Page 16 of The Winter Prince

But when he didn’t bite her head off for teaching Kienna how to read the Elyri alphabet from a children’s book, she relaxed. And Kienna did too.

The maid was good for something after all.

And slowly, as he showed up every afternoon—along with their dinners every evening—the fear faded into the background until it was so faint it stopped calling to the predator lurking in Revi’s mind. The silence became almost companionable. He found himself sitting, eyes closed, just listening to the peace of the library. Being with another person, without any demands on him, without any fear tainting the air—he’d forgotten how restorative that felt.

“Can I ask you something?” Kienna broke the silence for the first time since he’d entered that day.

Revi’s gaze flicked to her for half a second before he forced it back to his page, as if he’d been reading. He hadn’t, but she didn’t need to know that. He relished that she had spoken to him, and he spoke the first thing that came to mind. “You will regardless of how I answer that.”

The words came out more abruptly than he’d meant them, sounding more annoyed than teasing. He cringed internally; he could practically feel Enlo glowering at him. Not that his cousin was present, but if he were, he’d be furious at Revi for being rude to the human.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Kienna’s mouth twitch. She was probably withholding a frown.

“I’ve been rereading this story book—”

“Enjoying it that much, are you?” Revi cut in drily.

She shrugged. “You don’t have many books written in Kasmian Common, and sometimes my mind needs a rest from deciphering your Elyri runes. Anyway. I’ve been reading this one, with its stories about Elyri Courts. And this story.” She tapped the page.

“‘She pressed him for his loyalties, fear crippling her breaking heart

When she asked him who he stood beside—with whom he chose to plot

Jormun’s tongue ached to betray the truth, as tongues are wont to do

He wrapped a hand round his throat in a last bid to keep his secrets true.’”

Kienna looked up at Revi. Her eyes were bright, fetching in a way that made Revi want to lean closer to her, to run his hands through her hair. If he had hands, if he weren’t a cursed beast.

“This makes it sound like Jormun didn’t even have a choice in speaking the truth,” she said.

“Where’s the question?” Revi asked, finally wrestling his mind off her eyes and hair to focus on her words.

“Can Elyri lie?”

Revi blinked. Clever human. A small rumble rolled from him through the room. “No.”

Kienna’s eyes narrowed. “How do I know you’re not lying about that right now?”

Revi huffed out a laugh. There was nothing he could say that would assure her he wasn’t.

“I’ll just have to test it.” Kienna stood and set her book onto the chair’s cushion. Revi leaned away as she approached him, a determined glint to her eye. What was she plotting?

She perched on the end of Revi’s sofa, just beyond his book, and peered into Revi’s face. This close, he was wholly enveloped by her sweet scent, by how she filled his space with her bright green eyes and mischievous smile.

“What’s your name?”

Revi’s eyes narrowed. “You call me Beast.”

“And yet that’s not your name.”

“It’s a worthy title.”

“But it’s not your name. Do you not tell me your name because you hate me?”

Revi withheld a grimace. Of course that was the conclusion she’d come to. He was a beast. His every action probably felt threatening.

“I don’t hate you,” he said stiffly.

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