Page 82 of Prince of Never

I leaned down, kissed her.‘Yes.’

She reached up and touched the tip of her ear, moving her fingers down over her cheek and jaw.‘This is so weird.I’m going to have to find a mirror when we go back.’

I didn’t really want to go back.Ever.But I respected her need to understand this new version of herself.‘So long as you remember that it doesn’t change who you are.You’re still Imogen.You just look different.’

‘And I’ll live forever, apparently,’ she muttered, sitting up and casting around for her clothes.I didn’t want to let her dress.She looked exquisite in the pale dawn.I wanted to kiss my way down her shoulder and trace the peak of her breast with my tongue, but she’d already shrugged her dress over her head.She stared down at her hands for a moment, something troubling her expression that I wanted to smooth away with my thumbs.‘Why do you think my fae parents never came to get me?’

I sat up, touched a hand to her back.‘I don’t know.But I’m sure we can find out.’

She nodded, then rose to her feet and stretched.‘God, I’m hungry.’

Well, unless she wanted to fish some ashrays out of the pool, we were going to have to go back to Dreadhold.I climbed to my feet, relished the way her gaze dropped, taking me in, the way her throat bobbed as she swallowed and shot her eyes back to my face.I swiped my shirt off the floor.‘Then let’s get you home.’

When we arrived back at Dreadhold, Melaie only snapped her beak at Imogen once, which seemed like progress to me.Perhaps she was adjusting to flying around with her.And Imogen barely seemed to register the click of the griffin’s beak, instead staring up at Dreadhold with a pensive expression.

‘Why is it so big and menacing?’she sighed.

‘You’ll get used to it,’ I said, because I didn’t really have an answer for her.

I caught sight of Arun emerging from a doorway, pausing on the steps with folded arms and a slight smile on his mouth.Running a hand across my eyes, I let out a breath.That outside world was descending quicker than it should.I took Imogen’s hand, squeezed it.

‘Go find Sarah,’ I said.‘I know you want to talk to her.Then have breakfast.The rest we can figure out later.’She sucked on her bottom lip, scanning my face with a frown tugging down her brows.It looked like she thought I might disappear the moment she took her eyes off me.I leaned in and kissed her softly.‘Wewillfigure it out, Imogen.All of it.Prophesies and palaces and crowns and all of your worries.’

‘Okay,’ she said as Arun descended the steps and headed towards us.‘That seems like a lot to figure out, but okay.’She withdrew her hand, headed towards the castle, her footsteps crunching through the frost on the grass.Arun’s gaze lingered on her as she passed him, assessing her with a warm curiosity, before he turned to me.

‘Good night?’he asked as he reached me.

‘You could say that.’

‘Still feeling swindled by fate?’

I scowled at him.

‘I suppose it’s too soon to ask you to admit that I was right, then,’ he laughed, shaking his head.‘But I will one of these days.’

The scowl cracked, breaking into a half smile.It felt like everything would roll off me this morning, like nothing would touch the force of the good mood I was wrapped in.But Arun sobered, a furrow of regret appearing on his brow that immediately made me uneasy.

‘What’s wrong?’I asked immediately.

He scrubbed a hand at the back of his neck.‘The queen is bringing the date of your wedding forward.’

Well, there was something that could deflate my mood after all.‘Of course she is.’

‘What are you going to do about it?’

Frowning down at my feet for a few moments, I considered the question, weighing up my options.It didn’t take me long to make a decision.‘I’m going to the Unseelie Palace,’ I said, clicking my tongue at Melaie to catch her attention before she took off.

‘Now?’

‘Now.’

‘In yesterday’s clothes and smelling like your mate?’

‘In yesterday’s clothes and smelling like my mate.’

‘Alright,’ he sighed as I stroked Melaie’s neck and murmured an apology for keeping her from her own breakfast.‘It’s your head.’

***

---