AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I flinched. “Your opinion always matters to me.”
A dry laugh pushed out of him. “Bullshit.”
“I beg your par—”
“But whatever. You’re a busy woman, I know. Busier than you used to be, whereas I’m a lowly minstrel.”
I grabbed his precious hand, clung to his long, musical fingers. “That’s not true.”
A muscle ticked in Eliot’s jaw, which disturbed the lute tattoo inked down the side of his neck. The instrument shuddered along his skin as he pulled away. “Anyway, I’m just stumped why you’d confide in me now. Considering everything else you’ve been keeping from me.”
The curtain slapped his windowsill. His words snatched the air from my lungs.
Eliot waited a beat, then cranked his head slowly toward me. “I saw you,” he clipped, his grimace daring me to deny it.
My stomach dropped to the floor. Remorse clawed at my ribs, and fear strangled my throat. But I wouldn’t lie to him any longer.
I licked my chapped lips. “Eliot, please.”
“I saw you together.”
“Let me explain.”
“Last night when you taunted him to bow and wish you a pleasant evening. Long before that, I had a feeling when you both came back from the woods, but I ignored the looks between you. Like a loyal pet, I refused to believe you’d do that to me. But for Season’s sake, you started wearing your hair loose and constantly acted like you wanted to apologize to me for something. Your chin crinkles when you’re rattled, Briar.”
“We didn’t mean for it to happen.”
His eyes slitted, a crawlspace impossible to get through. “We,” he repeated, like I’d smeared the word on him, like he yearned to wipe off the residue.
“Eliot—”
“At dinner yesterday, I noticed how you favored one another. I followed him, watched him enter your suite. And when you got there, I waited. But you didn’t throw him out.” Eliot’s face creased. “The door wasn’t locked.”
The ground bottomed out from under me. Mortification singed my cheeks.
In the great hall, I’d sensed someone observing us. I had teased Poet, then he’d stolen into my room, sank to his knees, slipped his head under my skirt, and pitched his tongue inside me.
Havoc must have shown on my face. The sight of it broke down Eliot’s features, his visage collapsing, as if struck by a wrecking ball. “Spare me the details. Whatever the hell else you’ve done with Poet—or rather, whateverhe’sdone toyou—I don’t want to know. After the kiss and that migration to your bed, I couldn’t bear to watch any longer.” He stood, putting his back to me. “You were my best friend, Briar.”
I rose on jellied limbs. “I still am.”
“Did you think of me? With Poet, did you once think about what this would do to me? How fucked up I’d feel?”
“Yes,” I implored. “Of course, I did. Our friendship means everythi—”
“Don’t.” He swerved around, his eyes rimmed with fury and hurt. “Don’t. You. Dare,” he gritted out. “You might have denied it at first. Oh, I’m sure you lied to yourself plenty about that. But in the end, like everyone else in this court, you were antsy to fuck him. You let him seduce you.”
“I didn’t have sex with Poet.”
“Dammit, I told you! I don’t want to fucking know!”
And in hindsight, it was only partially true. Technically, Poet and I had done many things short of consummating.
And Seasons help me. I’d wanted that, too.
I still did. Since that afternoon in the meadow, I had wanted him inside me. I wanted to taste him, the same intimate way he’d tasted me. I wanted him above me and under me and behind me, naked and panting. I wanted to come in his arms, crying out with my legs strapped around his waist. I wanted every prohibited, passionate, and primal thing he awakened. I wanted that and more.
I wanted his heart. I wanted to give him mine.
