Page 12 of Obsidian Prince

The prince hugged him, but Liliana saw the Colonel’s eye roll at Eliot’s histrionics. Then, he pushed the younger man to arm's length so he could study his face. "This spell you used on my sergeant, and intend to use on Pete’s boyfriend, what are the effects?"

The wizard shrugged. "It makes them think they’re crazy in love with me, do anything I tell them to.”

Alexander’s brows knit. “I can see where that would be a useful strategy, especially with Giovanni. She seems to fall in and out of love every other week. But don’t use it on Ben. Pete and Ben are too close. It could cause serious repercussions.”

Eliot waved a hand. “Oh, don’t worry. When they’ve done what I need, I’ll just tell them I don’t want them anymore, and they’ll kill themselves. With them dead, no one will ever have a chance to tie anything back to us."

“That’s not how I do things and you know it.” Anger hardened Alexander’s square jaw. His hands dropped away from the other man.

The young wizard chuckled. He snuggled up to Alexander’s broad, unyielding chest again. “I know you’d rather keep things civilized, but those spells only affect Normals. It wouldn’t hurt anyone important.”

Alexander’s arms did not lift to embrace the young man again. Instead, he twisted his body out of Eliot’s arms, disengaging. His voice went blank and bored as he turned his back to the wizard. "You said the spell on my sergeant is broken. You haven’t put it on anyone else yet. Correct?"

William Eliot nodded. “Yeah, but I will.” He straightened his back. “I swear I will at least get the details of what happened to the sword. I’ll get it for you if at all possible. If Aurore wants it bad enough to send her pet assassins, it must be important. Just leave it to me."

He turned a cold stare on William Eliot. “I think you’ve done enough.” The ice in his voice could cause frostbite. "Despite your failure, I will arrange for the payment we agreed on to be sent to you.”

Liliana shivered as all emotion leeched from the Fae prince’s previous warm reassurance. She would hate to be in the wizard’s shoes. Gone from warmth and welcome to ice and rejection in a moment.

“I will no longer be needing your services, in any capacity,” Alexander turned his back again on the handsome, wounded man whose eyes filled with genuine tears this time.

"I don't care about the money. I just..." Eliot wrapped his arms around himself.

Liliana recognized the look on the man's face. He had no reason to seduce Sgt. Giovanni, hurt Ben Harper, or fight Pete. Eliot had done all the cruel things he did for only one reason, for love of Alexander Bennett. He had tried so hard to impress the prince. Liliana suspected he genuinely didn’t understand what he’d done wrong.

"I’ll inform my superiors that your services are no longer needed.” Alexander sat down. He picked up the book he had been reading, opening it to the marked page as if Eliot were already gone.

Liliana was appalled. There was no sympathy, no gentleness to the end of a relationship that had seemed well established just moments before. She had seen how calculating Alexander could be, but had no idea he could be so deliberately cruel.

"But we're the same, you and I, a mix of royal Fae and human. I thought we were forever.” A tear rolled down, streaking the dirt on the wizard’s cheek. “You said ..." He stumbled to a stop.

Alexander Bennett looked up from his book, his face devoid of any emotion. He looked bored, as if breaking someone’s heart was a routine task for him. "What did I ever say that led you to the conclusion our arrangement was permanent?"

"I just ... I thought you loved ..." Another tear dripped down the wizard's face. It ran over his sharp cheekbone and dripped off his jaw.

Alexander gave him a blank, bored look, one eyebrow raised as if wondering why the man was still standing in his living room.

"I see.” Eliot nodded, took a deep breath, and straightened his shoulders. “I was wrong." He limped out the same way he'd come in.

As Eliot left, the pain on his face quickly transformed into fury. His puffy, tear-filled eyes flashed red like hot coals without his dark glasses to hide them.

The spider-kin snapped the handle off the cup she had been drinking tea from.

Liliana despised Eliot. The more she saw of William Eliot III, the less she wanted to have anything to do with him. But at that moment, she felt heartsick for the handsome young wizard.

She had begun to consider the Fae prince as a potential life mate. Now, she wondered if she should reconsider her previous decision, and let Alexander Bennett die. His heart was as cold as the obsidian stone of his Fae form.

Anyone who loved the unseelie prince would be setting themselves up for heartbreak the moment they made a mistake.

Chapter4

Three Lionesses

In an effort todo something with her day more useful than being furious at Alexander Bennett, Liliana spent every spare moment that she wasn’t in appointments searching for options to help Ben find his way into their world. Pete and Ben deserved to be happy. They were obviously a far better match than she and Colonel Bennett were. But Ben would never marry Pete, not until he truly knew the wolf-kin—not just the public part of his life, that he was a bio-scientist forensics consultant for Fort Liberty’s CID—but the more secret aspects of his life as a red Celtic werewolf. That would require the science teacher to accept the hidden world of magic and creatures that most Normals believed to be mythological.

Every time Liliana tried to focus, though, she kept bumping into images of Alexander Bennett that would not leave her alone. She ignored the flashes of the prince's handsome face that continually appeared whenever she didn't focus hard on something else. She couldn't get her unruly mind to stop thinking about him, but she could make sure it no longer affected her life.

The one thing she would never do was allow herself to love someone who broke hearts without a second thought. She wasn’t an idiot. Alexander Bennett was a cold-hearted pig. She would have to get over her interest in him.

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