Claim me.
I am nothing but willing and eager. My knees fall open, revealing my slick entrance, and his gaze goes feral with hunger.
He’s going to have me.Something I have dreamed of, longed for. Will it break his curse to make love to me like this here? Will it free Winter and restore his magic?
Trying to fight through this haze of fog andneed, I shut my eyes. I will not have him like this, not until I know he really wants me. If I don’t leave now, I don’t know how much longer my self-control will hold. I try to ground myself in my bed, thinking of the smell of flowers and stone, the soft sheets. Try to think of something far, far away from the cold, away from my mate.
I open my eyes just as he’s about to descend on me. “I’m sorry, Kel.” And then I’m falling. Sheets and pillows tumble around me. With a jolt, I sit up.
I’m in a dark room, my chambers in the Spring Realm. My skin is still feverish and, without Kel’s touch, the ache in my body returns. And strangely enough, my dress is still ripped, panties gone. My core throbs, the scent of pine still lingering over me. But I wasn’t really there, was I?
Something blooms in my chest, light and sparkly. A shadow moves in the corner of my room. For a moment, I wonder if somehow Kel came here with me.
“Farron?” I ask breathily.
“No.” The darkness wavers, then the Prince of Thorns staggers out of the shadows.
35
Rosalina
“What are you doing here?” I gasp, pulling my ripped dress over my exposed breast.
Caspian doesn’t reply. He only staggers and grips on to the bed’s banister as if it’s the only thing keeping him upright. The loose strands of dark hair shadowing his face make him look utterly disheveled. He wears an oversized tunic, laces undone to show most of his chest, and tight breeches. And curiously, no shoes.
“What are you doing here?” I ask again, still fighting for control of my voice. The incessant heat refuses to leave even without Kel’s presence.
“I—” His voice is a broken rasp, and in the shadows, I can’t see the flecks of purple in his eyes. They’re only black.
“I’m not giving back your book,” I spit.
A low, dangerous laugh echoes from him. “I’m not here for the book.”
What is he here for then? I think of Kel’s sword, tucked protectively under my bed. Does he know it’s here? Blood pounds so fast in my ears I can’t hear my own thoughts. Caspian pushes himself off the bed post and the mattress sinks as he crawls on top of it.
As he crawls on tomybed.
I scramble back, hitting the headboard, drawing my knees up to my chest. “If you’re here for the payment of your bargain, remember I get to choose when and where.”
He laughs darkly. Then a thorn wraps around my ankle and drags me down until I’m flat on my back, legs spread, ripped dress awry. He places a hand on either side of my head. “So, choose now.”
Choose me,he purrs inside my mind.
I blink up at him, the soft full lips, thickly lashed eyes, all fixed in an utterly desperate expression.
“Caspian,” I whisper.
The effect of his name on my lips, travels through him like a current. His hands tighten into fists in the blanket.
He dips his head, lips traveling to my neck. A sharp jolt of pain courses through me as he presses his tongue into the mark Kel made. “Fulfill your bargain, Rosalina.”
“Not yet,” I say, but the words are only a breath. A half-formed thought.
I could use the thorns to push him away. I could reach out through my bond for Farron. I could call for help.
But I don’t.
Instead, I stay still. I let him crawl over me. Let him put his hand on my face and smooth the hair back.
