Page 72 of Caged By Dance and Desire

But I couldn't sleep. I tried, but I couldn't banish my last glimpse of his face. Gaze averted, mouth too thin. Expression otherwise smooth and cold. Hidden from me. He'd held himself almost as if guarding against his own flinch, knowing he must always project the certain, unflappable and controlled demeanor of a High Lord.

Of the city's Heir, an open secret we danced around mentioning. He seemed content not to bring it up. Maybe we both frolicked in that fairy circle where the Courts didn’t matter.

I shuffled out of bed, realized I was still wearing my dress and took a minute to slip into one of my oversized t-shirts. I left the bedroom to seek out Andrei. Instinct told me the evening wasn't over for him.

Instinct rewarded me when I found him in the inner courtyard, a hint of dawn in the sky, kneeling bare chested with his hands resting on his thighs, head lowered. His shoulders. . .almost hunched.

Constin stood over him in vigil, his expression inscrutable.

I halted, uncertain whether my presence would be an intrusion. I approached slowly so either man could signal me to turn away.

He knew I was there, of course. A subtle tension rippled in the muscles of his back. If my gaze hadn't been attuned to the minute shifts in a person's body, I would have missed it. Anyone else except his guards would have.

I knelt behind him, wincing a little because he’d made it seem like the stone was cushy; it was not.

“What do you want, Anah?” he asked.

ItwasAndrei’s voice. Weary, nearly dejected, but his voice. Not the High Lord’s.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

A breath of bitter laughter escaped him. “I whipped my luudthen and beat my consort.”

“Spank. Not beat. There's a difference. There’s also a subset of human women who would have paid for that experience.”

He said nothing. I stared at his sloped, tense shoulders, perplexed, then glanced up at Constin.

There was no point in drawing the silvery Fae into a corner to talk about Andrei behind his back. These men didn't keep much from each other and I had suspicions regarding their hearing.

“I don't understand, Constin. What's wrong with him?”

“Do you think he enjoyed causing people he loves pain?” Constin’s sharp eyes bored into my face. “There's a cost. There's always a cost. Not just to you.”

The punishment had hurt Andrei too. I scooted forward and leaned my chest against his back, looping my arms around him. Tentatively, because I wasn’t certain my touch was welcome. Was I supposed to ask first?

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I made you go there.”

I’d shunted aside my own torture with the ruthless focus I did everything else; thinking about it wouldn’t help me reach my goals. So I obliterated the memory. Collapsing into a heap would put me off my game in the morning, and I couldn’t afford a single misstep.

Muscles shifted under my cheek as Andrei lifted his head. “Next time it won't be a spanking, Anah. Not for the same infraction. I’m your bonded, but I'm also your Lord and if you disobey me, if you place the House in danger, I must respond. I can't be seen not to respond. Do you understand?”

I kissed his shoulder.

“I regret,” he continued, voice soft, “you're being forced to acclimate to ways that aren’t yours. I regret I’m not strong enough to give you a choice.”

This was the discussion Constin and I already had, and the luudthen was right. There were cons to this situation, but the pros outweighed them.

The biggest pro being the Fae kneeling in front of me.

I tightened my arms. “Do you want to cuddle?”

“Is cuddle a mortal euphemism for fucking?”

He was in a mood. He wasn't normally this crude.

“If you want.”

Andrei stilled. His chest stopped moving with the rise and fall of his breaths.

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