Page 44 of The Broken Prince

“We’ll send word soon,” Cobra said. “Don’t die in the meantime.”

One by one, they walked out, and once they were gone, the cottage felt freezing cold in the heat of summer.

I turned to Aurelias. “You don’t have to stay—”

“I’ve made my choice.”

I came closer, seeing him stare at the door as if he expected them to return. “You seem close.”

“We aren’t that close,” he said. “But family is family.”

“Larisa isn’t family, and you two do seem close.”

He turned his head to regard me. “She’s the first human to ever impress me.”

I tried not to be jealous, because her beauty was breathtaking and she provoked a wave of affection in his eyes. She had some invisible power over him, and while Aurelias wasn’t mine, I felt territorial.

“And you’re the second.”

My body always behaved strangely when I was alone with him, when I was the recipient of that intensity. My body was hot and cold at the same time, and the ache in my chest hurt so much it actually felt good. My lungs were full of breath, but I still felt breathless. “I’m sorry for my father’s behavior—”

“Stop doing that.”

“What?”

“Apologizing for someone else’s behavior,” he said. “You aren’t responsible for his actions or his emotions. And as I said before, I don’t take it personally. His feelings are perfectly understandable.”

I stared into his dark-colored eyes, eyes that were rich in intensity, deep in magnitude. “You talk about people like you know what they’re thinking.”

His eyes remained on mine, his expression so hard that my little hammer would never break through. “How’s your brother?”

I didn’t want him to change the subject, not when I wanted an answer to my suspicion, but I couldn’t get his mountain to move to my demands. I had to be patient…as his brother suggested. “I’m not sure. My parents are still with him. They’ll probably remain at his side until he wakes up.”

“I’m sure he’ll pull through.”

“I hope so.” We hadn’t stood together in this cottage in a long time. The last time I was there, I’d slept on the couch, a blanket pulled over my naked body, and when I tried to sneak out, I discovered his true intentions. It was hard to believe we were in that same house again—and I didn’t want to kill him.

I wanted to be on that couch again, his hips between my soft thighs, succumbing to the heat that had never died out between us. The flames had been extinguished, but the coals remained red and hot. Now the fire returned, a slow burn that would eventually turn into an inferno—whether we gave in or not. “Aurelias—”

“I meant what I said before.” Now his gaze was elsewhere, looking at the cold fireplace. “When this is over, you’ll never see me again. There’s only one way this ends.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” I stared at the side of his face, stared at the shadow on his jawline. “You speak of the end when there hasn’t even been a beginning—”

“Because expectations need to be managed.” His eyes were on me again, hostile. “They’re ironclad, Harlow. Irrevocable. Permanent. If I survive, I will leave these shores, and you’ll marry someone suitable. No matter how intense this becomes, no matter how right it may feel…it’s temporary.”

“You’re afraid to hurt me…”

All he did was stare.

“Aurelias, I’m the kind of person that lives in the moment. I don’t think ahead, nor do I think about the past. I live in the moment, and now I’ll live in the moment even more, knowing tomorrow is not guaranteed. So don’t worry about me. You aren’t responsible for my feelings—and I’m entitled to feel exactly how I want to feel when I want to feel it.”

His breathing escalated, only slightly, his eyes a wildfire of intensity.

“I’ve wanted you for a long time, and I’m tired of waiting.”

I’d barely finished the sentence when his lips were on me, his powerful mouth taking mine with brute force. His hand slipped into my hair, and instead of cupping the back of my head, he fisted the strands like reins to a horse. Once he had my mouth, the pressure eased, and his full lips caressed mine as he wrapped my hair around his fist, getting it all in his grasp.

My hands planted on his arms then his chest, but the armor protected his skin from my touch. Cold to my fingertips and hard as steel, the metal wasn’t the material I wanted to explore, but my fingers did trace the snake in the center of his chest, feeling the inlay of gold.

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