Page 70 of Crowned By the Fae King

Vad merely smirked.

"I…" Cass started. His eyes darted towards me again, then away. "I can carry Quyen. It's not a long flight."

"Great," Vaduin said cheerfully, steering Dani off. "Meet us at the cliffside launch in fifteen. I'll go see if I can send a flicker-bird and get the rooftop reserved."

Cass rubbed the back of his neck. "Sure."

I leaned up against the railing, looking up at him. "It'll be fine," I told him. "We'll both be fully dressed, we can talk so I don't get too far into your personal space, and if it's awful and you hate it, Vad can carry me back."

He huffed a soft laugh. "I like you in my personal space, sunlight. It surely won't be awful, nor will I hate it." Cass gave me a self-conscious smile. "The worry is that I'll like it far too much."

"Platonic only," I said with a smile, hiding the way his words wrenched at me. I reached up and tapped him on the nose for a brief moment of contact. "I used to deal with handsy men at the bar. I can hold the line."

That got me a wince. "I'm not— I don't intend to be—"

"That's not what I meant." I tugged on the laces of his shirt, wanting to lean into him but not wanting to push him too far. "I mean that I know how to set my boundaries, and how to defend them. It was alright this morning, wasn't it? The cuddling? Once you got used to it, I mean?"

He still hesitated, his ears pulled back and strain on his face. Anger heated my blood—but for him, not at him. It was like looking at a beaten dog, cowering in the back of an alleyway behind a dumpster, desperate for kindness and certain any lifted hand would bring only pain. People talked about breaking animals, sometimes, and that's what had been done to him: breaking. Cass was powerful and capable and he'd been treated as something to fear for far too long.

"Let's make a deal," I said.

His ears pinned back for a moment before cocking forward, something wild and needy flashing in his eyes. "A deal," he said, the word catching in his throat.

I leaned into the halo of his warmth, not touching him. "I want you to get comfortable with platonic touch, and I don't like it when I can feel you controlling your reactions with your magic. Even if I didn't think it was causing all the rest of the Court-magic mess, I wouldn't like it." I gave his laces another little tug, the knot coming undone. "It doesn't have to be cuddling, if that's too hard, but I want something, and I think you've had far too much of other people determining how and when you get to have affection. So let's make a deal about it, instead."

My cheeks warmed as Cass blushed and looked away, with his ears dropping down into a pose of self-consciousness. "I'm overwhelming," he said in a rough whisper.

"You are," I agreed, not changing my tone at all.

His wings hunched up. "I'm dangerous."

I let my hands rest against his chest, watching him to make sure he didn't need to escape. Anxiety and need wound through me in a shivering ache. "Yes, you are."

Cass didn't move away. His hand drifted up and settled over one of mine, holding it against the thud of his heart.

"So why aren't you afraid of me?" he asked, looking back at me with longing written across his entire body.

"Because there's no world where you hurt me," I said, leaning closer. "You saved my life, over and over, without even knowing I existed. When something bad happens, your reflex is to protect." With a soft smile, I reached up and threaded my fingers through his hair, letting the dark strands trail through my grip. "You're deadly, and dangerous, and I've never been safer than when I'm in a room with you."

Delicate enjoyment twined through me like flowering vines, growing up along my arms towards my beating heart like I was a trellis and he was fertile soil. He moved with deliberate care to rest his cheek against my fingertips, his dark lashes shrouding his gaze. "Lioness," he said in a hushed voice, as if he was a worshiper in a temple, "You don't need a bargain to claim what's already yours. And I'm…" He took a careful breath. "…already yours."

I leaned my hand into the contact with his heart beating in my chest. Fear and longing; need and terror. A man who'd spent his entire life chained.

All I wanted was to see him set free.

"I'm yours, too," I said softly, not looking away from his face.

His lashes parted. That dark gaze caught mine, and he smiled, slow and sure. "Once a day, midnight to midnight, if you ask me for platonic touch, I will give it freely," he said, giving me a binding promise before we'd even settled on a bargain. "In return, I ask that you grant me three of your hours on the first day of each feast week, to do with as I please."

"Only three hours?" I asked.

Cass turned his head so his face rested against my hand. His warm breath traced through the gaps of my fingers and filled my palm. "I could ask for four," he murmured.

All the fear was gone, with nothing left but a shimmering elation skimming through me. My heart was a bird in the sunlight, bright wings flickering. Kiss me, I wanted to say. Lick me. Bite me.

"Ask for five," I said in a hoarse whisper.

He tilted his face into my touch. His lips brushed my skin as he said, "Grant me five, your majesty."

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