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Daven chuckled and pulled back, studying him. “You look happy. Did you have a good time with the guys?”
“Yeah. They’re nice.”
“What did you talk about?”
Ryneth let himself be guided back across campus while talking about the cat, the food, and how welcome he’d felt.
He didn’t mention it was his first time being invited to someone’s house. It was bad enough he had confessed that to Vandor, let alone to Daven.
Perhaps he would admit it one day, but that day was not today.
Then he glanced sideways at Daven. “How was your run?”
“Good.” Daven rolled his shoulders. “Cleared my head.” His eyes slid toward Ryneth. “Though I noticed you didn’t answer my message.”
Ryneth shrugged. “I didn’t think you needed an answer.”
Daven’s mouth curved slowly. He leaned closer, voice dropping into a low growl. “Next time you ignore me, aethera, I might have to punish you for it.”
Ryneth snorted, trying to ignore the way his stomach dipped at Daven’s words. He hated how much he liked it when the prince talked like that.
Like the world already belonged to them.
They crossed the last stretch of the path in silence.
When Daven finally opened the door to another building, Ryneth frowned. “Where are we? We don’t usually have class here?”
“I told you, I have a surprise for you.” Daven kissed his temple, then dragged his mouth to his ear and flicked his tongue against his earlobe. “If you can be a good boy and sit in class for four hours until I pick you up.”
A group of students climbed the steps, arguing about load ratios and something about tensile limits.
“That depends.” Ryneth blinked. “What is this?”
“Civil engineering.”
He turned slowly. “What?”
“Civil engineering.” Daven grinned, looking too fucking smug. “You told me you love construction. Helion builds more than glass towers. I guess they could use someone like you.”
Ryneth blinked. He had only said that this morning. How the hell had Daven already moved this fast?
“I can’t—”
“You can.” Daven stepped closer, his thumb brushing over Ryneth’s lower lip before sliding down to his chin. “But only if I find you here in four hours’ time. If you run, I’ll chase you down, bring you back home, and punish you for being a bad boy. Understand?”
Heat rushed through Ryneth’s body. “Punish me?”
Daven grinned. “Of course that’s the only thing you registered from what I said. Do you want me to punish you, baby?”
“Fuck,” Ryneth breathed when Daven found his hardened length and squeezed.
“Tell you what. If you stay here and give me a full debrief when we get home, I’ll reward you instead. And I promise you’ll prefer that.”
“Okay.”
“Good.” Daven’s gaze did not waver. “Four hours.”
“You’re serious.”
