The door swung open, and terror poured into my chest as I saw who filled the entirety of the doorway. It was….
It wasthePrince.
Chapter 4
The fae didn’t scare me anymore, not like they used to, but this one… this one terrified and enthralled me in ways I couldn’t understand. Ways in which I really didn’t even want to try to figure out.
Air lodged in my throat as his gaze immediately zeroed in on me, and I didn’t need to pretend to be entranced. I was frozen, rooted to the chair by invisible vines.
I hadn’t seen him in what felt like forever, and I wasn’t even sure that I had seen him at the hospital after the attack or if that was some kind of bizarre hallucination. I’d been on a lot of powerful drugs. I didn’t even know he was still in New Orleans. I’d figured he’d gone to Florida, to the community his brother oversaw.
The Prince was what was called an Ancient, fae that had lived for hundreds of years, if not more, and were not only capable of a hell of a lot more than a normal fae was, but they were nearly impossible to kill. Stabbing them with iron did absolutely nothing beyond pissing them off. You couldn’t send them back to the Otherworld. You had to kill them, and that was only accomplished by separating the head from the body.
And good luck with that.
Ancients were the most powerful of the fae and they could be Knights or Princesses or Princes or Queens.
Or a King.
They didn’t look like a fae. Their skin wasn’t silvery and the point to their ears was hardly noticeable, which enabled them to blend in with humans and escape the Order’s detection until it was too late.
He was supposed to be good, so why in the hell was he here, at Flux, in a club frequented by the enemy—hisenemy?
The Prince cocked his golden head to the side while my heart threw itself against my ribs. Did he recognize me? There was no way. I was well disguised, even beyond the wig. I’d discovered that I had a flair for makeup. I basically reshaped the features of my face with contouring and a keen eye and steady hand.
He couldn’t know it was me, because it wasn’t like he’d paid attention to me. It wasn’t likeanyonepaid attention to me. I was a ghost in most rooms, unseen even when I wanted to be seen and heard. That was one thing that hadn’t changed after the attack. And it was freaking ironic that the one thing I hated the most about myself, how easily I took to just blending in, had become my greatest asset.
I willed my heart to slow, but when he closed the door behind him, my heart launched into my throat. He was supposed to be good, but he washere, and if it came down to fighting, there was a slim chance I’d win.
Or land a single kick.
“You’re alone.” His voice… God, his voice was deep and melodious, an odd accent that reminded me of twinkling lights and lush flowers. “Are you alone?” he repeated.
I let the façade of being entranced slip over me and murmured, “Yes?”
“Is that so?” He strode forward, coming closer, into the dim light offered by the exposed lightbulb screwed into a ceiling fan. The Prince was…. God, he was strikingly beautiful.
Golden blond hair brushed broad shoulders and framed high, sharp as a blade cheekbones and a jaw that could’ve beencarved out of marble. His brow was several shades darker than his hair and his nose straight, aristocratic. Full, expressive lips were currently pressed together in a hard line. There was no glamour to fade away. This was what he looked like, an example of inhuman perfection designed to lure the prey in.
My pulse pounded as I kept my gaze level.
“You were in here with someone.”
Oh God, there was a good chance I was going to vomit. Just a little. In my mouth.
“Where did he go?” He was now in front of me, standing a few feet away.
“I… I don’t know?” I said it like it was a question, like I knew humans under a trance would speak.
“Really?” His voice dripped with derision.
A fine sheen of sweat broke out along my skin. Not for one second did he sound like he believed me, so I didn’t answer. I stared at his stomach and chest—his rather defined chest that stretched the black thermal he wore.
“Look at me.” His voice was a crack of thunder, and I felt like I was tranced.
I lifted my gaze, and I immediately wished I hadn’t. I was no short woman, but even if I wasn’t sitting down, he would’ve towered over me. The Prince was around six and a half feet and every inch of him was intimidating. To meet his gaze, I had to tilt my head waaay back.
His eyes…. They were the palest blue color that was startling against the blackness of the pupil and the thick, heavy fringe of his lashes. Only a fae had eyes like that.
