“I tried to ask her. She said she’s tired, and that being around fae makes her nervous.” A bitter laugh escapes her. “And then she curtsied and walked away.”
“Give her time.”
“Howmuchtime?”
I don’t have an answer for that, so I let my hands drop and stand up, using magic to remove the table, bowl and pitcher. After a moment, she turns in the tub to face me. Her hair is slicked back from her face, her skin flushed from the heat.
“I want to make a bargain.”
I lift one eyebrow. “What kind of bargain?”
“I want you to stay. Tonight.” Her voice is steady, but the pulse is jumping at the base of her throat. “In return, I’ll give you … I don’t know. Whatever you want. There must be something.”
Of all the things I thought she would ask, I didn’t expect that. She’s offering to trade something for my company, the same way every noblewoman offered money to the huntmasters for me. Coin for flesh. Transaction dressed as desire.
The mask I’ve worn for centuries slides into place. Her face pales.
“Oh gods. No … no! That’s not—I didn’t mean.” Her fingers curl around the rim of the tub. “I know what they did. I’m not trying to … I wouldnever?—”
“Then whatareyou trying to do?”
“I just want you.” The words spill out, raw and unsteady. “That’s all. I just wanted you to stay. And I thought …” She bites her lip, sucking in a shaky breath. “I thought that … it’s what you did. A bargain … I thought that—” She closes her eyes and shakes her head.
She thinks she has to offer something in return for mycompany because I’ve given her nothing. Nothing at all for her to believe that the night we spent together meant anything.
She thinks I don’t want her.
I reach into the water and take her hand, pulling her to her feet. She rises, water streaming down her body, but I don’t allow myself to look anywhere but her face.
“Moirthalen.” I wait until she opens her eyes. “You have no need to bargain for that.”
“I … don’t?”
“No.” I lift my other hand and brush a strand of wet hair back from her face. “If you want me to stay, all you have to do is ask.”
I kiss her before she can respond.
She makes a sound against my mouth and then her hands are fisting in my shirt, pulling me closer, and I stop thinking about anything except the taste of her. Wrapping one arm around her waist, not caring about the fact she’s wet and I’m not, I lift her out of the tub, and spin toward the bed. When her knees hit the mattress, I drop her onto it and follow her down, one hand braced beside her head, the other tangled in her hair.
“Cairn—”
“Stop talking.” I press my mouth to her throat.
Shedoesn’tstop talking. “I thought you didn’t want?—”
I bite down on the curve of her shoulder, and she gasps, arching up against me.
“Does this feel like I don’t want you?”
She gives a startled laugh, then her hands are reaching for the hem of my shirt.
I let her undress me. Let her drag my shirt over my head. Let her fingers trace the patterns on my skin. When she tugs impatiently at the laces on my pants, I catch her wrists and pin them above her head.
“My pace.”
“Always?”
“Tonight.” I lean down and kiss her again, slower this time. “Let me.”
