Page 89 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

“I doubt I can take all of the headache away, but I can take the edge off of it, if you’d like,” he says.

“Yes please,” I groan.

His hand, pleasantly cool, lands on my forehead. I flinch instinctively at the contact but force myself to relax. Then I flinch again when I realize belatedly that he’s about to workmagicon me.

“Easy, there,” he murmurs, and then he mutters a string of unfamiliar words under his breath.

Like a wave washing away a castle in the sand, the pounding of my head dissipates. All that remains is a faint twinge. My whole body goes liquid from the relief, and Rahk catches the bowl before I drop it. I turn my head toward him, to find he’s kneeling beside the bed. His silver hair is loose and falls in waves to his chest.

He smiles at me, his eyes twinkling in the morning light.

My shoulders stiffen. Why does he look at me so . . . so . . .softly?

And what in thesaintsis going on? What happened last night? Why is he tending to me instead of me tending to him? I glance at the window, at the angle of sunlight. The sun has been up for some time already.

Am I decent beneath these covers? I can feel my chest binding with every breath, so I know I’m still wearing that. But last night is a complete blank in my mind.

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so vulnerable in my entire life.

The prince seems to catch my rising panic. His expression shifts at once, and he gets to his feet. He somehow seems taller when he turns his back to me. “Does a drinking game with servants ring any bells in your mind?”

I see Jack, Finn, and Arthur with their game of Crowns and their bottle of whiskey. Horror fills my gut. “I got drunk!”

“Very, very drunk.” His tone changes slightly. “Do you . . . remember anything?”

My mouth goes dry. “Remember . . . what? Oh, I said things, didn’t I?”

I blathered all my secrets to him last night, didn’t I? I want to throw myself from the bed and just try to run away as fast as I can. Maybe I can put some distance between us before he catches up and slaughters me.

The prince turns, regarding me impassively. Gone is the warmth of his smile. He’s the stoic prince I cannot read at all. He moves to the table, drops into his chair, and flips open the book he was reading. He’s almost finished with it. “You went to bed shortly after you returned drunk.”

A tiny glimmer of hope sparks in my chest. He doesn’tlooklike he’s about to murder me.

“Did I say foolish things? You know how terribly foolish I can be when sober! It must have been even worse when drunk! I never wanted to get drunk! I tried to leave but they said they’d steal my clothes if I did!”

His attention flicks up from his book at that, a frown etched into his face. “Who? Did they hurt you?”

I shake my head.

“Who were these people?”

The boys’ names are on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow them back. “They didn’t mean harm. I’d rather not get them in trouble. But please, my lord—I must know what I said last night.”

Rahk does not seem pleased with my silence, but he doesn’t press. “Ease your worries. You said almost nothing.”

“Nothing?” I blink twice, expecting to wake up again and realize I’m dreaming up this good fortune. “Nothing at all?”

“Almost nothing. There was one thing you said.”

I gulp.

“You said you were in danger. You were afraid I was going to kill you.”

Oh no. “Well—you’re a fae. You’re a warrior, and you have those great big swords back home, and you’re practically the size of a mountain. And I saw you kill all those assassins in just a few minutes. You’re scary!”

He just looks at me without a stitch of emotion on his face.

“And then you do that!” I cry, gesturing at him and completely forgetting to not behave so much like myself. “You make it impossible to guess what you’re thinking!”

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