“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been thinking about something. You get a wrinkle right here whenever something is bothering you.” He almost brushed my skin when he pointed to the spot in between my eyebrows. “What is it?”
He’d long ago shed that dead-eyed look he used to use all the time. Typically, whenever he looked at me it was with humor shining in his dark eyes, but today I thought I could see a shred of concern, and something in my chest warmed.
Oh, don’t you dare,I warned myself.He’s an assassin. That’s, like, the bad boy stereotype to end all stereotypes.
Of course my traitorous feelings didn’t listen to me, and as Rigel waited expectantly for an answer, the warm sensation spread all the way to the soles of my feet.
The truth was, I’d been on a slippery slope as far as Rigel was concerned for a while. Probably since he’d killed those monsters in the market. His smile the night we dropped all the monarchs off had been the beginning of the end.
And now, as I watched him close his bedroom door, peel back the covers and point to the mattress in a wordless invitation to me, and then stop to stare down Kevin—who had both of his front paws on the bed—I knew I was a goner.
“I love you,” I blurted out.
As soon as the words left my lips, panic rocked my inner world.
Why did I say that?WHYdid I say that?! I regret it—edit, undo! Backspace! Escape! How do I get out of this?
My thoughts bounced around in my skull, and I stared at Rigel with growing horror.
The silver-haired fae stared at me, then nodded once. “If you don’t want to tell me what’s wrong, you don’t have to break out your bluffs. Just tell me you don’t want to talk about it.”
I blinked. “Huh?”
“Go to bed.”
I stared at him, not quite believing I’d gotten away with it, but also kind of offended he didn’t believe me. “But I love you,” I said again without thinking.
“And if you follow up that statement with a request to touch my abs, I’m going to bundle you up in a blanket and toss you outside,” he warned.
“You don’t believe me,” I said.
“Leila,” Rigel said in a no-nonsense tone. “You’ve declared your undying love to me and unwavering loyalty to my physique to a roomful of royals. I’ve seen the best of your—what do you call it? Trolling? Whatever it is, I know you are excellent at it. It’s not going to work on me.”
For a moment I was just relieved I was getting away with my little confession with no consequences. That’s when I realized I was dead wrong.
In fact, I was staring down a whole flood of consequences.
This is punishment,I realized as I stared at Rigel like an idiot.Finally, I’m getting payback for all the lies I’ve casually spouted. I should have listened to Mom when I was a kid, and not delighted in my ability to lie to the fae. Or maybe I just shouldn’t have casually lied 80% of the time whenever I was with the other monarchs.
I felt lightheaded in a twisted combination of relief and deep disappointment.
Rigel was right—had I ever really given him a reason to think I felt anything for him beyond friendship? Would he even believe me after the dramatic ways I’d carried on about him?
Wow, this feels like a really cruel ending to a children’s fable—and then they didn’t live happily ever after because he didn’t believe her since she was a lying-maccheater-pants.
Rigel picked up a pair of daggers and casually twirled them as I wandered up to his bed.
“Nice daggers,” I said.
“They’re actually Chinese butterfly swords—made for dual wielding.” Rigel held the swords up to inspect their thicker blades in the dim light. “Very effective against unarmored opponents.” He casually held them by their metal hand guard and twirled them twice with a twitch of his wrist.
“That’s…great.” I pulled on the hem of my sleeping shorts and sat down on his mattress.
Rigel watched me for a moment, then put his dagger-swords away. Wearing his black shirt and pants, he sat down on top of his covers, then smacked the area next to him. “Come on.”
I hesitated a second—I didn’t think snuggling up to my strictly off-limits hubby was going to change my feelings—but when he flipped on his side and stared at me, I gave in.
