Page 102 of The Prince from a Cruel Summer
“Are too.”
“Don’t you dare tell anyone that I’mkind.” A disgusted grimace twists her lips, a full-bodied shiver shaking her down from head to toe. “Ugh.”
The silly argument brings back colors to my cheeks and warmth to my chest. I glare at the cold bed, the imprint of Ethan’s body still ruffling the duvet, and shake my head. “Do you know this castle well?”
“Well enough.”
“I need you to do me a favor, too.”
She arches a brow, her careful, pacifying tone melting in favor of her usual snark. “Another one?”
“I-I need to find Aidan’s room.”
Her gaze softens. “You really love him.”
I take offense at the surprise in her tone. “Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yes. I can read people’s feelings pretty well, but I can’t read yours, and distrusted you from the start because of it.” She opens the door for me, and guides me through the hallways. “Maybe your siren blood was blocking my radar or something.”
“But you don’t approve.”
A wistful pout overpowers her face. “Aidan is just like the rest of them. When the time comes, he’ll choose his birthright and duties over his heart.”
I bite my bottom lip. “Maybe.”
“I’ll take you to him.”
We weave through a series of long hallways and cross a mezzanine. Devi motions me forward to a set of double-doors with gilded frames and amber knobs. “Here he is.”
I give the panel a soft knock, and almost immediately, Aidan cracks open the door, his hair disheveled. The sight of him in his bedroom fills me with a mix of heat and dread, and I wish I could have come here under different circumstances.
A bright smile stretches across his full lips as our gazes meet. “Songbird.”
I turn to acknowledge Devi and thank her for her help, but she’s gone—evaporated, just like that. Poof. I squint at the empty corridor, my guts in knots.
Aidan opens the door wider. “I’m so glad. I was dying to come and see you.”
“I don’t want to be alone tonight, but I can’t— Will you just hold me?” I whisper.
He nods solemnly, as if he can see every emotional scar etched across my face, and drapes his arm around me. “Always.”
Out there in Wintermere, the only thought that kept me going was how much I missed him. How different his touch feels—how it registers in a way no one else’s does. Deep down, I believe Aidan would protect me from even the most vicious of kings.
He wraps his arms around me as we settle onto his mattress, spooning me, but I accidentally bump my ass against his crotch. My lids flutter at the notion that he’s already that hard, even though we haven’t even kissed. I don’t want to escalate this any further, but his warmth and scent lull the horror of the night away, my neck flushed. I bite my bottom lip, resisting the temptation to grind against him.
“Nowthisis torture,” he pants, squeezing me closer but keeping his hands in a safe, innocent spot.
I sleep better in Aidan’s royal bed than I did the entire break.
The shadow of my siren heritage looms over us, threatening to steal another night like this, so I hold him tighter, savoring every moment. I won’t have sex with him—not when his free will is in question—but it feels so good to hold him.
Because, in spite of my best efforts, I’m desperately in love with him.
Chapter 31
Fairytales
SONGBIRD
