“We were just taking a walk!” he blurted, but it wasalready clear to me now. His messy hair. The shared glow of sweat on their brows. The tangled way Raena’s corset strings had been laced as if she’d had to throw it on in a hurry…
“That’s foul,” Arenn scoffed, but no one cared for his opinion.
“A walk, huh?” I laughed, swatting Raena’s shoulder. Soon, everyone was chuckling, apart from Erik, who seemed unable to look anyone in their eyes, and Arenn, who remained grumbling into the floor.
“Really, nothing happened. This all has an innocent explanation,” Erik mumbled.
“It’s fine, Erik,” Raena giggled. “I don’t mind if my friends know. Besides, if I hadn’t looked so enticing in my new gown and youhadbeen able to resist my charms,” she fluttered her lashes, “then we wouldn’t have been able to save the day so valiantly. They should be thanking you for not being able to keep your hands off me.” She laughed.
Erik shot Lukas a nervous look. “Please, Your Majesty. I never meant to defile the innocence of one of your court’s good ladies. I would never—”
“You can spare the apologies, Erik,” Lukas cut him off, shaking his head. “Like the lady said, we should be thanking you. Both of you.” He dipped his chin towards Raena. “I shall make sure my soon-to-be wife reminds me never to get on your bad side.”
Warm flutters fizzled inside me as his arm curled around my waist. Leaning into him, I smiled until another groan from Arenn forced my attention away.
“What shall we do with him, then?” Erik asked, jerking his chin towards the faery.
Lukas sighed gruffly. “We’ll just drag him back to the palace.” But before he could grab any legs, I held my arm out to stop him.
“I think I have a better idea.” My eyes glittered. “Ivy, do you still have that scalpel?”
CHAPTER 34
“You won’t kill me,” Arenn huffed. His magicless body strained beneath Lukas’s weight as he pinned down his arms, while Erik sat on his legs. Around us, the tropical garden stayed peaceful, free of any flying vines or deadly thorns. I’d have to invest in one of those iron cuffs – without his magic, Arenn was completely harmless.
Then again his screeching as the two men forced him down had been quite painful on the ears.
“You’re right. I won’t kill you,” I told him, kneeling by his left arm as Ivy took her place beside me. “But this might hurt. Quite a bit.”
Arenn stared at me, confusion pulling at his features.“What are you scheming, human?”
Testing a theory. Ignoring the prince, I held out my scalpel. “Could I have some of your cleansing solution please, Ivy?”
Ivy reached into the pockets of her gown and pulled out a small bottle. After dousing the scalpel in clear liquid, she handed the now half-full bottle to me.
“What’s that for?” Lukas tilted his head.
“Sterilising to prevent infection,” I explained, pouring the rest onto Arenn’s wrist. The crystals embedded in his skin glittered in the bright sunlight.
“Sterilising…” Lukas mumbled to himself.
Ivy and I shared a knowing smile.
“What are you doing, human?” Arenn writhed against us. “Tell me!” His voice cracked with panic.
Steadying my breath, I lowered the scalpel to his skin. “Hold him still,” I said to Lukas. “When I tried this on myself, it felt so awful I could barely breathe.” I also nearly died after collapsing mid-cut, but there was no point dwelling in the details. Arenn had told me once before that a faery bond could be broken with someone else’s love. But he’d never said anything about using a scalpel.
And with visions of a sickly Raphael flooding my mind, I was in the mood to experiment.
“Cutting in now,” I warned, bringing the blade to his skin. At least I could be sure that the bond had been severed on my end if I didn’t feel pain from this cut.
“Naria, stop. Please,” Arenn begged. Blood trickled down his arm, forming little beads as it pooled around the crystals. I grinned at the lack of pain in my own wrist.
“Please,” he rasped. “This won’t work like you think. It won’t help us. It—” His gaze turned blank the moment my scalpel tapped the crystal.
“Arenn?” I paused. A warm breeze brushed the hairs from my face. Glancing nervously at Ivy, I dug the scalpel in further.
That was when the screaming started.
