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I pulled the cloth off my head, a perpetual scowl on my face. I held up the fabric to find that the creatures in the closet had made a dress. The top was white and billowy, the skirt pale green, overlain with sheer white fabric. When I glance over at the prince, his back was still turned to me, so I stepped into the dress and reached behind to button up the back but found I could only clasp a few on my own.
I turned to look for Naeve, but she was gone.
Then I felt warm fingers take over, and I stiffened as the prince fastened my dress. Once he was finished, I turned to face him. He stared down at me and spoke, giving me no time to react to his intrusion.
“You are permitted to wander within my castle and my grounds, but go beyond the wall, and you may become another person’s prisoner.”
“Is there anyone worse than you?” I asked.
The beast lifted his hand and caressed the side of my face.
“Vicious creature, there is always something worse.”
I held my breath beneath his touch, and when his hand fell away, the tension returned to my body.
“You will call me Casamir,” he said. “It is my mortal name.”
“I prefer beast,” I said, suddenly aware of how much I had to crane my neck just to meet his gaze at this proximity.
His lips quirked and his hand snaked behind my neck and into my hair, fingers grazing my scalp. He had moved fast, and once he was close, my body warmed against his.
“Call me beast again,” he said, his lips hovering over mine, “and I’ll show you why I was given that name.”
I could not help it. His threat provoked me, and a slow smile spread across my face.
“Beast,” I whispered, and the prince’s hand caught my throat. The black of his irises leaked into the whites of his eyes. He pushed me until I met the edge of the vanity, his hips pressed between my thighs.
I reached for his arm, but as I did, black tendrils rose from his skin and wrapped around my hands, becoming solid like the spindly branches of a bodark tree. They crawled over me, around my shoulders and down my back, wrapping around my waist. At the same time, another set of vines trailed up my legs, curling around my thighs, inching closer to the part of me that had ached for him last night. Even now, my body grew heavy and warm, wet for this cruel creature.
“Do not test me, vicious creature. I will swallow you whole.”
I believed he could.
I wished he would.
We stared at each other for a long moment, and I felt like a spider caught in a web as the elven prince drew nearer. His free hand moved down the side of my body before gathering my skirt. I shivered as the fabric rose, exposing my leg, and when his hand landed high on my bare hip, my breath caught in my throat.
He never looked away from me, his eyes still drowning in black, his mouth hovering close to mine. I would be lying if I did not admit how desperately I wanted to know the feel of his lips against mine.
“Say my name,” he said, the words a slow command. “My mortal name.”
Silence spread between us, and his fingers were close to my heat, with the palm of his hand pressed flat against my ass. My heart beat fast in my chest like fluttering fairy wings, and my muscles grew taut. If I said his name, would he touch me instead of teasing me?
“What will you give me?” I asked.
He reared back only a fraction, as if realizing he had shown too much surprise. He studied me, eyes narrowed, before the corner of his lip curled.
“What do you desire?”
As if he thought he could guess, his fingers pressed harder into my skin.
“A number,” I said.
His brows lowered, confused. “A number?”
“How many letters are in your true name?”
He stared and I could tell he was displeased with me. Had he hoped I might ask for his touch? I doubted he mourned that I hadn’t, more that I had not fallen for his seduction.
