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Then, without warning, he presses his lips against mine.

Flinching, I squeak in surprise until his arm curls possessively around my waist and I soften. A desperate moan slips past my lips, catching me off guard, but any embarrassment leaves me the moment his tongue finds mine. He tastes so sweet, like a tray of sugary buns.

I run my hands down his chest, wanting more, even if I’m not sure what ‘more’ actually is.

“I wish I could take you now,” he pants against my lips, “but there are things I must do first.”

“Like prepare for the actual proposal,” I giggle.

His eyes glint before he kisses me again, harder. “Of course. Tomorrow you will have the prettiest proposal a human girl could ever wish for.”

Barely listening, I smile while he pulls away. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he says, pressing a quick kiss against my hand. “You’re welcome to stay here tonight, although I can’t guarantee that I will not kiss you again when I return.”

“I think I’d like that,” I reply, my mind bursting with glittering engagement rings.

Lux grins before heading towards the door.

I glance at his shirt, a crumpled heap on the bed. “Wait,” I call out to him, but he’s already gone.

He’s probably just as mushy-brained as me right now.

With a laugh, I reach for the shirt, ready to follow him outside. But the second I touch the fabric, my magic gift makes me gasp.

Powerful need courses through me, forcing me to the floor. I hear a distant surprised meow, but I can’t see Maxine or anything else in the room anymore. All I can focus on is the furious lust pulsing through my veins.

But it’s more than lust. It’s nothing like the warmth I was feeling as Lux wrapped his hand around my waist. This is urgent and all-consuming. It’s like an obsession.

Forcing myself to loosen my grip on his shirt, the lust clears a little to reveal a very different emotion. It’s barely there but I can still feel it.

Something angry and yet satisfying. Vengeance?

I let out a cry as I throw his shirt across the room. The few times I practised my gift on clothes left in my sisters’ rooms, I never came close to feeling like that.

Even the gown my ankle brushed at Castor’s party didn’t feel anywhere near as powerful.

When Maxine drops to the floor beside me, I nearly jump out of my skin. She rubs her long fur against my arm, purring, but I don’t stay and give her the attention she wants.

With shaking legs, I hurry out of the room.

I need to talk to someone about what I just felt and why Lux would possibly be feeling like that moments before he kissed me.

Meera will know what to do. I hug my arms over my chest.

And if she doesn’t, then she can take me away from here and together we can find someone who does.

14

EDEN

Meera was not in my bedchamber. Neither was she in the servants’ quarters or standing outside in the hall. Even Phillion is nowhere to be found. I spend over an hour searching for them both before I give up and flop onto my bed.

The more I think about how I felt when I picked up Lux’s shirt, the more I wonder if perhaps I’m just overreacting again. There’s nothing wrong with feeling lustful about someone, and you can’t exactly control your emotions. Maybe Lux just really, really likes me, and maybe the other feeling I felt was related to something else.

Maybe something else happened after I left the ball, or maybe I’ve misunderstood this completely.

Either way, there’s no point doing anything other than sleeping. My conversation with Meera can wait until tomorrow.

So with a heavy exhale, I let myself sink into my floral bedsheets.