The lion shook out the thick ruff of his mane and let out a low rumble.
“It’s nothing,” Endreas said. “See.” He held out his wounded bicep. “Already healing.” And it was, although the skin around the wound glowed angry red.
The lion’s dark brown eyes roved over to Magda, intelligence gleaming in them.
“This is Magdalena,” Endreas said. “She’s causing me a lot of trouble.”
She made a face at him, even though he wasn’t looking at her.
Endreas leaned back against the door, so casually, so easily, a part of her sparked with need. Need to see him like that all of the time. Less the Prince. More... Endreas.
The lion growled deep in his chest and lashed his tail, eyes fixed on Magda.
“No, that’s all right,” he said to Gur. “But I have a favor to ask. Take her where she needs to go.”
Magda stiffened. “What? No—”
Endreas’s finger pressed to her lips. She hadn’t realized how close she’d drawn to him until he was touching her, inspiring more goose bumps.
“Wait, will you, friend?” he said to Gur.
The lion-semargl yawned, stretched his wings, and dropped down to his belly, immediately closing his eyes.
Endreas moved away from the door, allowing it close, and stepped into her.
In spite of all her misgivings, her lips met his, drinking in his warmth and his breath and his scent.
He broke away, too soon.
She bit her lip to keep from going after him.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
“Kiss you?”
“No. Defend him.”
She edged back, aching for the lack of his body against hers. “I told you. Kaelan is innocent.”
His jaw hardened. He leaned away.
She moved back into him, not allowing him to escape the conversation. “He knew nothing of who he was until he came of age. Even now, he has no idea. He was unconscious in Froenz’s hall. He still thinks he’s a Pixie Prince. Why should he be killed for a prophecy he knows nothing about and that might not even come true? It’s no more right for you to kill him now than it was for your father to try to do so when he was only a baby.” She hardened against him, even though it took all her willpower to keep from wrapping herself around him. “And if you think I’m going to stand aside and watch you slaughter an innocent person, or any innocent persons, then I’m prepared to disabuse you of that erroneous notion, Your Highness.”
“It’s too late. I know who he is now, which means my counselors know. And besides, your oracle gave a speech announcing him as the Resistance’s salvation. I will not have to kill him. My father will send his mercenaries. If you get in their way, they will kill you too.”
“What kind of mercenaries?” she asked.
He lifted his hand like he might throttle her, but the wound on his bicep halted him. His lips twisted in pain. His arm dropped to his side again.
“Why are you willing to fight for him? Because he is a Prince? Or is it something more?”
“I defend him because he hasn’t done anything wrong! He doesn’t deserve this death sentence.”
“Then send him away to the mortal world. There, he might have a chance to evade capture.”
“He’s in love with a nymph,” she said.
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
