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“The muscles are still there. He didn’t lose weight and he’s alert. I might have to test out that alertness later. He didn’t respond to me when I rubbed against him earlier. He didn’t even kiss me.”
“Maybe he needs two of us rubbing against him. And kissing him. He would like that kind of welcome, wouldn’t he?” the female beside Jyss suggested, tone vibrating with anticipation.
How many days had passed since they were gone? It had only felt like a few days on that strange island, but the way these people talked made it seem like more. And heavens, was being surrounded by women his desired life before?
Prince.He was a prince, not a commoner—the future ruler of the Winter Court.
It was suddenly too overwhelming, her brain unable to catch up and her body just wanting to get out of there. She shuddered at the energy and took a step back, then another until she thought she made progress and wouldn’t be paid attention to. A hand wrapped around her wrist.
“Em?”
A couple of heads turned in her direction, then more. The pressure of the energy increased and she gulped down her panic.
“I have to go.”
She didn’t make a run for it, but her speed belied calmness. Wings fluttered out of the corner of her eye before a shadow blocked it and was in front of her. When his face was all she could see, she stopped. Then she felt a hum around her and realized he had put up a ball of shield, one that prevented other eyes from watching them and felt connected to the ground.
“Em—”
“You lied to me.” Hurt flourished over saying it out loud. “You betrayed me.”
Magenta eyes widened, his expression in denial. Then comprehension seemed to dawn and so did guilt.
“I didn’t mean to…”
“Didn’t mean to reveal that particular secret when we were sharing secrets?”
He gulped. Belatedly, she became aware of just how close he had stepped into her bubble of personal space, with his hand still wrapped around her wrist and his thumb running circles over her pulse line—an unconscious soothing. Despite her misgivings, the shivers came.
“Em,” he murmured, then gulped and whispered lower. More sincerely. “Emerald. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for leaving some things out or not making it clear. It wasn’t my intention. I was just caught up in our time there. And then that last day, in that tower, when I…”
Touched her. Pleased her. Kissed her like he would die if he didn’t. Her body burned scorching hot at the memory.
“You’re the crown prince?” she blurted out.
“I was.”
“Was?”
Some of the softness and sincerity left his eyes as they closed in warning. Just like that, it didn’t feel like an intimate conversation anymore.
“It’s a long story. I’m sorry for getting you entangled in the adventure I was so determined to have.”
Except it wasn’t an adventure he chose. The shield vibrated and in the blink of an eye, realization slammed that it wasn’t his creation. She peered at the blur of figures, trying to locate its source until she felt Rick tense. When he let her hand go, it was she who reached out to clasp it back this time. She squeezed it.
The shield dropped and their fingers disentangled, though they didn’t step back from each other. Instead, she looked around until she spotted the man from earlier—Bronco—wriggling his fingers to eliminate the last traces of the shield. Bronco nodded at Rick, who nodded back. Then an icy pathway swirled toward them.
“Brother! Where have you been?”
She felt the authority before she saw it, as well as the affection that rang crystal clear in the air. There was a warmth to the tone, too, subtle and inviting, that called to her. Emerald perused the woman approaching them and was knocked out by a beauty more ethereal than the rest, flowing in a long trail of black hair and pale, slightly glittering skin. The lavender dress she had on looked like a second skin, glittering every time she moved. Velvet lavender eyes welcomed Rick and open arms extended until he stepped forward and fell into the embrace.
If she had been missing from her sisters for a while, she would bet they wouldn’t just settle for a hug. They would lather her with cheek kisses and a burst of queries until her cool persona fell away. Then they would drag her somewhere private to take care of her with their magic. The woman did none of that, stepping back after a few seconds of the embrace. Rick was unperturbed, an indolent grin slipping on his lips.
“I got bored and decided to have an adventure. Well, my body decided it for me. I got drunk, a feat never quite achieved around here, and the next thing I knew, I woke up on a splendid island where I could lounge around and explore my options. But I got bored there, too, so here I am.”
More lies, Emerald deduced. To his sister? Was it for the ears surrounding them or for the woman’s benefit?
“Oh, and I brought some companions with me,” he added casually. “They were so blindly loyal that I couldn’t just abandon them.”
