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I pursed my lips and glared, deciding at that moment not to remind him about the chalk dust he was now sitting in.
“Fine,” I agreed. “I’ll play your game.” Carnon’s brows shot up in surprise.
“Really?” he asked. It was clear that he had expected I’d need more convincing. I nodded, letting my own smirk grow a little wicked as I remembered a similar bargain we had made in the Bloodwood, before all the lies had come between us.
“For a price, your Majesty.”
Chapter 2
Carnon insisted I bathe immediately, arguing that his interest in my terms came secondary to his interest in seeing me naked. I scowled, agreeing to the bath, but refusing to let him watch or talk to me while I splashed in the big onyx tub in his bathing chamber.
“But I’m so good at washing your hair,” he purred, reminding me of how he had done just that after our first night together, and making me blush fiercely. “And it’s my favorite color.”
“No hair washing, no nakedness, and no sex,” I snarled, snatching the towel from his hands and storming off into the bathing chamber alone.
“But those are all my favorite things!” he shouted behind me, laughing at my indignant slamming of the door between us. It was problematic that he was so attractive when he was joking and flirting. If I was going to do this, I would need to grow thicker skin and build a wall of iron around my heart.
I let myself luxuriate in the tub a little, washing off three days of stubbornness and scrubbing my hair with a shampoo that smelled faintly woodsy. Carnon had told me I smelled like vanilla and jasmine. I was determined not to let him find me desirable, so I picked all of the worst scents I could blend together.
The problem was, I knew Carnon actually did want me. It would hurt more if he didn’t; if he had been lying all this time. But the fact was that he did want me, and he was extremely interested in my nakedness. I wasn’t sure my resolve to remain angry with him could withstand his charm or threats to “woo” me.
Sighing, I dunked my head under the hot water to rinse my hair, marveling at the demon magic that allowed the tub to be filled with hot and cold so quickly. Back home we used magic to heat the water too, but it wasn’t instant. Carnon must have a sun demon working for him, heating the water from the depths of the palace.
Emerging from the tub, I wrapped myself in the fluffy towel, then cursed. I hadn’t brought a change of clothes into the bathing room with me, and I really didn’t want to get back into the three-day-old sweat stained ones I had been wearing.
“Forget something?” Carnon’s smug, lilting voice came through the door.
“Please tell me you have some clean clothes I can wear,” I groaned.
“The dressmaker is on her way, and I asked Cerridwen to bring you some of her things to tide you over,” he replied, his smile somehow audible through the muffling bathroom door. “You can borrow my robe, but you'll have to come out and get it. I humbly request you leave the towel behind.”
“Not a chance!” I shouted back, rolling my eyes as I combed through my hair. Wrapping the towel even more tightly around myself, I poked my head out of the bathing chamber to find Carnon lounging in an armchair, ankle crossed over a knee at total ease, watching the door like he was ready for a show.
“Shame,” he said with a rueful smirk, standing in one fluid movement and picking up something black and fluffy from the arm of his chair. He stalked toward me with suchintentin his eyes that I backed away a step, but he simply held open a robe, waiting for me to put my arms in the sleeves.
It was a bit of a trick to get my arms in without dropping the towel, but I managed it. The robe was soft and smelled like Carnon, his evergreen scent clinging to it like everything else in this damn room.
“There,” Carnon said. He ran his hands down my now covered arms, and spoke roughly in my ear. “Better?”
Goddess, his voice was seduction. It was very tempting to turn into his arms and lose myself in him, and my stomach gave a little lurch as my ridiculous heart battled with my brain for control. My brain won out, and I stepped away from him before turning and crossing my arms.
“You can leave now,” I said, attempting to sound cold and imperious, pushing down the warmth he seemed to light in me. “I can wait on my own.”
“Alas, I have already sent for tea,” Carnon said, resuming his seat in the armchair and smiling jovially. “And macarons.”
I scowled, taking a seat as far from him as I could across the little coffee table. “I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work,” I said, folding myself into the chair and sitting with everything clenched tight. “You can’t buy my forgiveness with dessert.”
Carnon laughed. “Based on the noises you make when you eat them, I think I can,” he teased. “But I’m also waiting for Cerridwen. It would be rude not to receive her when she arrives.”
“What is your relationship with her, exactly?” I asked, tamping down the ridiculous flicker of jealousy over whatever their shared history was. Carnon had assured me that there was nothing romantic between them. But based on their interactions when we were staying with her and her mate, the dark-eyed beauty was clearly friendly with him, and cared for him. I wondered how deep the caring ran. “Was she the lover you told me about?”
Carnon laughed, the sound full and rich with genuine mirth. “Gods, no,” he replied, quirking an eyebrow suggestively. “But I dare you to suggest it to her.”
“Who is she to you then?” I asked, narrowing my eyes as he gave his typical non-answer. “You seem to know her and her mate very well.”
“I do,” Carnon replied. His green eyes lit with amusement, and it was very distracting. Annoying too, when I was trying to hate him and not be attracted to him. “I’ve known them all my life.”
“Will you please just give me a straight answer for once and tell me how you know her?” I asked, irritation growing at the circular way he doled out information, like he was tempting me with one breadcrumb after another, but never the full gingerbread house.
