Page 18 of Magic of Sins

“But if I agree to this, you have to come to the East End with me.”

“To the East End?” I can’t stop my voice from sounding shrill. “Are you allowed to leave the palace?”

I thought the Royal Guard arrested Caden. Not that he looks like a prisoner, and this room is certainly not a prison.

Caden smirks. “Of course I’m allowed to leave the palace. I’m a guest who comes and goes as he pleases.”

Then he must have even more power over the king than I previously thought. I worry my lower lip some more.

“Well, what do you say? Will you accompany me to the East End?”

Caden tilts his head, looking at me under half-closed lids, waiting. He’s expecting me to say no.I can see it clearly on his face. But I’ve gotten this far, and I’m certainly not going to back down now.

“All right,” I say.

A little twitch of his eyebrows betrays his surprise. Once again, his gaze glides over my outfit.

“You’ll have to wear something else though. In that innocent getup, you’d be easy prey.”

I remember the woman at the party whose skirt only came down to her knees. Do I really want to go through with this? Go to Hell with the Devil himself at my side?

“When do we leave?” I hear myself ask to my own surprise.

Caden lets his head tilt back and laughs. The sound is warm and gentle. It envelops me, brings a smile to my lips, even though I don’t want it to.

“You sure seem to be in a hurry. I knew there was more to you than this.” He tugs at the sleeve of my sweater, drawing my attention to his hand still holding my wrist. I hurriedly pull away from him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask indignantly.

Caden winks at me.

“It means you’re nowhere near as boring as your drab attire suggests.”

I hesitate to take off my sweater, but at some point, it becomes so oppressively hot in the conservatory that I can’t take it any longer. I’d also like to get rid of my thick tights, but that’s impossible as long as I’m with Caden.

We walk side by side through the conservatory. I should be uncomfortable being this close to him, but I’m not. He seems to know quite a bit about plants. He tells me about the places of origin of some of the flowers and trees. Some of them come from such exotic lands that I can’t help but marvel.

Eventually we reach the lily pond again. Caden dips his fingers into the water, tracing a semicircle across the surface. I watch furtively as the droplets bead on his skin.

“You should give it a try,” he says.

I raise my gloved hands to indicate it’s impossible. A teasing smile tugs at the corner of Caden’s mouth.

“If we go to the East End together, I’ll get to see a lot more of you than just your bare hands, love. So come on, no false modesty.”

My heart pounds as he plucks the gloves from my fingers. I could fight back, tell him to stop right now, but I don’t. Part of me enjoys the soft tingle his nearness causes.

I expect Caden to take my hand and intertwine his fingers with mine. But after taking off my gloves, he merely lets go of my hands and drops the gloves on the ground before turning back to the water.

“Go ahead.”

I roll my eyes because he sounds so smug about it, as if the pond belongs to him and he’s just decided to share it with me. Nevertheless, I bend over and dip my fingers into the deliciously cool water.

Never before have I been so aware of how water feels as it gently washes over my hands, or how drops fall from my fingers onto the surface and create ever-widening circles. The sunshines through the glass dome and glistens on the pond. Little colorful fish swim in the water.

I allow myself to tilt my head back and close my eyes for a moment. The sun’s rays dance across my face, tickling my skin.

When I open my eyes again, I look into Caden’s blue-gray thundercloud ones, which seem to examine me with some fascination. He reaches out his hand as if to touch my face but then pulls it back at the last second.

---