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I stopped at the tunnel mouth, not yet venturing into its darkness. This beach, this prince under moonlight, whatever was said here was special. He’d hinted at that. A magic thrummed around us, the magic of secrets. Perhaps, in this moment, I could speak as me, the real me. Not as Lark… but someone very different. “How long have you known?” I asked, without looking back.
“From the moment you arrived in my court.”
Four years. My chuckle echoed down the tunnel until the rumbling waves swallowed the sound. He’d known everything this whole time? How was I still alive?
I turned, and his beautiful eyes were full of misplaced sympathy. “Then why let me continue?” I asked. “Why stand back and watch me seduce my way through your court? Why not take my head?”
“Because you are not like them. And neither am I.”
Them. Those from my court, my home. “You don’t know me,” I snarled, and tried to turn and flee a second time.
His steel fingers caught my arm, hauling me back. “And you don’t know me, Lark. But we can change this—”
I yanked my arm free. “It’s too late.” Fewer than three days, and all of this was over anyway.
Arin squared up to me, his gaze searching mine for all the truths he was so sure he knew. “You did what you had to.”
Then, I was a victim? Is that what he thought? “I didn’t think you had it in you to be so naïve.”
He grabbed my right hand and held it between us, the missing digit a horrible reminder of who held my reins. “You would go back to a man who does this?” Arin growled.
“You speak as though either of us has a choice. I am your enemy, Prince Arin.” I tore my hand free. “Invite me into your bed, and you truly are a fool.”
“Yes, you are my enemy. But that is not all you are. The same as I am not all you see.”
I snorted and backed away. “The Court of Love… You might be the only one left in your court who believes in hope.”
“I know they’re coming. I can stop this,” he said, following. “I’m trying to stop this— stop them, but I need your help, Lark. I’ve been trying… Behind the scenes, I’ve been working to undermine everything they’ve had you do. We don’t need to be enemies—”
I turned again and headed into the tunnel. This man he’d become, the truth of him here on this beach… He’d turned into a naïve, hopeful fool right in front of my eyes.
“Don’t walk away from me.”
I strode back into the cool darkness. This was insanity. Work together? He was absurd.
“Lark, damn you!”
His fingers dug into my shoulder, and he flung me against the tunnel’s jagged stone walls. His hand spread over my chest, holding me at arm’s length. His golden hair spilled wild about his shoulders, its tie lost somewhere on the beach.
“Damn you, listen… They killed my mother, drew a dagger across her throat and made it appear as though she took her own life. They tried to kill Draven, because he knows about you. I arrived too late, but there’s a chance he may recover… But, Lark, you alone did not poison my court. Someone else undermines everything I’m trying to save. I need you, I need your lies, I need you to dance for me, to fuck and tease and dazzle while I watch, and discover the traitor in my midst.”
Then there was another killer among his court? Someone who had attacked Draven, someone who killed the queen? It didn’t seem possible. I would know, I knew everything.
Arin drew a dagger from behind his back and pressed its edge to my throat. Cool steel burned hot. “I cannot allow you to return to the Court of Pain.”
If he expected fear, he would not get it from me. I smiled. “Then cut my throat, Prince. Because I have no choice.”
He wet his lips and breathed hard, the man on the beach, the man he was now. He wasn’t a killer, I saw that now. He truly was the only honest person left in the Court of Love, and all this time he’d been trying to fix the loose threads I’d been tugging on. That was why he’d shied away from me, kept himself behind his chamber door. All this time, he’d known I was his enemy, and we’d danced around each other. He was clever, I’d give him that—I closed my hand around his and eased the blade from my neck—clever, yes, but Arin was no killer.
I, however, was.
I shoved, toppling him off balance. As he reeled, I grabbed his jerkin in a fist and pushed him against the far wall, then held him there, his blade tight against his throat. I leaned close, like we had in the bathing pool, as close as lovers. His body trembled, his heat soaked my clothes. Every panting breath pushed his chest against mine. He smelled of the night meadows, and sea salt.
Use them, abuse them, but do not kill them,the memory from four years ago teased, so clear it was as though my beneficiary, the Prince of Pain, whispered in my ear now.
“You won’t…hurt me.” Arin panted, pale lashes fluttering. “I know you. You’re good.”
“‘Good’?” I laughed and stepped back, keeping him pinned under my hand. Hate glittered in his eyes, but hate wasn’t all he felt. Desire burned there too, forbidden, wicked, and very real. I brought his dagger to my lips and licked the length of its blade. “The Court of Pain knows nothing ofgood.”
