Page 38 of Cinder's Trial

“Comfy bed,” I mumbled, wondering if my cheeks turned red because I certainly heated at the insinuation.

“If you’re done giving me your update…” Levi’s statement held a warning tone.

“That’s all for now. I’ll head back upstairs and wait for you, but hurry. The prince isn’t happy.”

The door closed, and Levi muttered, “Goddammit. Not how I wanted to start my morning.”

“And how were you planning to start it?” I chirped.

He cast me a dark look. “What do you think?”

“I think,” I said, my cheeks hot as I stripped my shirt under his avid gaze, “that I can’t wait until tonight.”

He uttered a long-suffering groan as I dressed in front of him with absolutely no shame. There was something powerful and heady about his smoldering interest. Seeing how his pants tented roused my own carnal hunger. And when he closed the distance between us to drag me into his arms for a kiss? I just about came again. The man knew how to get me humming.

When he broke the kiss, it was with a muttered, “Way too distracting. I’m getting dressed in the bathroom.”

“No fair. Don’t I get a peek, too?” I pouted.

“We don’t have time for this right now, princess.”

At the downturn of my lips, he softened to add, “I will make time later.”

“Yay.” I might have clapped my hands.

Which led to more muttering on his part and a slam of the bathroom door. I spent that scant moment feeding my friends from the stash I’d brought. I’d have to order some room service to ensure they had ample supplies in case I couldn’t pop back in for a while.

By the time Levi emerged, I was doing the morning pee dance. He took one look at me and pointed to the bathroom. “Go.”

“Don’t listen,” I exclaimed as I went and emptied my bladder, because nothing screamed sexy like, Hear me pee!

I emerged, teeth brushed and face washed, to see him typing on his phone.

“Ready,” I announced.

“Good.” He tucked his phone away. “We’ll take the stairs.”

“Do you think the elevator is unsafe?”

“I’m not taking chances.”

The single flight didn’t tax me at all, and as we neared the prince’s suite with its door wide open, I spotted Gerome skulking just outside.

“I assume the situation is unchanged,” Levi asked as we neared.

“Woman’s nuts,” Gerome muttered.

The woman also turned out to be rather old. I entered, expecting to see someone barely out of her teens, only to be confronted by white hair and wrinkles. No wonder they’d not been more on guard at her arrival.

Unlike most wannabe Cinderellas, the woman had not worn a ball gown but an ill-fitting hotel uniform. Single shoe sat on the floor by her feet. As mentioned, she held a rather large knife to her throat and stood in the middle of the suite’s living room. Killian sat slumped in a chair by the trolley of food with Hannah hovering behind him.

Upon my entry, the old woman’s eyes narrowed, and she spat, “Go away, whore. This prince is taken.”

I arched a brow. “You can have him. I certainly don’t want him.”

My reply made her frown. “You’re lying.”

I waved a hand. “No really, if you want him, he’s yours, although I have to say good luck. He’s not really a prize what with his overbearing mother, his slovenly attire, and the fact he eats junk food.”

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