“So long as he’s back with his body within a turn, it should be as easy as his host touching the vacated body.”
“They’ll exist in the same body for a short period?” I check.
“Yes,” Eron confirms.
“I don’t like it,” Charming decides.
“You don’t like it because you’ll be inhabiting a man with actual courage and skill—things you lack. Maybe take notes while you are in there.”
Charming curls his lip. “The Stirlings have nothing to teach me.”
His loss. If he doesn’t use this opportunity to learn how to behave like a man worthy of my sister’s affections, then he’ll never win her heart.
Erik swings his sword in a graceful arc. “You can always remain as our guest.” The wicked glint in his eyes makes me suspect Charming wouldn’t enjoy his accommodations.
“No, that’s okay,” Charming mutters. “I’m sure I can share the same space as Hart Stirling for a turn.”
I wrinkle my nose. I won’t be kissing him while Charming’s slimy soul shares his body. Good thing I have three others I can smooch while I wait. Then, I’m going to make it my mission to erase Malice from Hart’s lips until he’s breathless and consumed by all the things the real Daphne can offer. Not the fake one who dances around with expert coordination, making her exceptionally boring.
Hart rounds on Malice, his back to us. Her wild eyes skim the mirror, and a frown mars her forehead. It seems she is waiting for Eron to recover and blow her secret up, but she’s counting on escaping to Wonderland before that happens.
Hart steps into her personal space, and his hands thread into her hair. I hate it. The rage, the jealousy, the irrational fear that he might prefer her lips on his than mine.
“You missed me, Hart?” she breathes. My eyes narrow.
“More than you can fathom, Calamity. I’m not whole without you,” he growls. “Before we go off chasing rabbits, let’s take a moment for us. I want to lick my lips and taste you there.”
Her pupils expand, and her lips part. “The taste of my mouth won’t linger for long. You’ll need to replenish it often.”
“Floozy,” Charming snaps.
For once, we agree on something.
Hart skims his nose along her jawline and pauses at her ear. “It’s not your mouth I want.”
My heart drops to the lake floor like a lead weight has caught it, and now it’s skimming along the bed, smashing against rocks and rubble as it becomes bruised and bloodied.
“Damn,” Charming mutters. “Now I get it.”
I side-eye Prince Poopfloof. “Get what?”
“Your fascination. He’s got game.”
Hart doesn’t play games, that’s what makes his attention so addictive. If you have it, it’s not because you wore a fancy dress or fluttered your eyelashes, it’s because he’s genuinely and completely invested in you.
Hart fists Malice’s hair and snaps her head back. Her hands grip his forearms, and she smirks at him. I want to claw her eyes out for daring to look at one of my knights with bedroom eyes.
He twists his arms, removing her hands, and grasps her wrists, tugging them behind her back. She gives him a cocky smirk.
“You want to tie me up?” she breathes.
Oh, he better not.
“That’s smart,” Eron declares from my other side.
“I enjoy having you at my mercy,” Hart agrees.
“How is this smart?” I snap as Hart drags his leather belt free of his breeches and binds Malice’s wrists together. Then he undoes the first few buttons of her dress and yanks the shoulders down, making sure she’s trapped.
