“What was that again?”
“I.Do.Not.Need.Your.Protection,” she yelled.
“Ah, right.I don’t care, princess.”
She growled, suppressing the urge to stomp a foot.Or open the door and break something over his head.She calmed herself by going through all the reasons she’d given him throughout the day for leaving her alone.He needed to keep an eye on Stone.He was the only one who could drug him properly.Her brother would be furious.People would ask questions about their connection to one another.
None of them had worked.He’d found a cause and rooted himself in it.If only that cause wasn’ther.
She didn’t want to be reminded of how handsome he was, of how warm his skin was when nestled against hers.She didn’t want to sleep with the sound of his breathing, that space between her legs rioting against good sense by pulsing hard and aching for the relief only he could give.
She was angry at him, and she would remain so.Because the reasons she was enraged would never change.And that… oh, that swept her anger away in a torrent of sorrow.
“Is Temple paying you to do this?”she asked, needing something to help her cling to the rage.
“God, no.Don’t tell him I’m here.”
Of course not.His comfort and position and clear path toward status at all costs.
She rested her back against the door and slid down until she sat, her skirts billowing around her bent legs.
“Princess?”When she didn’t answer, he said, “I wish it were different.”
She placed her palm on the door.Different how?She felt hungry suddenly, ravenous for?—
“With the queen,” he said.“She shouldn’t have given your brother the project.It’s yours.”
Oh.That.“I never expected anything like that.Temple is considering making me his apprentice.”
“It’s not enough.You should get credit for your discovery.”A pause, then, “Will you make it for him?The ring?”
“No.I suppose I won’t.”
“You vixen.You’ll run him on a merry chase, then, give him hope but never fruition.”
She chuckled.“It is rather evil.Perhaps I should tell him everything.”
“It doesn’t matter.Won’t work for him.”
“Itdoeswork.You know it does.”He’d seen it as clearly as she had.
“It’syou, Sybil.I don’t know why, but it has to be.Only you saw that glimmer of gold in that plain lump of lead.Only you made it bloom.”
She stood and flung open the door.He fell backward, landing with a thud and grimace.
“How dare you!”She kept her voice low, but each word felt like a visceral scream.
Rubbing the back of his head, he sat up and stared at her.“How dare I do what?See you?Admire you?L-likeyou?”
“Yes!All that.”
He jumped to his feet and kicked the door closed, but she couldn’t face him, so she stalked across the small room to the window.
“You hate me,” he said, “I understand that, but?—”
“No.”She dug her nails into the wood of the windowsill.She wished she hated him.“I’m enraged with you.”
“I know.”
