I grinned at the back of the door, running a palm over the wooden surface before I turned on my heel and stalked toward my own rooms.
The best part of hunting within the Shadow Court?
Mywifewasn’t going anywhere.
SIXFALLON
Days passed without me needing to spend time with Etan, confirming my assumption that we would have a marriage in name only. Any man who actually cared to know a thing about the woman he was set to marry would have spent his time getting to know me, not actively avoiding me. I was grateful that he was matching my energy and going about his business as if nothing had changed.
It soothed something within me, the part that resisted the notion of another cage. The last thing I wanted was a man who thought to contain and control me, keeping me caged in a court that I had no desire to exist within. I would be free to do as I pleased, and so would the male that was too handsome for his own good.
I made my way through the grand entry that led to the throne room, ignoring the warmth of his brown eyes as they wandered to me briefly. Just as quickly, he shifted his attention back to Rheaghan and dismissed me from his focus.
Good.
The King of Summer smiled at me, his expression warm and unguarded. He’d come to me sporadically in the last couple of days, showing interest in knowing his sister’s daughter, but even the knowledge that I would be spending more time with my uncle couldn’t make me embrace the concept of a relationship with him.
Not here, not when Mab would so readily use it as a weakness. If I was to return with him and Etan to the Summer Court, we would have plenty of time to get to know one another.
The doors to the throne room were closed, indicating that whatever Mab was doing within the closed space, she had no desire for company at this moment. I sighed, glancing around the hall and debating what to do with myself in the meantime. It was no secret that Mab wanted me to be available to her whenever she dictated, but the closed door offered me a rare bit of freedom, and she had no care for what I did with my time when she didn’t require my presence.
My eyes once again strayed toward Etan. His hair was the deepest auburn, so dark that the red was almost drowned out by the depth of the brown undertone. He continued to ignore my presence in favor of socializing among the Gods who were present at the court. It should have pleased me to avoid his notice, and on some level, it did. I wanted the freedom that came from being ignored, but that freedom would mean nothing to me if I allowed the bonds of our betrothal to keep me controlled regardless.
I was not a woman who would fall quietly into subservience. I was not a woman who would ever allow herself to be owned, especially not by a man who could not even be bothered to publicly acknowledge me. It wasn’t Etan alone who needed the reminder of exactly what this was; I did, too. We were both free to do as we pleased.
Imelda would tell me I was being petty and defiant to my own detriment.
Fortunately, I hadn’t seen the witch in days, and that voice in my head was barely a whisper of warning.
I turned my attention to the males he spoke to, tipping my head to the side as I observed them. The man on his other side, opposite Rheaghan, had hair the color of deep night itself. His eyes shone out of his fair skin, a pale silver with the slightest hint of pink to them. His gaze trailed down my body where I stood in the gown Pax had dressed me in, believing it would please Mab to see me in the colors of the Shadow Court so willingly.
I felt that gaze rake over me from head to toe, snagging at the line of cleavage the deep neckline left open to his perusal. I smirked when those pale eyes finally found mine once more, gliding forward as he stepped off the wall where he’d stood beside my betrothed.
He met me in the center of the entryway, his playful grin making my own mouth spread into a matching smile. “Princess,” he said, bowing his head forward in a show of respect that we both knew I hadn’t earned.
“I’m at the disadvantage of not knowing you,” I said, cocking my head to the side as I reached out with a single hand and patted his chest, adjusting the collar of his tunic where it had folded over the line of his dress coat.
“Soren. God of Twilight,” he answered, reaching up to grasp my hand in his. His fingers and palm were cool to the touch, making me gasp lightly with the shock against the continued heat of my skin.
“I’ve not seen you at court before. Has word of my existence truly spread through the court so quickly?” I asked with a chuckle, curling my fingers so that they wrapped around his hand in turn. He pursed his lips as he raised my hand to his mouth, touching his lips to the back of it gently without ever taking his eye contact from me.
“How could people not speak of a beauty like yours?” he asked, that poisonous tongue filled with charm.
I laughed, but the sound was missing any venom I might have otherwise had for a man who thought to bed me by delivering half-truths that lacked any and all passion or significance. While they were clearly true words, else he wouldn’t have been able to speak them at all, I felt certain they were the kind he spoke to every woman who crossed his path.
That suited me just fine.
I didn’t want a romance that would last a lifetime. I just wanted a passion that would last a night.
“I bet all the girls fall for that line,” I said, feeling it necessary to make him aware that I was onto his game. That I did not take him to bed for some naivety he could take advantage of. In this, our relationship could be mutually beneficial, and I could use him just as much as he sought to use me.
“Not all of them,” he said, having the decency not to attempt to hide his rakish charm. I smiled, painted red lips spreading over my teeth as I drew my hand back from him slightly. He didn’t release it, instead turning with me as I faced the direction that would lead to the stairs and, ultimately, my bedroom.
I would not relegate Pax to her tiny room tonight, hoping there was another place she could go to occupy her time if I gave her the night off. While I was more than comfortable with an audience after all the times I’d fucked in the hot springs buried in the tunnels of the Resistance, I didn’t think the shy woman had any interest in knowing what noises I, or Soren, made when deep in the throes of passion.
“I don’t need pretty words that we both know serve a single purpose,” I said, leaning in to whisper the words as I took the first step. Soren tucked my hand into his arm, following along with my gait as I made my way toward the stairs. “In fact, I don’t even want them. I’ve no desire to belong to any man, let alone a God.”
“Then what is it you want, Princess?” Soren asked, those odd silver eyes gleaming as he stared down at me. We moved to the stairs as he released me to allow me to gather up the length of my dress so I could climb the steps without issue. The lights of the chandeliers played off his hair, bringing out the subtle purple notes beneath the near-black color.
