Page 46 of Taken By the Shadow Prince

“So? He’s gorgeous, Mavey.”

“We’re merely friends.” Which we are, I think. At this point, anyway. Before yesterday, I don’t think I would have thought so, or admitted it to myself if I did. But... it’s rather hard to deny now, with the soreness between my legs and the things I told him.

She snorts. “Oh, please. I saw the way he was looking at you. Like you were a prize jewel and he a thief.”

I ignore the way my stomach tightens at those words. I don’t even know what that feelingmeans. “Please,” I say, rolling my eyes. “How many romance novels have you been reading lately?”

She laughs. “None, actually. But Leven has been reading them—don’t tell him I told you, or he just might throttle us both—and he loves to tell me about them. And I like to listen to him talk about them. And I like even more when he reads certain parts to me.” She grins wickedly.

“Nope. I don’t need to hear about your sex life.”

“Well, I’m all butbeggingto hear about yours. Don’t tell me you guys haven’t even fuckedonce, Mavey.”

“You sound like Lillian.”

She laughs. “That’s because, after you left, she was the one I went to for gossiping. I think she wore off on me a little.”

“Or a lot.”

Mair smacks my arm, but she’s smiling. “Oh, please. Maybe I never would haveaskedyou to tell me before, but I certainly would have thought about it. That Alexander is very, very good looking. It only makes me wonder if his skills live up to the promises his eyes tell.”

“You can go now,” I tell her. “Thank you for the wedding invitation and the sex talk.”

“Oh, come on! Just give me a yes or a no!”

I stand up and pull her to her feet, urging her toward the door. I pull it open with one hand and shove her out with the other.

But before I close it, I say, “Yes. He very much does.” And then I slam it in her face and force myself to calm my pounding heart, the throbbing in my veins as I think of all the things he’s so skilled at.

I hear Mair laughing as she heads down the hall. I haven’t seen her this happy, this carefree, in a while. Not since she was nothing more than a teenage girl giggling about her fantasies with Auley. Not since she stuck herself more firmly in the rebellion than she already was by taking care of Vorella.

I’m glad that Leven brought her back to this—to the young woman she truly is. And—I’m glad that she had Lillian to talk to while I was gone. Now I know that she’ll be okay without me, when I go with Armin to Atheya. It’s enough, I suppose, knowing that she won’t need me there, by her side. Even if it stings a little. Even if it makes me wonder if she ever needed me at all, or if I’ve always been sort of disposable. But maybe that’s my job—maybe that’s whatmakesher need me. That I can do anything,woulddo anything, to save this country.

Or maybe I’m a fucking loon, and Armin’s praises yesterday about me being important have gotten into my head.

Either way, I’m glad that I know Mair will be okay without me.

That they’ll all be okay without me.

Chapter 26

Mavey

my twin

Clearly, Mair wasn’t the only one who noticed something was going on between me and Armin, because Ellis shows up at my door with questions about the man he’s seen me with ever since I’ve arrived.

I’m glad that I’ve had the time to make that eucalyptus powder and time to shower before he showed up—and that I hadn’t already left for Armin’s room to see if he was too busy to hang out. With the demon witches preparing in Atheya, and my job finished, I don’t exactly have much else to do.

And he’s not theworstcompany to keep, if I have to admit it.

Ellis doesn’t even knock, letting himself inside and finding me in my closet-turned-apothecary. I’m grateful that he’s long since stopped caring to ask about what it is I’m making, otherwise I’d either have to lie or explain that I’m making contraceptive tonics.

Not that it would surprise him, apparently. “Where in hell did you find that man?” He asks. “I’m not attracted to men, but I know a good-looking man when I see one.”

Not hell, technically. “He found me, actually.”

Ellis sits down on the wooden barstool that I usually sit on when my legs grow stiff. “Tell me you’ve been putting him to good use.”

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