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“Twice a week,” she confirmed.
“Tuesdays and Saturdays,” Pinky added. “We don’t really get nights off, but you can go off-island for a day or two if you clear it with the guys ahead of time.”
“Good to know,” I said.
Eden sent me a sidelong look, like she suspected I was more interested in the ferry than I was acting. Or maybe I was just being paranoid.
My shoulders felt like they were hunched up around my ears. I exhaled, so damn tired of suspicion and lies. Of wondering if everyone I met had a hidden agenda.
We picked our way over the rocks to a crescent of smooth beige sand. I removed my shoes and socks and waded into the icy water. Behind me, Eden and Pinky were still talking, but I’d stopped paying attention.
Lifting my face to the sun, I dug my toes into the sand and let the ocean ebb and flow around my ankles.
* * *
Iate supper alone in my suite, then curled up on the couch with a sexy romance that Pinky had lent me, eyeing the sky through the French door and wondering when Brien would send for me.
At the rap on my door, my heartrate kicked up. “Who is it?”
“Talon.” The lock disengaged and the tall, broad-shouldered vampire entered.
I dropped the book on the coffee table and sat up. When I’d arrived back from the beach, the walk-in closet off my bedroom had been filled with the new clothes Brien had asked Avril to get me. I’d taken a shower and changed into one of the new outfits.
Talon took in my cropped tee, suspenders and tiny red shorts without visible emotion. “The prince wants you.”
“’Kay.” I gave him a cheery smile just to piss him off.
He gazed back stone-faced.
I shoved my feet into my silver Pradas and followed him into the hall. We turned down a short passage with just three doors in it. Talon stopped at the door in the middle and touched his index finger to the biorec pad. The door opened and he ushered me inside.
“The prince will be with you in a few minutes,” he said and closed the door, leaving me alone in the living room.
I waited for Brien to appear, but the door to what I assumed was his bedroom remained shut, so I glanced around. The living room was decorated in an urban-loft style—wood and metal furniture, a plank floor, industrial copper lighting. A French door faced the secret garden, its glass darkened like the one in my suite.
Three large oil paintings hung on the wall opposite the French door. I recognized the style. People said the artist was a dhampir, although no one knew for sure because she sold her work through intermediaries.
Powerful and sensual, the paintings sucked you in. I found myself moving across the room so I could examine them more closely.
A golden-eyed jaguar prowled through a shadowed rainforest. Sharp-toothed, iridescent snakes glided through an overgrown garden. And in the third—and largest—painting, a black-haired vampire in a glittering tiara lounged on a throne surrounded by her court, a bloody dagger dangling from one hand.
They were like a window into Brien’s mind. More evidence that the buttoned-up, Perfect Prince had a dark, sensual side.
A finger touched my nape, sending electricity zinging down my spine.
“Hello.” Brien’s voice was smooth, golden whiskey.
“Hello,” I said without turning around.
Brien’s scent enveloped me, earthy and green and tempting. He brushed my braid out of the way. Cool lips touched the sensitive skin beneath my ear. “I hear you’ve been good today.”
My breath caught. “Define good.”
“All the staff are still alive, and you made friends with Eden and Pinky. Plus, you didn’t do anything to piss me off…like trying to escape.”
I huffed a laugh. “By that definition, I guess I was good.”
He cupped my throat, and my head dropped back against his shoulder.
