Page 110 of A Requiem of Fire and Ice

I exhale an irritated breath and say, “You win.”

“I do.”

Placing the gun on the table, I turn to him and fold my arms across my chest. “What do you want from me?”

He smiles, eyes crinkling when he says, “I need a date for the twenty-sixth. All you need to do is dress up.”

I arch a brow. “That’s it?”

“Yes.” He dips his head, and when he looks up, glowing red eyes look at me, burning with curiosity. “What would you have requested if you had won?”

My face burns with heat. Prince Reen arches his chin, looking down at me with an unsettling smirk. “Now I am really intrigued. What has gotten you so red? From my recollection, I thought I said nothing sexual, but it seems your mind is…”

“Shut up,” I say through clenched teeth.

“No.”

Fuck me, Reen. Drop it. I’m confused enough!

He takes a step toward me, his finger tapping against his lips. “It wouldn’t be a fuck. At least, not yet. I doubt you want me to touch you, and you speak of my cock as if you fear it, so you don’t want to do anything to me. So…” He stands before me and looks down as I glare up at him. “A kiss.” Heat flushes down my neck. Prince Reen breathes a laugh, catching me in what I subconsciously want. “Pandora,” he says as his arms cage around me until they remind me of iron bars, “we have known each other for five days, and you’re already this hot and bothered over someone who wants to kill you.”

“Shut. Up.”

“Fine.” He leans in swiftly, and his mouth crushes against mine with such intensity and heat that the clothes I wear feel uncomfortable on my body. The silk of his tongue wraps mine in warmth, smoke, and the taste of crimson he has spilled over the years. Heat pulses to the surface, tingling until my clit is desperate for his touch—the touch of the enemy.

My hands move before my brain can process it. Wrapping around his shoulders, my fingers lace through his soft, red hair. His hands that cage me move to my hips, pulling me into him, stroking across my waist, touching my...

I break away from the kiss as fast as it came. Short, panting breaths break through my mouth, erratic and making it harder to breathe. And I’m the only one. Prince Reen’s chest rises and falls steadily, and while I’m hot and bothered, his level look tells me he is in control of his actions.

“Sorry,” I say, and my hand touches my waist, digging into the fabric of the shirt. “I’m just a little conflicted.”

“Are you torn between two, or are you scared?” he says as he takes a step away and gives me more breathing room. “If I weren’t daring and touched near your scars, you wouldn’t have stopped, would you?”

Turning away from him, I glare at the paper cutouts. “I don’t…” I bite my bottom lip until I taste rusty iron. “I don’t like my body, Reen. Never have. It’s tainted by all the hands that have touched me, so…”

Prince Reen folds his arms across his chest and grimaces. “Then we can go slow until you can love yourself again.”

I glare at him. “And you? What’s this for you? To get into my fucking pants?”

He takes another step toward me until the heat penetrating from him tingles against my exposed skin. “If I wanted to get into your pants, I could whenever I want, Pandora. What I am suggesting is that we explore why we feel so heated toward each other.”

“Does this change anything?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t love you, Pandora. I don’t fucking know how. And if by chance you and my brother were in danger, I’d hate myself because, for the first time in my life, I would choose you over protecting the crown.”

“Then why not let me leave?”

A smile reaches his face, but it doesn’t touch his eyes. “You killed my mother. No matter how you slice it, I can never fucking forgive you for taking the most important elemny out of my life, regardless of your reasoning. Besides, I can’t help the urge to hunt and kill you. It’s why we will never fuck. You will die.”

I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry about your mother. I wish she weren’t tethered to King Ragan.” He doesn’t say a word, and so I keep going. “Let’s do this, then. This is only a fling before we kill each other.”

“Exactly.”

“What do we do now?”