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“Of course.” Lord Crimsonale bowed. “Have a blessed evening, my prince.”
With that, they both strode from the room.
Once they were gone, I just stood there. The crown prince’s aura threatened to swallow me—it was running so high. Crackling from the fire filled the room, but other than that, it was silent save for the blood thundering through my ears.
“Come here,” the prince finally said.
I inched closer to his side but didn’t sit down. I had no idea how to interpret the Crimsonale’s visit, so I opted for a generic, “How do you feel?” since the prince seemed intent on studying me, yet his expression gave away nothing.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
I waved at his stomach. “Perhaps it’s that claw that nearly ripped you in two. Just a theory.”
Amusement twinkled in his eyes. “Ah, that sharp tongue of yours is making an appearance again.”
I played with my tunic’s hem. “Well, perhaps you shouldn’t ask suchasinine questionsthen, and my tongue would stay still.”
His lips curved up more, and I wanted to kick myself that we actually had a private joke now, and I’d just used it.
Smoothing his expression, he patted his bedside. “Sit.”
“Is that an order?”
“Isn’t everything I say an order?”
Rolling my eyes, I did as he said but made sure to keep a respectable amount of distance between us.
He frowned, a low growl rumbling in his chest, but he stopped it, and his face returned to a mask of stone. His fingers fluttered, and his pointer finger brushed momentarily against my thigh.
Shivers danced up my side, and my entire body seized. His touch had been fleeting, if it could even be called a touch since it’d been more like a brush of contact, yet all of my attention zeroed in with razor-sharp precision to his hand. Those very fingers had nearly swept my underthings to the side just a few nights ago.
And I’d loved every second of it.
I swallowed sharply as my heart thrummed painfully hard.
“I owe you a life debt,” the prince said at last.
“Because I saved you?”
“Yes, but you more than saved me. You saved yourself too.”
I plucked at a thread on the bedspread as lavender scents from the candle billowed around me. I inched farther away from him. I needed him not to touch me again. If he didn’t touch me, my head remained clear. “Perhaps. Does that mean that I can ask anything of you if you owe me a debt?”
“Do I want to know what you’re going to ask?” A sly smile lifted his lips.
My lips curved in return, since I was unable to help it. “Probably not.”
“You can’t break our bargain. That’s non-negotiable.”
“I know.”
“Then what is it you want?”
“To not partake in the Trial.”
The arrogant tilt to his lips disappeared. “Does the thought of marrying me repulse you that much?”
I picked at the thread more. My heart beat harder, so hard I was certain he could hear it. “I wish to be free, not to be told who I have to marry and when.”
