I did have concerns, though. Who fell in love with a fae prince and then left him?
Gettingout of the carriage was a hell of a lot easier than dismounting a horse and, though my ass was a little numb, my hips were still connected to the rest of me. I might be a carriage kind of traveler going forward.
Everyone seemed to be dispersing, some people even riding away. Badru was one of them, as well as Lady Lennon and a man I assumed was her husband who had ridden along side the carriage. Maybe they had things they needed to catch up on? Every moment I’d been here had been an interruption, so I didn’tbother saying anything about talking through what we knew now. They had lives to get back to.
Talking to Flurry, though…
I hurried over to catch up to him as he stalked into the palace. He must’ve heard me clomping after him because he looked over his shoulder and then the wings came out. I lunged, grabbed his arm, hoped no one with a spear saw, and hauled him into an alcove with a stained glass window of pink and blue flowers.
With a mulish look on his face, he easily wrenched his arm free of my grip. I held up both hands.
“Look, I know I’m probably doing everything wrong, but I don’t mean to. If you can just tell me what’s okay and what isn’t, I’ll do better.”
“Don’t accost me for one.”
“Right, sure, but you were about to flutter away, so?—”
“Flutter?” he said, aghast.
“—I needed to stop you because we need to talk.”
Somehow, he managed to look up at me while also looking down his nose at me. It might’ve singed my eyebrows off if he’d been taller than me but as it was, he just looked like a cute little grouch.
I smoothed my hand down his arm and tried to coax his fist into unclenching. “Come on. Talk to me.”
His hand seemed to open involuntarily, and then he stepped back and bumped into the wall. Not looking at me anymore, he said, “Many males have offered themselves to me to forge alliances or curry favor.”
Well, that was not where I’d thought this might go. “You think that’s why I want to be with you?”
“Isn’t it?”
I tipped his chin up so he’d look at me. “No.”
He didn’t believe me.
I cupped his cheek. “Flurry, Ilikeyou. You’re prickly and frustratingsometimes,” I hastened to add when he glared at me, “but I couldn’t stop thinking about you even before I got you naked.” I took a chance and planted my hand on the wall behind him, flexing my forearm when he looked at it. “Ask me what’s occupying my thoughts now,” I said with a little extra rumble. “I’ll give you a hint… It’s not your throne.”
His lips parted and his breath came faster. I leaned in and gently kissed him. A tiny breathless sound left him before he pushed up and kissed me back. I opened for him, giving him a moan, and shivered when he hopped up and wrapped his legs around me. Grinding against him, I pressed him to the wall and fought with him to own the kiss.
But then I heard the clink of metal on stone and a whooshing noise. We broke apart at the same time, both of us looking toward the hall. There was a literal curtain hanging from a rod beside us, two sets of hands holding it up. I couldn’t see who, but they had on the white gloves of staff members.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
“It’s…” he cleared his throat. “It’s for privacy.”
“So we can keep…” I widened my eyes and nodded between us.
He covered his eyes and nodded, his face bright pink.
I snorted. “So they’ll just stand there while we?—”
He covered my mouth with his hand and hid his facein my neck. I licked his palm. He sat up with a frown and wiped his hand on my shoulder. Which was kinda funny since there was a lot of him that I wanted to lick and I knew he was going to enjoy that.
“Please escort us to my chambers,” he said and pushed at me until I set him down. He fixed his clothes, adjusted himself—gave me a look that said I shouldn’t mention that—and then stepped out of the alcove.
I didn’t bother with any adjustments, and was immediately enveloped in the curtain. They wrapped it around behind us so that it was only open in the front, letting us walk forward. It was like being inside an old-fashioned shower or a tiny changing room in a boutique. I wanted to laugh at the fact that we were going up to his room to fuck and literally everyone would know because we were inside this privacy bubble, but instead I just followed Flurry’s little ass to our destination.
Chapter 8
