Page 52 of Prince of Never

‘Please don’t tell me I have to ride the griffin,’ she said suddenly as we approached the door and I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips as I imagined her worrying hers with her teeth.

‘You’re going to have to ride the griffin.’

Chapter 24

Tarian

Wedidn’tspeakatall on the journey back.It was like our conversation was still hanging in the air, fragile as bubbles that we were afraid to pop by saying anything else.But she was more ginger in the way she held onto me as we flew, like any touch now could turn into something more.Like she was afraid that I might change my mind if she held on too tight.As though my mind had any say in what would happen next when her arms were wrapped around my waist, her body a scorching presence behind me.

When we landed, Arun was waiting to discuss a missive he’d received, and Madam Hetia was waiting to fuss over me and shoot narrow-eyed glares at Imogen, and between the two of them we didn’t have much of a chance to speak to each other.But I looked at her, imagined drawing the straps of her dress down over her shoulders, kissing the back of her neck, and whenever she caught my eye, she turned bright pink and looked away again.

And then she was gone, disappearing down a corridor while Arun shadowed my steps to my room, talking about something I wasn’t paying attention to as I thought about watching that dress slip off her hips, what she would look like underneath.

‘Tarian, are you listening?’

‘What?’I asked, jolted back into the hallway outside my bedroom door as I realised Arun was staring at me, waiting for an answer to a question I hadn’t heard.

He raised his eyebrows.‘Or we can talk about this when you’re less distracted.’

‘Sorry,’ I muttered.‘I’m tired.’

‘Uh huh, sure you are,’ he said with the phantom of a smirk haunting the corners of his mouth.I scowled at him, but he only chuckled.‘I’ll leave you to yoursleep, then.’He clapped me on the shoulder, and strode on down the hall, whistling as he went.I stared after him for a moment, huffing an exasperated sigh before entering my bedroom and closing the door behind me.But despite what I’d said to Arun, I didn’t head for the bed.I began to pace, needing to do something to dispel some of the energy buzzing through my body as I replayed the conversation on the bench over and over in my head.

Maybe I could have her.From what I’d read at the archives and from what Haddock had said, mate bonds were solidified when they were consummated, when the magic of the bondbrandedyour skin, but there were a lot of things I wanted to do to her that didn’t need to go that far.Maybe I could have her and still break the bond.I just needed a taste of her to keep from spiralling into insanity.

But what about the prophesy?She was destined to be the downfall of the fucking Unseelie Court.

I’d find another way around the prophesy.Arun thought star prophesies could be misinterpreted.Maybe this one had been, too.

What if I couldn’t control myself and it went too far?

The logic of lust didn’t have an answer for that, and so I ignored it, reasoning and reassuring my way around all the possible problems that would come from winding up at her door, until I was standing at her door.Until I was knocking on it.Until it was opening, and she was standing there like she’d been waiting for me.She’d let her hair down, and it hung loose around her shoulders, gold even in the muted evening light.

‘Hi.’She looked nervous.

‘You’re still wearing this?’I skimmed my hand down the silky blue fabric of the dress she’d worn to the ball.‘Isn’t it uncomfortable?’

‘I can’t figure out how to get it off.’She glanced down, bit her lip.Looked up again.‘I was sort of hoping you’d help me.’

‘Only if you never want to wear it again.’It would be in pieces.

‘Well, I suppose wearing the same dress twice is considered social suicide anyway.’She was deflecting with humour, leaving a hundred other things left unsaid, things that were probably best left unsaid.

She walked back into the room, and I shut the door behind me as I followed her in.‘There are these laces at the back, and I can’t reach them.’She turned her back to me and lifted her hair.Walking to her slowly, I trailed my fingers down the back of her neck.Her breath hitched, but she held stock still.

I drew closer, leaned in to whisper in her ear.‘Do you know what you’re asking?’

‘I haven’t changed my mind.’Her voice wavered.Beautiful, bold creature.I’d never known anyone who spoke plainly like that, who would be so open and vulnerable as to simply ask for what they wanted.Pressing a ghost of a kiss to the shell of her ear, my fingers went to the laces of her dress, suddenly wanting to be gentle, to be slow, to keep myself from tearing at the fabric in a rush to have it off her.I loosened them, peeled the dress open to reveal glimpses of black satin underneath, slipped the straps down her arms.The dress fell away like the petals plucked from a bloom, pooling on the floor at her feet.She took a deep breath and turned to face me.

The black satin of her shift clung to her, hiding nothing, revealing the curves of her hips, her breasts, the peaks in the fabric where her nipples were already hard.I took her in, running my eyes all the way down her.When I reached for her, she held up a hand to stop me.

‘Take your shirt off,’ she said, her eyes bright, like she was thrilled at her own daring.

‘You’re giving me orders now?’

‘You’ve been ordering me around since I got here.I think it’s only fair.’

I smirked, took hold of my shirt and pulled it up over my head, tossing it to the floor by her dress.She stared at me, her eyes not straying from my face, like she was afraid to look at what she’d asked for.

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