“No. Why are you still here?”
“Lavana said he did not want to be claimed. That he resisted her, which is why she put him in her dungeon. Yet, he’s rejoined you. And he’s brought a nymph. What’s that about?”
“None of your business,” she said.
He ground his fist into his palm, still staring in Kaelan’s direction. “You have a Prince and the Enneahedron...”—he finally looked back at her—“I assume. All you need to do now is reach the Spire. That is where you’re going, isn’t it, Magpie?”
She pressed her lips together, afraid to move or speak. The longer he was there, the harder the craving was to control. Just to taste him one more time...
“You realized I was right, didn’t you? You do intend to vie for Radiant.”
Her teeth clenched, tongue flicking through hole where her tooth had been.
“But you should do your Prince a favor,” he said, shifting again, closer. Well within spearing range. He leaned in, so the sweet elixir of his scent curled around her, hooking into her chest, stretching the air taut between them. “Do not claim him.”
“Why?” she asked. “Afraid I might like him more?”
His nostrils flared. “No.”
“Liar.”
“If you claim him, then I will have no choice but to kill him. You will do all of us a favor if you allow me to appear magnanimous by sparing his life when I displace him.”
“If you kill him, then I will have to kill you,” she said.
“You would have totryto kill me,” he said. “But you would fail and yield to me. I know you need him to strengthen your claim to Radiant, and for that reason alone, I will tolerate his presence.”
“And what did Lavana say when you gave her this speech?”
He grabbed her arm, but she remained as she was, blades poised. “I will kill Riker regardless.”
“Magnanimous and just, through and through. So very important for everyone to see that, I can tell.”
He pressed his nose to her temple, his lips skimming her skin. Every hair on her body rose, her skin prickling, her breath quickening.
“Riker slept with you?”
She drew back, only far enough so that she could meet him in the eye. “Actually, I slept with him, because I wanted to.”
“And so I will kill him, because I want to.”
“Perhaps Elf women find murderous jealousy attractive,”—she ripped her arm away from him—“but I don’t. So if this is part of your ruse to seduce me, it’s not working.”
“It is the law. All former lovers of the Queen and King must die before the two are joined.”
“You have some fucked up laws.”
“Is that a Pixie turn of phrase, or a human one?”
“Women have slept with you even though they knew it would end in their deaths?”
“They always think that I will fall in love with them and make them my queen.”
“And you let them think that?”
“No. I tell them there is no chance, but Elven women are very persistent.”
“You still didn’t have to sleep with them.”
