Chapter 6
Hollistossedbackafinger of the smooth clear liquid called winter’s sin. Breicher used to drink it with him, but since he’d spent years in Everstal with the stuff out of his system, he had no tolerance. Evidence of that fact had his head swimming with the first pour. Hollis slammed the glass down on the table and reached for the bottle. He’d avoided his brother for two full days before he finally cornered him.
“When I saw her, I thought we were done, brother,” Hollis said. “You know they say your life flashes before your eyes? It’s nearly just like that.”
Was that what happened to his future bride when he drove the dagger under her ribs? No, she’d had enough wits about her to get his blood and curse him.
“Breicher, focus.” Hollis shoved another glass toward him. The brothers downed the liquid. “You really haven’t fucked her?”
“No,” he chuckled. “I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. You see her, right? She’s terrifying and clever too.” Breicher hiccupped.
Hollis’s rough hands wrapped around his jaw, giving him pats that felt more like slaps trying to hold his attention. “You almost sound like you like her?”
He shook his head in defiance. “Obviously not.”
Hollis huffed. “I can see the appeal. It’s just that if you fuck her—if you let her think she has any power over you—Breicher, if you fall for her,” he said, an angry edge lacing his voice, “it will be a betrayal of your family and your kingdom. It is up to us to do whatever we have to, to take Veetula back from that abomination.”
Breicher growled, his hackles raising.Shit.
“I was so close,” he said, hoping Hollis would take his instinctual defensiveness about Caroline for his desire for revenge.
Hollis patted him on the back in consolation. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her. And in the meantime, you go up to your room and I’ll send you a distraction.”
An hour later, Breicher was sprawled across his bed with his cock in his hand when a knock sounded at the door.Hollis’s distraction.His brother was going to get him killed. “Go away,” he yelled.
The knock sound again more insistently. “Fuck off, whoever you are. I don’t want whatever you’re offering.”
The handle turned, unlatching the pin, and a female strode into the room. No, an angel. Breicher blinked a few times to clear his vision, making a mental note not to let his brother pressure him into drinking winter’s sin with him again. “Go away, angel,” he growled.
“You think I’m an angel?” A silken voice tip-toed across his skin.Caroline.
Relief that made him immediately uneasy washed over him. What Hollis didn’t know was that she was already getting to him. Then he remembered he had his throbbing cock in his hand. He tried to suppress his embarrassment and stuff it back in his pants, when she said, “No need to stop on my account.”
He hesitated.
“Go ahead,” she continued. “I’d love to watch.”
His hand moved involuntarily, retreading the familiar motion as she crawled on the bed beside him for a better view. “Who did you think was at the door, Breicher?”
Gods, she asked it in such a sweet way he couldn’t help but let her voice warm his heated skin. “Someone Hollis sent. Someone that wasn’t you.” He shouldn’t be saying that. This was the exact betrayal his brother had been cautioning him against.
She gave a sultry chuckle. “Hollis doesn’t want us to be together. He’s wrong, you know,” she said, tracing a finger from her neck down to the satin trim curving over the swells of her breasts, fingering it idly.
“You should go,” he grumbled, but didn’t cease stroking. She was like a fantasy come to life.
Caroline took his other hand in hers and brought it up to her mouth. “You sure about that, Prince Breicher?” A second later, her hot tongue was flicking the pad of his finger, then it was sliding into her mouth. Right as she sucked, his balls seized and a sharp wave of pleasure rushed through him, spilling itself on his taut stomach. He’d been too quick, and she’d think him inexperienced, another reason to justify the embarrassment creeping up his neck.
When the tremors subsided, he looked up at the queen, whose eyes were heavy lidded. She moved to get off the bed. “What about you?” he asked, regretting it the moment he did.
“Some other time when you’re not drunk,” she said, walking back into the bedroom with a hand towel. Gently, she wiped the mess he’d made on his stomach away, then went and unlaced his boots, pulling them off like he’d done once for her.
“Agnes told me Hollis probably was getting you wasted, and you might be a bit of a lightweight.” She helped him get his pants down over his hips, then the covers up over them both.
“You’re staying?” he asked, unable to resist combing through her white locks, which spread across her pillow.
“It wouldn’t do if my future king died from alcohol poisoning before I crowned him, now, would it?” Caroline curled up on her side with her back facing him and in a few moments her breathing fell into the rhythm of sleep.
Hollis would kill him if he knew what just transpired. But in his inebriated state, he didn’t care. Her pretty face lacked all its usual tension. He wanted to hold her. Would she let him pull her close or wake and push him away? He envisioned himself as a hunter then. Slowly, he reached a hand under the covers toward her waist, like he’d catch her unaware and then she’d be happily nestled in his arms before she could protest. His fingers crept forward another few inches.
