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My stomach churned with anxiety. What will come next? The whip of a keeper? Something worse for my disobedience? For the slightest moment there had been hope. Nothing too consuming, no my years without it wouldn’t allow me to get carried away, but there had still been a sliver of it. A chance at freedom that came and went.
“You’re lucky,” Milo emerged, wiping at his mouth, “I was awake and curious enough to see how far you were going to take it.”
Damn it all to Havala.
“You were fucking awake?” I dropped to the bed, already setting a steely resolution that I’d try again.
“I would never do to you what that man was going to do to you. You’re an idiot for thinking you could get out of this town unnoticed. You’re the only Nymph for miles. Who was going to help you?” Milo planted his arms on either side of me, bending until his red face was level with mine.
“But you’ll take me away to my death,” I shouted.
“You don’t know that.”
“Someone like me isn’t going to survive King Windre, Milo. I’m too stubborn, and he will kill me because of it.”
“Because you won’t break is exactly the reason why I believe you have the chance to make it out alive. You’re an asset to King Ottack and not King Windre’s to kill.” His chest rumbled with the growl. Milo pushed himself off the bed, pulling his hand through his long, dark hair. The brown of his eyes looked almost sunkissed as he stared at me. Maybe brown was a good color after all.
“Lay down and go to sleep.” He pointed at the bed. Still fighting his drunkenness, he leaned against the wall, sliding down until he sat with his knees up in front of him.
“What will you do?” I asked.
“Make sure you don’t escape again.”
The long stretch of silence should have said enough. Every passing second had me wondering if I had missed the signs. Were they something more than lovers? Had they had a rough fall out and my question hit anopen wound?
Suddenly, I felt like a foolish girl. An idiot who believed in romance like my sister did. The thought of my sister made me squeeze my eyes shut. It helped to clear my mind of the fog that seemed to fill my head anytime Dace was near. It was that damn sharp jawline of his and those great forearms with intense veins.
Clear your head, Ryker.
“No, uh, it’s not like that,” Dace finally said.
“But you have slept together?”
Why was I doing this to myself? I didn’t really want to know. It was just so clear that Dace cared strongly for her. I wish he would have just answered sooner and said something like, ‘she’s practically my sister.’
Why couldn’t she be like a sister?
Dace cocked his head, eyes dark and thoughtful. “Why are you asking, Ryker?”
“I just assumed that maybe you were together.” My hands met in a nervous twist. “I heard that she was awake and I didn’t want her to get the wrong impression, should someone see you leaving my room. Which you should probably do.”
“Don’t worry about Shavarra. We are not together, not in that way. And,” he held up a finger, “you never let me get point number two out as to why I came to your room.” Unfazed by our awkward conversation—like he was used to getting himself out of sticky situations—Dace pulled the chair away from the small desk and sat on it, balancing his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. A kernel of yearning seeded in me, and though I tried to dismiss it, everything in me begged to sit near him, to listen to the velvet of his voice, to give him a chance.
I thought back to the night he took me out in the Acture Court. It hadn’t been a date. Not a real one, not an official one. But it still felt like I was being courted. The same feeling of wishing we were not so different traveled through me now. I was a Nymph, only just now free of enslavement. He was a Fae prince who had lost his crown.
Yet, I didn’t want him to leave the room. Not yet. “Alright, give me your pitch.” It took both hands to close the wardrobe, but I was able to finagle the fabric inside, enough to be able to lean against the doors and watch him.
“I can help you find ways to utilize your powers in combat.” He shrugged. His scent was strong and I found myself taking a deep breath of the pine needle aroma.
“And? What's the trade off?”
“And you’ll help me keep it a secret that I’ll be training too.” One hand came up to rub the back of his neck. “I know I can transport items with me, people even. My power just hasn’t been worked hard enough before.”
“Why does it need to be a secret?”
Dace's grin was strained while he leaned back in the chair, hanging one arm across the back. He tilted his chin up. Ever the picture of confidence, he spoke, “Because it’s embarrassing, that’s why. I'm a noble Fae. Royal blood. I can barely manipulate my own travel, much less bring someone or something with me.”
“It must be hard not being good at everything.” I gave him a fake pout. His teeth bit into his bottom lip, his eyes trailing me. Excitement made my heart beat harder, so I laughed to release the tension and gave him a playful smile. It was hard not to imagine that I was brushing my fingertip over his chiseled chest.
