Something flickered over his face, gone too quickly for me to figure it out. “What is your name?”
“Sally,” I rasped out, throat dry.
“Is it? That’s… odd.”
One of two things was going to happen at this point if he recognized me. Either he wasn’t on Team Good Fae and he was most definitely going to kill me, because there was no way I was going to win a fight with a Prince. That would… suck. Or he was going to haul my ass out of here, report what I was doing to the Order, and then everything would be over. I couldn’t allow that to happen either. Not when I was so close to finding the last two fae. So close to complete retribution.
His hand snaked out faster than my eyes could track. Warm fingers folded around my forearm, sending a jolt traveling up my arm, much like the static charge I got from dragging my feet over a carpet. He eyed the bracelets with a sardonic twist of his lips. Would the Prince recognize what they were? I wasn’t sure.
Then his gaze lifted to mine as he folded two fingers under my chin, guiding my head farther back. A sound rumbled from him, reminding me of a very animalistic growl. My stomach hollowed. A long, tense moment passed and then he pulled his fingers away from my chin.
“So, Sally, I am confident that you entered a room with someone I am looking for.” His thumb slipped over the skin just below the cuff I wore. “Those outside told me he was in here.” He paused. “Then again, those outside this room are unable to tell me anything else.”
What did that mean?
I thought about the odd thump against the wall. Had he done something to the fae out there?
“He was in here and now he’s not.” The thumb moved in a slow circle along my skin, causing a tight, confusing shiver to hit me. “Now, what could’ve happened to this fae? There’s only one small window behind you, but I doubt he’d be able to climb out of that. So, it appears as if he… disappeared into thin air.”
Well, that did kind of happen.
“I’m rather disappointed, as there were things I needed to discuss with him.”
I wanted so badly to ask why thereformedSummer Prince needed to talk to a Winter fae.
His hand slid up my hand, so now his thumb was tracing idle, slow circles on the inside of my elbow, just below another scarred bite mark. A mark Tobias could’ve noticed if he hadn’t been so arrogant and stupid.
“Sally, Sally…. What am I going to do with you?” he mused as thick lashes lowered, shielding pale, wolf eyes.
That was… that was a really bad question. And why was he touching me like this, coming so close to the bracelet? And why was it making me shiver instead of making me want to scrape the skin off that he was touching?
I was going to blame his unexpected appearance for my reaction.
When I didn’t answer, one side of his lips kicked up in a mockery of a smile. “Stand.”
Having no idea if he really believed I was entranced, a tremble coursed through me as I stood on locked knees. The change in position was a blessing. I wasn’t looking at his eyes anymore. My gaze was level with his chest.
“Where are you from, Sally?”
The question caught me off guard and it took a moment to answer. “Lafayette,” I threw out, figuring my accent betrayed that I was from somewhere south.
“Lafayette?” His other hand landed softly on my waist, and my entire body jolted.
Damn it.
A human entranced would have no reaction. He had to know I was faking this, but that didn’t mean that he knew who I was. I couldn’t imagine that he did, not when he’d only seen me twice, and both times I hadn’t looked like this.
Another tremble coursed through me, and I knew he could feel it, because his grip on my waist tightened, bunching the material of my dress.
“Well, Sally from Lafayette, there’s something very interesting about you,” he said, and a stuttered heartbeat later, the entire front of my body was pressed against his.
The contact was a shock to my system, and when I drew in a deep breath, he smelled like summer thunderstorms and reminded me of glistening beaches. My skin burned and tingled and the reaction was swift, potent. His hand slid to the center of my back, and the next breath I took caught in my throat.
What in the world was happening? Was he—?
“Your pulse....” His hand followed my spine, tangling in the strands of hair as it curled around the nape of my neck. His warm breath danced over my forehead as he tipped my head back, pressing his thumb right against my wildly beating pulse.
Without warning, he spun me around. My heart skipped a beat as he hauled me back against him. I drew in a ragged breath, fully aware of how my body fitted against the hard slabs of his muscles and the…holy crap, the other thing that seemed equally proportioned to his large body, and I desperately wanted to pretend I didn’t feel that.
