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Normal? “Shut your filthy mouth.” Kaysar withdrew and tossed a dagger, too fast for another to track. The blade sank into his opponent’s shoulder, silencing further requests. Chantel would not be remembering her time with the male. He forbade it. “She’s perfect, just the way she is.”
“Thank you, Kaysar,” she said, humphing at Jareth the way he adored. “I happen to like myself just the way I am, too.”
With a bellow, the prince yanked the bloody dagger free.
She thanks me for defending her honor?
His chest clenched.
“You’ll pay for this,” Jareth snarled.
“Will I?” Glamara heating his throat, he called, “Ogres. Come.”
Insects went quiet, and the soft breeze died. What started as sporadic tremors quickly became a constant quake, every ogre in the vicinity rushing toward the clearing. A tree toppled as several of the massive brutes arrived.
“You will not kill Prince Jareth,” Kaysar said, the command hot enough to sizzle. “But you may do anything else to him if he attempts to enter the waterfall.” He smiled at his glaring foe before offering his elbow to a wide-eyed Chantel. “Allow me to show you the Dusklands, sweetling. There’s a marvelous oasis I’m keen to explore with you. The golden roses are lovely this century.”
She accepted without hesitation. “Golden roses, you say?”
He led her through the water, his self-assurance mounting with every step. All would be well. He would make sure of it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
COOKIE REMAINED AT Kaysar’s side as she emerged from the spray of water. The deluge did little to douse her fiery thoughts.
In a five-minute span, she’d gotten a Kaysar 101 crash course. The abuse he’d suffered was a thousand times worse than she’d imagined, and her heart broke for him. The raw agony she’d heard in his voice had devastated her. Now he sought retribution for all he’d lost. It was his right. But he’d hurt innocents to achieve it—could he, would he truly stop? There were ways to punish people who deserved it without harming those who didn’t. Already her mind whirled with an idea...
Was she ready to offer Kaysar her full trust? No. She’d meant what she’d told him. But she understood him better, and ditching him was no longer a long-or short-term goal. No, before she returned home, she planned to aid his vengeance, exactly as promised. Hador Frostline had a thorny green reckoning coming. But Jareth himself? She wasn’t sure. Was he a monster as Kaysar believed, or a halfway decent guy?
You’ll return to normal. As if Cookie wasn’t good enough in “as is” condition.
Maybe half monster, half decent guy?
Whatever. Kaysar seemed to like her better than ever. Maybe something would happen between them at some point, maybe it wouldn’t. She wasn’t putting sex back on the table or anything, but she wasn’t storing her casserole dish in another room, either. As long as she managed her expectations, enjoyed him with no deep commitments, they could maybe, probably, possibly do...other things.
She really, really wanted to do other things.
His kiss had been a shock. The intensity of it. The intensity of him. She shivered even as she heated. Her body hungered for his, desire simmering in her veins, ready to boil over every time he cranked up the heat.
Kaysar drew to a stop a few feet in front of the waterfall, and she wiped any lingering water droplets from her lashes. Oh, wow. Though she’d logged thousands of hours in every level of The Forest of Good and Evil, and the new terrain fit her expectations, the extreme change in scenery proved shocking.
She’d gone from a lush, sunlit paradise with vibrant colors to a wasteland filled with ghostly smoke that curled from a fire-scorched ground. A dark cloud lingered overhead. There were no trees or flowers here. No weeds, even. Mountains consumed the distance, a fortress carved into the side of the largest.
She and Kaysar poised at the edge of a floating rock. A gaping chasm of nothingness provided the sole path to flatlands.
A bloodstained garment tumbled between the two turfs.
“In my game, avatars cross the chasm on a cloud bridge, but I see no sign of any bridge,” she said, shocked by her calmness. “Oh, yes, and no big deal, but did you happen to notice what seems like millions of armored soldiers sitting atop centaurs, waiting on the flatlands, aiming arrows at us?” Each word contained a scooch more hysteria than the last. Her confidence in her abilities remained high, even though she’d changed into the pink dress, but she couldn’t pretend to be indestructible.
“I did notice,” Kaysar replied, unveiling a you’re-going-to-die-screaming smile to the waiting soldiers. His easy tone possessed the sharpest edge, meant to draw blood internally. If ever a voice could kill...
“I have no plans to harm you, King Kaysar, as long as you cooperate.” The statement boomed from the army ranks. A rough, husky timbre with a slight accent. The leader? “And do not think to sing your song to madden us as you have done to so many others. There is but a single hearer here. I made sure of it.”
