Page 101 of The Prince from a Cruel Summer
The loud creak of the door is barely audible over the sound of my frazzled heartbeats, and my gaze darts up to see Devi enter the room, barefoot and wrapped in fighting leathers instead of her golden dress.
“It’s late, Your Majesty,” Devi enunciates slowly, her voice as even and congenial as ever as she inches my bedroom door open all the way.
“Violet,” Ethan gasps.
I keep my eyes down, my arms firmly planted at my sides, shaking all over.
“I think we should all get to bed. Don’t you agree?”
Ethan snarls under his breath and slicks his long hair back. “Oh, why do I care if some silly girl is too stupid to grab the chance of a lifetime. I would have paid you tenfold, moth. And now you’ll be left with nothing.”
He storms out of the room, and Devi presses the door shut behind him.
“Wh— How?” my body quakes, wave after wave of cold sweat dripping between my shoulder blades, overwhelmed with all that just happened.
And whatalmosthappened.
She swallows hard. “He might resent you forever for turning him down, but he shouldn’t try to force himself on you again, not for a while.”
I sit on the sofa and wrap a spare blanket around my frame, my legs too weak to hold me up anymore, and wait for the trembles to subside. Devi waits patiently, silent as I try to fix together the pieces of the night and how they led me here, puzzled by what gave this king the idea to wait for me in my bedroom. Why he would even bother, when his partner was so much more beautiful?What did I do?
After a while, Devi sighs. “You did nothing wrong, Beth. Imagine what it’s like to be him. The King of Light, able to walk anywhere unseen, unchecked, and slip into anyone’s bed… and that’s not even the worst of it. I bet most women acquiesce to his demand, terrified of his reprisal, and then it’s not rape, is it? It never is when powerful men are concerned. When I’m queen, they’ll all have to change their tune. Especially a demon like Ethan Lucifer Lightbringer.”
“But why?” I ask quietly, the tears in my voice somehow not reaching my eyes.
“We’re more similar than you think. Spring princesses and sirens, I mean. Men blame us for their appetites, putting the burden of not being so beautiful and enticing upon us instead of taking responsibility for their flawed characters. Do you know how many married men pursue me, at times for months on end, sometimes even succeeding in their seduction, only to curse my magic and me come morning?
Once they got what their egos craved, they blamed me, a teenager, for their sins.”
My mind flashes to the way Ethan looked at her. “What do you have on him? Why did he leave?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She hands me my flannel pajamas. “Let’s get you to bed.”
I take the fabric and hold it close to my chest. “Thank you.”
“You did well tonight. Being there for Willow, dealing with Zeke while following through on what I asked, and holding Aidan at arms’ length. It must not have been easy,” she says soothingly.
“Did it work? Did she drink the wine?” I ask, desperate to distract myself from the memory of Ethan’s razor-sharp nails scratching my neck.
“Yes.”
“Did you find out who she means to marry?”
“Not yet.”
I climb to my wobbly feet and put on the two-piece pajama set. Once I’m covered, Devi places a soft hand on my shoulder and gently guides me toward the bed.
"Lie down. I’ll stay here, in the chair, until you fall asleep, alright?"
Standing guard. Because Ethan might return. Despite her earlier reassurance that he would not try again, Devi’s actions seem to imply she doesn’t know what he might do.
“Why are you being so nice? You hate me,” I croak.
“I don’t hate you, moth. I think you’re dangerously unprepared for what’s coming. You’re just like me, cursed to attract all sorts of creeps, and yet you blush at the first mention of sex and pretend you’re as plain looking as the other moths you grew up with. And frankly, the studious virgin facade irks me.” A heavy sigh whistles out of her lungs. “But I wouldn’t wish what happened tonight on my worst enemy.”
“You’re kinder than I thought.”
“Am not.”
