“You were protecting me,” he says.
“War is bad for business….”
“Horseshit. It’s the perfect time for a thief to reign. And your king would like nothing better than to cast the Blessed courts into chaos.” There’s a dangerous light in his eyes as he leans down. “You were protecting me. All you had to do was reveal the truth, and this year and a day of loyalty that so chafes at you would be gone. You know it. I know it.” He bares his teeth in a reckless smile. “So tell me, Mira, why didn’t you?”
“Is it so impossible to understand I don’t want to see you dead?”
“You could have cut my heart from my chest and used it to—”
That’s enough. I dart beneath his arm, spinning in a flourish of skirts. Keir whirls, every inch of him poised like a cat prepared to pounce.
“The fae are watching,” I point out.
“Let them watch.” He graces them with half a glance. Not to be distracted, not by something so inconsequential as a half dozen fae lords and their princes. “If I threw you over my shoulder and hauled you away to our rooms, nobody would think anything of it.”
“But if I drove my knee into your balls,” I reply sweetly, “then maybe they’d have something to talk about.”
Impossibly, he laughs. “You’re so fucking stubborn. Why can’t you just admit you care about me?”
The words catch behind my teeth. I liked him, of course. There was a part of me that could even imagine falling for him. Dreaming of him. Wishing there could be something between us….
But I never realized until this moment that I’d taken it quite that far just yet.
The heat steals from my cheeks.
It leaves me breathless, and a little off-balance.
No. Absolutely… no.
The smile slips from his face, his eyes widening just a fraction. “You didn’t know.”
“I didn’t…. I don’t….”
“Stop lying to yourself.” It’s like my words steal all his hard-won control. Hunger stares back at me, naked and demanding. He wants me. The dragon wants me. “It took me a long time to realize what you came to my court for. You knew the truth of what I was, the power in my heart…. All you had to do was breathe a word of it to your king, and I would be looking over my shoulder for wraith assassins. I was angry, Mira.” He prowls toward me. “So angry, when I realized your deception. Until the day I wondered why I hadn’t seen you again. What were you waiting for? What was holding you back from betraying me?” He stares down at me, an indecipherable look on his face. “And there is only one truth that can explain it: You couldn’t bring yourself to do it.”
It takes everything I have to tilt my chin defiantly. “I’m not an entirely wretched creature. Yes, I care. Sometimes I care too much. It’s always been my downfall. But the truth, Keir, is that it doesn’t change a cursed thing.”
“It changes everything.”
I snatch my hand back into a fist as he reaches for me, and if there’s a quiver in my voice, then so be it. “It changes nothing.” I shake my head. “You’re a dragon prince. You rule your own court. And I’m a wraith born bastard with a murderous… king who will never let me go. It wouldn’t—”
“What do you mean he won’t let you go?”
Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have said it. I wave the words away. “My oath of fealty is as heavy as a chain around my throat.” I give him a cruel smile. “You know what I can do, Keir. He’s never going to let me go free. He’s never going to give me up. I’m too important a tool for him to wield.” Pushing my hand against his chest, I head for the exit of the folly, desperately needing to fill my lungs with oxygen. I can’t breathe here, with him demanding more of me than I dare give. “Not even you can gainsay the whims of my king. So thank you. I’m flattered that you still find me intriguing enough to pursue, but we are done here.” I pause at the edge of the folly, hand resting against one of the stone columns as I glance back. One more time. “Business partners make bad bedfellows they say, and we both have our parts to play. I want to get my sister back. And you need the horn. So let me do my job and forget this foolishness.”
11
It’s almost as if he didn’t hear a word I said.
Keir fills my plate with all manner of bite-sized delicacies as we take our place at the banquet. He granted me a moment’s grace before he followed me from the folly, but there’s no escaping the heated look in his eyes.
This conversation is clearly not done.
Not even by half.
But I’ll play that game when it comes at me.
The enormous truncheon tables cover the lawn and groan beneath the weight of the food. Keir’s thigh presses against mine as he leans forward to slice more venison, and from the quirk of his lips he’s aware of it. A little shiver runs through me.
“You’re not tempting me,” I whisper in his ear as I sip my wine.
“Not even a little?”
“Not even an inch.”
“Liar,” he breathes, spearing some of the meat for me with his fork.
I stab his hand with my fork as he moves to put it on my plate, shooting him a sharp look. If he keeps this up, then everyone is going to wonder at his solicitousness. This is the kind of bullshit male fae get up to when they’re intending to claim a female.
A slow, dangerous smile curves over his lips and he simply dumps the meat on my plate, despite the white pressure marks my tines left behind.
I dare you, that smile says.
I tear my gaze away,
