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“I had a collection started for you in the library.”
I lift my head and look up at him from beneath my lashes.
His smile is small and teasing. “Perhaps I have some books from your old world stored away that I will provide you with.”
“Really?” My voice is a breathless whisper. “The old stories?”
“Some.” His smirk fades.
I suck in my lips for a beat. Then I exhale with a whooshing sound and look down between us. “Thanks.”
It’s a word I don’t quite mean.
I’m to leave this place in such a short time, so how would a library collection benefit me in any way? One, I cannot read beyond some numbers and few words. Two, it seems a waste to spend time and effort on starting a book collection just for me—a mere lover—when I’m to be returned home soon.
An uneasy feeling sways in my gut like the currents on the lakewater.
“Are you unhappy about this?” His tone turns dark.
I shake my head, glancing up at him. All I say is, “I shouldn’t be here.” My gaze cuts around the Court, at the gazes still straying over us.
“I am a prince,” he tells me, his voice suddenly hard. “I decide what should and should not be.”
My mouth flattens as I look up at the alcove closest to the podium. Elden watches us from there now, almost lost in the shadows if it weren't for his gleaming eyes.
He’s surrounded by figures cloaked in black.
“Who are they?” I ask, eyeing the hooded ones.
Daein traces my stare for a moment before he looks down at me, his head tilted to the side, curious. “The iilra.” He brings up a hand and cups my jaw, forcing my face to meet his. “They are devoted to the royals and the Gods,” he tells me. “It is dull conversation for another time.”
I nod against his hand. His thumb brushes over my cheek, tender.
Leaning into me, he plants a chaste kiss between my eyebrows, then peels himself away from me. Not a second later, the song ends and picks up into something faster. A tune I can’t keep up with.
“You have some time before we leave,” he says, and looks to the plush seats against the wall. Vale sits there, alone, picking at a plate of fruit. “Join her, but remember my advice.”
“Rules,” I correct with a small smile.
He chucks a finger under my chin and studies me long and hard.
My face turns more serious. Maybe it’s not the place to joke with him. But he lets it slide and, after a once-over, turns and leaves me on the dance floor.
I stand there for a moment before I decide on following his orders and joining Vale. Maybe she’ll let me have a piece of fruit and that can get me through the rest of the celebration.
As I move through the skipping and hopping crowd, someone brushes up against me, and I shiver.
Throwing a wild look over my shoulder, I watch as a cloaked figure slips away into the mass of fae. An iilra.
I look down at my hand. The iilra slipped a folded piece of parchment between my fingers.
I fist my hand around it and turn my back on the thrones, where Daein stands, talking to his parents. I tuck the parchment into my corset, where it stays hidden.
Vale welcomes me when I join her on the cushioned seats. She shares some fruit with me—but after only one slice, I’m dizzy and all smiled up. She eats a lot more than I can handle.
We don’t do much more than sit and eat together, since the prince has so many rules for me, and our conversation is mostly fixed on some kuri called Coralie who has a halfling child. Vale cannot get pregnant, I quickly learn.
Well, she can’t stay pregnant.
