Page 85 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
“I’m the heir. An unwed prince. Vareck is assumed to be a more difficult target. So families looking to turn their daughters into royalty are more than happy to have a princess ... whether it’s their daughter’s shared ambition or not.”
My mouth fell open. “You mean ... their own mothers get them drunk and just, send them to you so you’ll bed them?”
“Yup,” he answered, popping the ‘p.’ “And I am many things, but I’m not that man.”
“But ... why didn’t you just say that when Vareck asked?”
He gave me a look. “Sadie calls me the playboy prince. You’ve seen how Vareck talks to me. They’ve already made up theirminds about who I am, and when I tried to explain myself, Vareck cut me off. So why bother?”
I opened my mouth, struggled for words, and closed it again. He had a point. Vareck one hundred percent believed Damon had defiled his bed, and Sadie tended to assume the worst—especially when she was attracted to someone. Even I had made my assumptions.
“So,” I said slowly, “you haven’t slept with any of the sixteen women you took to his room. Not there and not elsewhere?”
“Not a one,” Damon confirmed. “Also, completely unrelated to the discussion that a mother’s consent isn’t the daughter’s consent, is the notion of doing it on Vareck’s bed. That’s disgusting.”
His face twisted in genuine revulsion.
“I may get around,” he added, “but when I do, I still have standards.”
I smiled and huffed out a laugh. “You know, there’s really more to you than meets the eye.”
Damon cocked an eyebrow, giving me a sideways glance. “You think?”
I shrugged, playing it casual. “Maybe just a little.”
“Wow. That’s high praise coming from you. Should I alert the bards?”
“Are there bards in Faerie? Actually, I take that back. Pretend I didn’t ask.”
Damon let out a full bellied laugh. “You’re dating the king and yet?—”
“I know nothing about his kingdom? That is correct,” I said, fighting the tug of a smile. “I’m still wrapping my head around the idea that you’re secretly a gentleman under all that ...” I motioned toward him.
“That what?”
“You know. Swagger? Supreme self-assuredness?”
He held a hand to his chest, mocking offense. “I’ll have you know my swagger is an essential part of my charm. Without it, I’d just be a guy with good hair, a title, and a tragic backstory.”
I snorted. “You do have good hair.”
“And a tragic backstory. That’s an essential piece.”
“Is getting kidnapped tragic?”
He pressed his lips together in a faint grin. “I don’t know, you tell me. From the sounds of it, you got kidnapped not once but twice.”
I gave him a dry look. “Okay, fair. But it sounds way worse than it was. At least when Vareck did it. The brownies were just assholes.”
“They usually are, in my experience.” Damon huffed a soft laugh, but there was something thoughtful in his expression.
“You’re not wrong,” I added. “Once I got the magic nullifying necklace off, things were looking up. Until I ended up in a brothel facing off a leprechaun who couldn’t be compelled.”
“Nullifying necklace? Brothel? Okay, you have to tell me this story because you left a lot out when recounting it to Sadie, not that I blame you given her temper.” I proceeded to tell him the whole sordid story of how I took the job to kidnap him, not knowing I’d be going after a person. Then meeting Vareck and him showing up at my apartment after I left Damon that night. I went on to what happened at the castle, minus details I didn’t think he’d want to hear about me getting it on with his uncle. I finished the tale with being kidnapped by brownies, which I still have no idea what they were after, and ending up at Irene’s—where Vareck found me.
“Oh! And the cherry on top of it all was Corvo spilled pixie dust all over me and Vareck before we got away. Turd.”
“That is insane enough that I actually believe you. The truth is weirder than fiction in my experience.”
