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“Well, yes, isn’t that what the plan was?” I asked, confused.
My stuff had already been sent along to the Golden Court. Instead of a lengthy carriage ride, the Prince was traveling me to the Golden Court. I was thankful for it, more than ready to see Cass again. It got harder and harder to spend time apart while he was off handling his duties as Commander.
“You are lovely,” he stated simply as if this were a universal truth, wrapping a piece of my long hair around his finger in a curl. “But I’m a chauffeur forno one. Not even you, princess.”
My room grew darker despite the sunny day outside.
“You are accompanyingmeto the Golden Court this evening, where there is a reception being held inmyhonor.”
His darkness pressed around us, and somehow it felt like the blackness was responsible for our bodies being pressed closer together. He was inches from my face. I stared up into his intense dark green eyes. I’d grown so used to being around him that I had forgotten that he was the Prince of Darkness and could actually be quite scary.
“And you are to bemyescort for the night.” His hand moved from my hair to under my chin.
I’d never felt threatened by Nik before. And I still didn’t feel unsafe. But the situation I found myself in felt precarious. I gulped down air.
“I… Cass—” I grasped for words.
“Has already agreed to the terms of this arrangement, princess,” he said.
He stepped away from me, and his cloud of darkness dissipated. I took a deep breath, like the absence of his shadows had returned the oxygen to the room.
“Now, as much as I love to see you in my House colors, tell me you packed something more appropriate to wear for the party,” he japed.
Ass.I’d known there was a party that evening, and I had sent several gowns along as options for the night. I just didn’t know that the party was for the Prince and that I would be his date, not Cass’s.
I rolled my eyes. “If you are done with your little shadow show, then I’m ready to go,” I said dismissively.
He flashed me a feline smirk in response to my sass, then surged toward me. Still shaken by the display of his power, my heart leapt into my throat, and then I found myself reaching for him as I was surrounded by his darkness once again. He picked me up, wrapping my legs around him, and in the darkness, as I always did, I clung to him, my arms wrapped around his neck like I was afraid what would happen if I was separated from him in the all-encompassing darkness that accompanied traveling. Before I could yell at him for scaring me again, we were already at the Golden Court.
We popped into existence, my legs wrapped around the front of the Prince, his large hands firmly grasping my thighs. And,of course, there was a retinue of people waiting to greet us. I dislodged myself from the Prince’s body with as much dignity as I could muster in a room surrounded by people. Luckily, I was wearing a skirt that had a pair of shorts underneath it.
Just as I dismounted the Prince’s large frame, I spotted Cass’s hulking mass approaching. I groaned under my breath.
“Fucking hell,” I breathed.
I thought I heard Nik chuckle, clearly pleased with himself. Being the good soldier that he was, Cass made no reaction to the unusual circumstances in which the Prince and I appeared.
“Commander,” he greeted Nik with a slight inclination of his head.
Then Cass pulled me away from Nik and into the warmth of his body.
“Mandy, babe. Tough day of travel?” he joked.
I laughed and the tension around us eased.
“I’ll be by your room at eight-thirty this evening, princess,” Nik called out, walking away.
“Better knock first,” I retorted, meaningfully grabbing Cass’s hand and wrapping it around my waist.
Before Cass could say anything, I felt the need to explain.
“He tried to startle me. You know, he is always trying new things to try to…get my magic to show. And then we just kind of ended up tangled during the traveling. Oh, Cass, you know he does it just to fuck with you, with me, with everyone,” I said.
“I know, Mand. You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” he reassured me, tugging my hips toward his.
“I…I didn’t know that the party tonight was in the Prince’s honor,” I began, working my way up to the subject I wanted to broach.
“I thought you knew,” Cass replied with a shrug. “It’s not technically inhishonor. It is the Golden Court’s welcoming of the Crown. The Prince is standing in on behalf of the King.”
