Page 45 of Royal Captive
“I have work to do,” Calten insisted, cutting over Shyllon and strolling away, a glare directed right at me.
A smirk curled at the corner of Shyllon’s mouth, even as my mouth went dry and Alihandro rolled his eyes.
“Brat. He does it on purpose. He’s looking forward to his punishment later,” Shyllon explained, which didn’t reallyexplain anything at all to me. But I understood the look of desire in his eyes, and the amusement that coated his voice.
Maybe it was a fae thing.
Those silver eyes snapped to mine, and my breathing stilled. Even if he wasn’t interested in me, being the sole focus of his gaze left my mouth dry. Just as quickly, he turned and glared at Alihandro.
“That’s heavy-handed,” he commented wryly, popping an olive into his mouth. He made a gesture toward me with his fingers, addressing me. “Eat, Princess.”
What was heavy-handed? The meat and cheese was more distracting than Shyllon’s comments, and I was starving. I hadn’t eaten anything at the little welcome picnic for the humans, after all. I reached for a piece of what looked like sliced ham, cut and arranged around a small wooden spear to look like a flower.
“Heavy handed?” Alihandro chuckled. “Heavy handed is what would have happened to her at the pleasure house and probably within a day. Everyone knows your preferences. Your desperate ploy was pathetic, and you’re lucky Cassus has nothing left to lose. At least now it’s believable.”
The meat was still warm in my hand, juice running down the pads of my fingers. It smelled divine as I raised it to my lips. It tasted sweeter somehow, coming from Alihandro.
“Believable?” Shyllon chuckled. “Every fae in this room smelled what’s between her thighs. There’s probably a message on its way to our father right now. You really want to fight this battle now?”
My hand fell down to the table, the meat tumbling across the tablecloth, forgotten.
“Whatdid you say?” I managed, my voice an octave higher than normal. “Did you … you said … Everyone can smell me?”
I’d expected the looks, but not the … sniffing?
It all made a bit more sense now. That was why Alihandro had dragged me straight here, and not allowed me to clean up. It was a macho power move on his part.
Had he done it only for that reason, and not because he wanted me?
My lips thinned.
Alihandro hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me into his lap as he sat down in the cushions next to Shyllon, who glared and let out a growl toward everyone in the room and their penetrating stares.
I hated how much I loved it, how much my core throbbed with need and how a primal side of me purred with contentment at such a blatant display of ownership.
What was wrong with me? I’d never liked this sort of thing before.…
Heads immediately turned away, their grunts and groans too loud and exuberant to be entirely truthful.
“I bought you for the next month to save you from what awaited you in the pleasure house—a long, long line of noble customers from father’s court with a grudge against humans and nothing to stop them from taking it out on their figurehead.” He nodded at Alihandro, whose hand still curled around my waist, keeping me in place.
“Wait, a month—” I choked out.
“—but with my proclivities well known, they would see it for what it truly was. Hence, my brother here had to—literally—take matters into his own hands. Now I can claim it was a gift for him.”
Alihandro grumbled. “As he has all the money. I, however, inherited the good looks.”
Shyllon rolled his eyes. “Yes, because it was such asacrificeon your part.”
Alihandro smirked, his grip on my waist tightening.
Ok, so at least hehadwanted me. That was something.
Money … power … and a giant manor to host wild sex parties?
“I thought—I thought you were both guards,” I managed weakly. What had princes been doing sludging around in armor doing grunt work with the other soldiers?
Alihandro grinned down at me, the tips of his fangs just visible under his lips.
