Page 43 of Obsidian Prince

The prince looked around her living room for a place to sit. He seemed to consider the chair where Pete and Doctor Nudd liked to sit.

He took off his coat and dress uniform jacket. A myriad of colorful ribbons set off the dark blue woolly fabric. He laid them down on the big chair with his hat on top of the neat pile.

His strong arms slipped under the spider-kin's shoulders and knees. Alexander swooped her up off the couch like she was light as a feather. He spun her around and sat on her couch where she had been a moment before, but now her body fitted comfortably against his chest in the crook of his arm.

Liliana giggled. "I like this, too." She snuggled in closer to his broad chest. Her broken left arm was safe in the sling in her lap. Her right hand rested on his chest. She flattened it over his heart where it seemed to belong.

"I'm glad to hear that." His hand stroked her hair back from her face, fingertips gentle on the swollen bruises on that side.

"Are you going to kiss me now?" She looked up at his full mouth with just her human eyes, licking her lips.

"Definitely."

She opened her third eyes as his lips touched hers. He was worried about her. He had been thinking about her all day, both how beautiful and how tiny she was. She’d been so badly injured. He worried that he left her here alone, that if she needed help, no one would know. He should have insisted she go to a hospital. He was both relieved and disconcerted to find she didn't need anything from him.

His concern made her heart soar. Her stoic prince had a heart that she had begun to win.

"You don't need to worry. My friends have been taking good care of me."

"You must have some very good friends."

"I do." The truth of that struck the spider-kin again. She had been alone a long time, long enough that she would never be able to take having friends for granted. "I didn't have any friends at all until I met Pete. I also didn't have to fight widow spiders and really big lions, but I like my life better now."

"Was Pete here?" His body tensed a little. His expression and voice became bland and bored.

"Yes. He moved the bag of money. He put ice packs on me, and he kissed me before he left."

"Pete kissed you? Does Pete kiss you a lot?" His voice still sounded like the answer was unimportant to him, but Liliana wasn't fooled.

She giggled. "You're jealous of Pete."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You told me you wouldn't look in my head unless we were kissing."

"I didn't need to look." She tapped him on the nose with her fingertip. "I just know."

"You didn't answer my question." His lips pursed in annoyance bordering on anger.

He was so quick to anger. She didn't want him angry with Pete. Her prince could be a very dangerous man. "He doesn't kiss me like you do."

"What do you mean?"

Liliana gave his unscarred cheek a sisterly peck. "Pete kisses me like that."

"Ah, I see." She felt his body release tension, snuggling her closer. His face lost its hardness.

Liliana smiled at him, wide and wicked, showing him her fangs. "Normally, jealousy is a problem, but I think I like that you were jealous."

"Why would you like that?” He wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Jealousy is an emotion I try hard to avoid."

"You wouldn't be jealous if I wasn't important to you."

He drew up with a blink. "That's ... true."

"You like me because I always tell you the truth." Liliana's hand wandered over the planes of Alexander's chest. She could feel the shape of his large pectoral muscles through his button-down shirt. She loosened his tie until the short end came out of the knot, then tossed the useless piece of fabric on the floor.

He watched, bemused as she struggled to unbutton the old-fashioned buttons on his uniform shirt one-handed and uncoordinated from intoxication. "That's not the only reason I like you," he said, voice so soft it was almost a whisper. He kissed her forehead, but it didn't feel the least bit like Pete's kisses. His lips trailed to her cheek on the side that wasn't bruised, then to her ear.

Liliana wondered if kissing that was not on the lips qualified as kissing that would let her look into him. "I want to know the other reasons. Can I look?"

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