“I was curious.”
Of course he was.
“Have you had lovers?”
“Wait … it’s my turn.”
“You already asked why it matters. That counts as your question. So … have you?” The question is almost gentle.
“I’ve never … no one has ever …” I stumble over the words. “The lord’s son and his terrible kiss is the extent of it. I’ve thought about it, obviously. Wondered what it would be like. Imagined it, even. But there was never anyone I wanted enough to risk it. I’m a princess. I can’t take lovers without consequences. There would be whispers and scandals.” I stare at my hands. “As the king’s youngest daughter, I thought I’d eventually be married off to someone my father chose. Some noble who wanted closer ties to the throne. Someone appropriate and utterly uninteresting. But until then …” I sigh. “No, I’ve never had a lover.”
He goes very still, and it isn’t the subtle stillness of before. This is different. His eyes have turned darker, and I realize with a lurch what I’ve just admitted.
I look away, watching a log shift and collapse in the fire, acutely aware of his eyes on me, while he waits for me to ask another question.
I could keep pushing. There is so much I still don’t understand, but I’m scared of what else he might ask me, what else he might drag out of me if I give him the chance.
“I have no more questions to ask you.”
“Then our bargain is fulfilled.”
The pressure releases, and I slump back in my chair. My skin is clammy, my pulse still too fast. I want to crawl under the covers and hide away until morning.
But he’s not done with me.
“I have another bargain to offer you.”
My eyes snap to him.
“What?”
“Agree to let me do whatever I wish with you until sunrise.” His voice is calm, conversational. “And then I’ll let you go free.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
CAIRN
She stares at me.“Go free? What do you mean go free?”
“Exactly what I said. Agree to my terms, and when the sun rises, you can leave. You can go back to the palace, your father, and your life. I won’t stop you.”
“You’re just … going to let me go, after everything you’ve done?”
I incline my head. “If you agree to my terms, yes.”
“Which arewhat, exactly? Do whatever you wish with me? That could meananything.”
It could. That’s the point.
I take another sip of wine. She’s still flushed from the last hour and the truth bargain we struck.
Watching her fight the compulsion. Watching her lose. Watching her face burn and her body squirm as confession after confession spilled out—that she thinks about what I did to her, that she’s attracted to me, that she liked watching me kill.
I enjoyed that far more than I should have.
Now I want to see what else I can get her to admit. But this time I want to use my hands and my mouth. I want to drag sounds out of her, I want to find out what she looks like whenshe gives everything up to me.
And then I want to watch her walk away, knowing she’ll spend the rest of her life remembering this night. Remembering that it was a fae who awakened her body to pleasure, and not the husband I’m sure her father has lined up for her.
