Page 20 of Prince of the Sun

It’s tedious work, and after fifty pages of reading, I’ve learned nothing new. Though I do notice a grammatical error in one of the pieces of source material, which makes me snort. Maybe the elves aren’t so brilliant after all. Though it’s far more likely that the error came from the human editors.

“Bow and Heart, huh?” says a familiar voice, at once gravelly and song-like, behind me. “If you wanted a bedtime story, Kallister, you should have just asked.”

I startle, twisting around in my chair, and there he is—Daerios, dressed in his usual grey cloak, leather satchel hanging from one shoulder, face partly obscured by shadows cast by the stacks.

“What do you want?” I ask.

“It’s nice to see you, too, date. Who says I want something?”

“Well, you’ve come to my typical place of study, which is a far cry from the high ceilings of Loker Reading Room. You must havesomereason to stoop to such…humanlevels.”

He steps toward me, moving out of the shadow. Revealing the sharp curve of his mouth. “Maybe I like it up here.”

I snort. “That’s like saying you prefer the Marriott over the Ritz.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Your royal ass has never stayed anywhere with less than five stars.”

“You clearly don’t know what it’s like to sleep outdoors in Elaërion. Although.” He leans over my shoulder, running a thumb over the history books sprawled across the carrel. A shiver rolls down my spine, as if it was me he’d touched, not the book. “It appears you want to find out.” He glances down at me, grinning. “Trying to learn more about me, Kallister? I wasn’t aware you cared.”

“I don’t,” I say, cheeks burning. I slam the book shut, nearly flattening his long fingers. “It’s for a class.”

“Right.” He smirks, withdrawing his hand. “A class.”

“What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I came to discuss logistics for Friday night,” he says. “The party starts at eight. I can pick you up at your dorm—”

“You can pick me up in the Quincy Courtyard,” I counter, thinking about the mess of clothing on my bedroom floor. Not to mention that the idea of Daerios coming that close to my bed does something rather disturbing to my stomach.

The prince’s eyes flash with amusement. “Very well.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, the dress code is formal, so don’t show up in sweatpants.”

I roll my eyes. “Wasn’t planning on it. Do I need to buy fullelvish regalia, or will a human dress be enough?”

“You in a dress is more than enough.”

Something about the way he says it makes my face feel hot.

I look down at the desk. “Will that be all?”

A short pause, then Daerios says, “That will be all.” I glance up just as he backs away. “And next time, Kallister, come find me in Loker.” Silver eyes shine as he dissolves into the stacks. “It’s about time you come out of the shadows.”

Two hours later, I’m packing up my things when my phone buzzes on the desk. It’s face-down, so I flip it over and glance down at the screen.

It’s another unknown number. More spam. I’m about to slide the notification to clear it from my screen when I see what the message says.

UNKNOWN: So, do you already have a dress in mind?

Wait. What?

I narrow my eyes. Then I click the text, picking up my phone from the desk.

Sure enough, above this text is the message from several days earlier. The one telling me I’d won a grand prize. I hadn’t even read the whole thing before. I’d seen the preview, assumed it was a bot, and left it unopened in the depths of my messages.