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“Do you want me to answer that?”
“I never ask a question I don’t want the answer to. ”
I laughed coarsely. “I doubt you’d say that if people were always honest with you. ”
Aubrey’s grip on my waist tightened, pulling me closer to him. “Why don’t you let me get used to your honesty, and we’ll take it from there?”
“You asked for it,” I warned.
“I did. ”
“Overlooking what you did to me and Holden in the bedroom just now, I came here with an already negative view of your court. ”
“How so?” He spun me out, then twisted me back into a half dip, cradling my back and dropping himself into a kneel so we were close to the tiled floor. Standing, we resumed the standard waltz steps.
“One of your people is killing in my territory. ”
“There are fae in your world who do not listen to the rules of mine,” he replied.
“No. There is a pure-blood fairy stealing aura energy from teenagers and leaving them dead. ” I thought using the plural would hold more weight rather than telling him only one boy had died. “So you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t come here with the best opinions of you and your people. ”
He stopped, still holding me but no longer dancing. “Are you certain?”
“Yes. I don’t accuse people—or fairies—of murder, unless I’m sure. But people are starting to point fingers. And they’re pointing them at Calliope. ”
“Calliope?”
“She’s the center of some very unwanted attention right now,” I explained, laying on the guilt as thick as I could.
“I’m sorry. If there’s anything I can do…”
Either one of the firefly lights had flown over me, or a metaphorical light bulb had gone off above my head. “There is something you can do. ” I wasn’t about to endear myself to Aubrey, but at this point I didn’t care. “You control all those in your court, don’t you?”
“I do,” he answered cautiously.
“Then promise me none of them will ever kill in my territory again. ”
Aubrey’s hand twitched on my back, and his perfect smile faltered. “A second promise?”
“You did say if there was anything you can do. This is it. And if you really have control over your people, you should be able to keep this promise without trying. ” Batting my eyelashes innocently, I swayed into the next step of the dance, claiming the lead but making it look like he was still in control.
“You know how to push the boundaries of my hospitality, Miss McQueen. ”
“Oh, was this you being hospitable?” I cocked my head to the side and gave a look that said, Let’s not kid ourselves.
Aubrey squeezed my hand and reclaimed the lead, dancing us back to where we started. Before letting me go he stopped and stared at me a long time, and there was nothing friendly about his expression.
“I will make your promise, but you should understand something else. ”
“What’s that?”
“You haven’t begun to understand how hospitable I can be. ”
Chapter Thirty
Once Aubrey had melted back into the crowd, Holden and I were stuck in the ballroom with no obvious way to get back to our room. Not that I was in a massive rush to return if it was filled with Aubrey’s sex magic.
“Care to dance?” he asked.
