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“It is common among immortal nobility.”
His gaze swept over her, lingering on the thrum of her pulse, and Faye wondered if he was thinking of biting her. Images of the woman she’d seen at the Hunter’s moon ball entered her mind. She was seated on her vampire’s lap with his mouth pressed to her neck. The way her nails scratched over the dark material of his suit as he drank.
Faye averted her gaze to stare at the twilight sky as her cheeks heated. “It sounds like you were kept very busy,” she said in a rush, grasping for a safer subject to cool her blush. She focused on her new information. Faye only spoke common tongue; she couldn’t imagine how long it would take her to learn so many languages.
When her gaze returned to him, Faye found him observing her. A whisper of darkening shadow crept from the corner of his eyes. “My upbringing differed from a typical dark court.”
Because he belonged to the darkest court in history. Did he even have a childhood? “And you would subject your children to the same training you received?”
He exhaled. A thing she noticed he did when frustrated. “Any young I sire will be none of your concern.”
Faye recoiled at the word. He considered Anarians animals but referred to children as young. She pushed the thought away. They couldn’t be more at odds. “Why did you learn High Tongue first? Is there a listed order of languages the immortal nobles learn?”
“It was my mother’s native tongue.”
Faye’s chest tightened at how sadness tinged his words. She bit the inside of her lip, repressing the urge to comfort him. This arrogant dick kidnapped her. Actively searched her mind so he could be rid of her. He didn’t deserve her comfort.
She turned to his bookshelves, smoothing her hand over the side of her neck. Refusing the soft feelings in her that wanted to curl up to him.
Silence stretched between them, and Faye settled into the longing he only offered her when he was in her mind. This other part of him that desired her. It didn’t look for the shard she lacked or begrudge her mortality. It accepted her without hesitation.
The man left her conflicted. He longed for her during these short moments, a yearning so deep it made her heart bleed. But in the flesh, nothing remained. She would have thought she imagined it, but the intensity of his desire was undeniable.
Faye silently wondered if he was a jailor to the part of him that desired her. Locking it away the same way he sequestered her until he found a way to break the bond between them.
How would the Shadow Prince react when he finally realized he couldn’t find the spell binding him to her because the thread connecting them was fate.
Chapter twenty-eight
Thedayspassedquickly,and Faye adhered to her schedule, spending two hours with Rune each day. But the man never fully used his time. He’d leave seemingly frustrated after an hour. Which worked for her. It gave her more time to read.
Faye curled under a blanket on a chaise, reading her latest romance book. Her sister sprawled in an oversized chair. Her head and legs laid over the armrests with a book of her own
“I thought it would take you longer to get him to eat out of your hand,” Sparrow remarked, turning her page.
Faye closed her book on her finger and turned toward her sister. “He’s not eating out of my hand.” In the last week, Faye graduated from playing with her hair to draw his attention to giving Rune a glimpse of the very tops of her breasts with square neckline shirts.
She smiled to herself. Every time she fidgeted with the top seam his veined misted shadows crept from beneath his eyes. Affecting him gave her a heady feeling of power she hated to admit was as thrilling as it was addictive.
Sparrow arched up, pulling the pillow she’d been laying on free. “He bought you a fucking library,” she said, hurling the cushion at her.
Faye tucked her head behind her arms with a laugh. “He didn’t buy it,” Faye insisted, returning to her book. “This room was already here.”
“Filled with books you like.” Sparrow mumbled.
He did restock it. “He said it was overdue for an update.”
“You’re overdue to make out with him.”
Faye returned to her book, saying quietly, “He hasn’t tried to kiss me.”
“What?” Her sister swung her legs and sat up. “I thought I heard you say something, not boring.” Faye could feel her sister’s gaze burning into the side of her face. “Do you want him to try to kiss you because that’s a whole other game.”
“He won’t.”
“I bet his ass will.”
Faye lowered her book and stared up at the ceiling. He seemed to forget himself at times. She still thought of him wet, and shirtless, standing in the doorway as he leaned closer to her.
