Page 139 of A Requiem of Fire and Ice

I hate this.

Tears streak down my cheeks. Sniffing, I wipe at them, and across my vision, a shadowed figure creeps toward my cell. As I lift my head, he comes into focus with his hands behind his back. His red eyes glow, but there’s now a wall between us since tethering, and I am scared it is something we can’t fix.

“Prince Reen,” I say.

He twitches a smile. A flutter of lightness hits my heart before his smile falters because we don’t know whose emotions are whose. This is a complex situation I need to learn more about, or I may need to start it from now on.

“I came to let you out,” he says.

I arch a brow. “Aren’t you nice? Did King Walkyer grill you?”

He crouches by the bars. “I was always going to let you out, but I needed to calm you down first.”

“I am calm.”

Reen gives me a level look. “Before I let you out, I need you to agree to my terms.”

And here it is. An endless list of shit I can’t do anymore. “What?”

“And if you agree, you can have this,” Reen reveals what he had behind his back, causing my brow to arch at the slice of chocolate cake.

He’s fucking with me, right? Fucking cake?

No, Reen’s not screwing with me. His eyes narrow, and weird swirling emotions I can’t pinpoint move through me. I don’t know what, but it’s there, sickly and a strange funk.

“And if I refuse?”

“You won’t leave the cell until you do.” He smirks.

“What then?”

“Three years. You are to stay here for three years, train, learn, and understand how to protect yourself with your elemny abilities. You can leave when not only Walkyer but also Alad, I, Astin, Ziri, Ri, and Alek deem you powerful enough to defend yourself.”

Three years. It sounds like a damn lifetime, especially if I’m trapped in these walls and can’t do anything.

I eye the cake in his hands and then at him. “Whatever. Get me the fuck out of here.”

Reen puts the cake down on my side of the cell. “Eat it first so that I know you agree.”

Pushing up from the wall, I stand on the other side of the bars, grab the plate, sink the fork in and shove the—fuck, that tastes good. Sweet, bitter, silky, grainy, and moist. Is this what cake tastes like?

My eyes widen, and I stare at Reen, who is staring at me with a softened look on his face. He goes into his pants, hooks the key around his finger and slides it into the door. Once it’s unlocked and moves to the right, I take a deep breath. Counting my steps, when I pass him, I spin rapidly, rip the keys from him, shove Reen until he stumbles into the cell and then slide it until it locks. “Fuck you, Reen!” I spit.

He rests his arms above his head and on the iron bars and sighs. “You are really getting on my last nerve, Pandora.”

“Your last nerve!” I shout. “You locked me in a cell for two days like a fucking animal!” A giggle escapes my lips. “I’d like to see you get the fuck out of there now. Suffer like I had suffered all…” Flames coil around Reen, and he moves through the iron bars in a flurry of black fire with a brush of wind. A sinister, downright grin broadens on his face, and the hunger glows in his eyes when they settle on me. My eyes widen. “Oh, fuck me dead.”

I drop the plate with the cake and run down the darkly lit hall. Deep laughter echoes from behind me, and the manic episode of Reen comes to life as the hunter. But for some sick and twisted reason, a flutter, either mine or his, stirs in my chest as he chases me. It reminds me of sneaking through the corridors at the function.

Light seeps near the stairs leading up. A wide smile reaches my face at the thought of escaping when heat swarms me like a hive of wasps, and I slam against the wall. Reen comes into focus, grabbing my hands, lifting them over my head and pinning them against the stone wall. His knee presses between my legs, and I gasp when he lifts me off my feet until I am at eye level with the devil.

My breath hitches when he leans into me. A stir of lust squirms between my legs, and I have to suppress the urge to wiggle and let the friction of his knee rub against my clit.

“I felt your excitement,” he says, a breath away from my lips. “At least, I hope it is yours.”

I stare longingly at his lips. “Yes.”

A smirk settles across his mouth. “Then I have another deal for you. One that will entice you not to fucking run every second of the day.”