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I cocked a brow and looked around at the tiny room again. "Are you crazy? Only a gremlyn would think this was a large space — even with a mirror."
"How about this?" He let out a soft breath and lifted a hand to his chest. "I swear on my mother's life that I will behave in this room."
"Do you even have a mother?"
His eyes widened. "Of course! And a sister, and a brother, as a matter of fact." His hand dropped. "Though I'm not sure how much good it does to swear on someone you don't know or like …"
I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, but no matter what or who you swear on, the answer is still no."
"Look." He tugged on his earlobe, face going serious. "I'll be honest. I don't want to bunk with you, either. My charisma is already low, and sharing this room with you would hinder my chances at replenishing it with a human aboard. But you saw how the Fae treated me. Do you honestly think I could even find somewhere else on this ship?"
"Yes!" I said, flinging my hand toward the door. "With one of those humans you were just saying you'd fuck! Go charm one of them into sharing their room with you."
His jaw dropped. "You want me to try to charm … saints. You really are ruthless. And you don't even get how it works." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Just so you know, I do have principles. I may flirt and tease, but I could never and would never charm someone into doing something they didn't already want to do. Ever."
I gestured toward the bed. "Yet you're okay with forcing me to sleep next to you?!"
He put up his hands. "That's not what's happening here. This room is as much mine as it is yours. And as I already stated, I will respect the divide."
Gods. He seemed sincere … but I could just imagine Lynn winking and gossiping back home. And there's no way I'd be able to sleep with him snoring beside me! Then we'd be completely fucked on the mission.
I couldn't do it. Nope. No way.
If only he hadn't made it past the fucking steward.
The steward!
"Use the letter!" I pointed at his pack. "The one from the kings. You can use it to force someone to give you their room before the ship leaves port. Then you wouldn't be using your charisma to manipulate them, they'd get on the next ship, and you'd have a room!"
Jaiel inhaled sharply and his brows lifted.
"Come on, Princess. I'm only supposed to use that in extreme situations. And you know it's wrong to steal a room from an innocent person just because you want a whole GIANT bed to yourself!"
Crossing my arms, I shook my head. "It's more than that. We both know you won't be much help on the mission. How am I supposed to keep us alive if I can't sleep?"
"That doesn't even make any sense!" His jaw pulsed and he let out a frustrated sigh as he looked from me to the door, then grit his teeth. "You know what? No. I'm done arguing. You're right. I WILL use the letter."
He pulled his pack from his shoulders and began rummaging inside.
I let out a relieved sigh. Thank the Gods! He was finally seeing reason —
"Kaiya Maderoth." He pressed the letter into my chest, eyes steely. "By order of the Three Kings, I am taking the side of the bed that is rightfully mine. AND you will NOT stop me. And don't even think about punching, stabbing or otherwise injuring me unless I break my promise and cross into your space, which I hereby swear NOT to do."
I stood there, mouth agape, as he shook his head, then stuffed the letter back into his pack. "So fucking stubborn …"
"You know I'm going to ignore that, right?" I hissed.
"I don't care," he snapped as he shouldered the bag, then squeezed in next to me at the foot of the bed. "This is now my half of the bed. I'd appreciate some space."
I tried to step away, but between Jaiel and that damn bed, there wasn't anywhere to go.
"Oh," he continued, turning to look down at me, those blue eyes flashing. "And while I'm at it … I'll have you know, I'm a fucking fantastic agent. Something you'd see if you could stop looking down your nose long enough to actually see me."
I scoffed.
"I hate to break it to you." I stood on my toes to close the distance between us. "But you're about as good an agent as I am a gremlyn, and everyone knows it. What have you even done in the past two years other than fuck and woo those damn aristocrats?"
I leaned forward so our noses almost met. "Even in Gleyma, where you claim to have saved me, it looked a lot more like your 'curse' did the work instead of you." I let my gaze rake over him with a sneer. "No, Prince Kierstall, your ONLY value is fucking whoever the Empire points you at. Meanwhile, I, and the other actual agents out there, are risking our asses every day to stop events like Gleyma and Karemi from happening again."
