“Foryou.” Fists on my hips, I cling to my petulance even though I’m immensely flattered. And feel the same about him. “Duke Cernunnos rejected me.”
“I don’t think that had very much to do with you.”
“That’s precisely my point!”
I toss a finger in his face, and he wraps a fist around it, looking very much like he wants to smile but is trying to stay serious in what I have clearly deemed an argument.
“His Grace will come around. Desmond is working on him.”
I pull away, frustrated. “Even if he agrees, what does it matter? I’ll fail with him as I have with Duke Áine. Before I came here, I thought my future was guaranteed. I had no need to beguile anyone. And now my life, the entire Otherworld’s peace, and your future all depend on my doing so. I am not prepared for this. I am desperately out of practice.”
My bottom lip quivers, and tears threaten to spill over my lashes. The only sound in the room is thedrip, drip, dripof my wet hair upon the floor.
A silent stand-off stretches, me with my arms crossed over my chest, him with his large hands braced on his waist. Even those cuts of muscle thatVinto his trousers cannot lift my despair. Well, notallthe way.
This time, he’s the one to break the silence.
“Use me.”
I blink, my tears dissolving, and stand up a little straighter. “What?”
He searches my face, examining every nuance. He could so easily slip into my mind, unearth my secret desires. The fact that he won’t makes me trust him even more than I already do. “You said you’re out of practice. My duty is to serve you. Useme.”
“Use you … how?”
He shrugs, though there is nothing nonchalant about it. “However you’d like. You want to learn how to seduce powerfulfaerie men? I am a powerful faerie man—with a storied history of seduction, as I’ve been told you now know.”
I flush. Aowen really is the most terrible gossip. “I’m sorry, I should have waited for you to?—”
“I’m not ashamed of my past.”
“I do not want to burden you.”
Lachlan bites his lip ring, his eyes roving down my body.Finally. “Trust me, it would be no burden.”
“Cad,” I chuckle, half-heartedly swatting at him though my heart is leaping. “But wouldn’t you feel like I’m taking advantage of you? Like your clients did.”
His brows crinkle. “My clients didn’t take advantage of me. They paid me for a service. One I was happy to provide. Besides, you’re not a client. You can’t afford me.” I want to be affronted, but he’s probably not wrong. “Consider this a gift to secure your and Desmond’s future.”
And there it is. Of course that’s why he’s offering to help me. For his duke. To ensure his own next chapter. For a second, I had thought … I curl a wet strand around my finger. “And whataboutDesmond? Would he be upset if I?—”
“Started cavorting with his knight?”
“Hisfriend.”
Lachlan sighs, breaking eye contact to stare at the wall. “Desmond and I … what we are to each other … It’s hard to call someone a friend when they control your life choices.” He turns back. “And Des is very expansive with his affections. I can assure you he’s not saving himself for your marriage bed. Why should you?”
It’s so tempting to agree with him. And mostly, I do. I’m just not convinced the other dukes would. God, if any of them ever found out … I can’t put Lachlan in that kind of danger.
“Thank you. So much. You’re very kind. But … I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
He nods, resigned. Maybe a touch disappointed. But he doesn’t try to persuade me. All he does is bow slightly at the waist, the shardlights glinting off his piercings. “Sleep well, Your Majesty.”
I flee to my bedchamber without another word, cheeks hot, body aflame.
And stay up all night wondering whether I’ve just made the stupidest decision of my life.
Chapter
