these all off with my fingers.
“I am good at many things,” he said, and the smugness in that sentence was so purely him it made me smile.
“Do you go to the gym?” I asked.
He glanced down at me, brows knitting.
“The what?”
“Do you lift things?” I clarified patiently, as if he were the one intoxicated. “Because you lift me like I’m a feather, and I am not a feather, I am… a person of substance.”
He made a sound that might have been amusement.
“I lift unruly little mortals who get themselves into trouble,” he said, and even through the haze, I felt the flirt in it. The way he could lace a sentence like that with something dangerous and playful at the same time.
I gasped, scandalized.
“Ssshh… Don’t say that out loud,”I whispered, pressing my hand to his mouth like I could physically shove the words back into him. “People will hear you, and then I’ll get in trouble.”
“Nh wn wl…”
“I’m sorry, what? You’re mumbling.” I said loudly. He glared at me before shaking his head, my fingers falling from his lips.
“I said… no one will dare scold you,” he said, and the confidence in it made me blink, because it wasn’t kindness, it was authority. It was the certainty of a man who had never been told no inside his own realm. It was also a little protective over me too. Mmm, that was nice.
“Aster’s going to be pissed off,” I mumbled.
“Well,” Theron said, and I could hear the smile in his voice even if I couldn’t see it. “Lucky for you, I am king, and what I say goes.”
I stared at him, then burst into giggles, because that was ridiculous and also, somehow, very comforting.
“So, you won’t let him shout at me,” I said, like a child trying to negotiate bedtime.
“No,” he replied, and the ease of it made something warm bloom in my chest. I leaned in closer and sniffed his neck again, because apparently that was my new hobby.
“What cologne is that again?” I demanded, even though he had literally just told me he didn’t wear any. “You smell like… like expensive secrets.”
He exhaled, and this time he definitely laughed, low and breathy.
“Stop smelling me, woman,” he said without any real conviction in his tone.
“No, I like it, and I’m investigating,” I replied, making him scoff.
“And pray tell, what have you concluded?” he asked, tone dry.
“That you are very pretty,” I said, then patted his shoulder like I was proud of him. “And that it’s unfair.”
He hummed, amused.
“Unfair,” he repeated.
“Yes,” I insisted, then squinted at him. “Also, you need a crown.”
