Page 25 of To Charm a Dark Prince

It was obvious that he sensed his nearness was affecting her, as he lingered there as he spoke, his words quiet next to her ear. “Eat. Drink. I give you my word, I only intend to speak to you tonight.”

“You sure?” She had a hard time believing that. From her limited interactions with people in Avalon, everybody made him out to be a monster. Merlin’s warning rang in her head. “You’re positive you aren’t planning on torturing me or anything?”

“Not unless you ask nicely.” His expression turned a little playful for a moment, and even just a little bit wicked. It made her cheeks go warm. She wasn’t used to being flirted with. And she was pretty sure that was him flirting.

Luckily, he took pity on her and sat down in his own chair. It was basically a throne, really. There was no way around it.

Clearing her throat, she reached for the wine and went to sip from it before hesitating.

“I promise it is not poisoned this time.” Leaning back in his chair, he watched her, curling his metal-clad fingers and resting his temple against them.

“Great. Thanks.” She took a sip. He might be lying. But then again, he might be doing a lot of things. If he wanted to knock her out or slip her truth serum, she supposed she couldn’t exactly stop him.

For a moment, he studied her in silence as she put some food onto her plate and began to eat. Her stomach grumbled in impatient gratitude. A billion questions were burning away in her head, and she had no idea where to start. “You’re a prince, huh?”

“Last I checked.” It must be funny for a guy like him to have some bright-eyed and bushy-tailed girl from Earth running around like a total fish out of water. It was clear how amused he was by her.

“Is there a king?”

“That would have required the elementals ever agreeing on anything.” He huffed, clearly having an extremely low opinion of them. “No. There has only ever once been a true crowned king of Avalon, and it was a posthumous honor to a hero. He barely lived for two weeks before he passed from his wounds.”

Fascinated, she turned in her seat to face him. “Who was it? King Arthur?”

“Correct.” He sipped his wine. “He was brought here with mortal wounds, in search of magic that could heal him. Unfortunately, Avalon did not see fit to spare him.”

It was still socoolthat he had been real. She sighed wistfully. “I wonder what he was like.”

“Just, and firm. A true king the likes of which had not been seen before or since. I would not say that he was kind, but he certainly was not cruel.” He studied the wine in his glass. “Snored like a sawmill. Sharing a tent with him was an experience in patience. I sometimes wonder if that was not where I developed my sleeplessness.”

“Wait.” She blinked. “Youknewhim?”

“One would think so.” His lips twisted into that lopsided smile of his that seemed to come so easily to him. “He was my uncle, after all.”

SEVEN

“You’re shitting me!” Gwen shoved Mordred’s metal-clad arm.

“I—” He arched an eyebrow. “I fear I am having trouble parsing that one…Either you are expressing disbelief, or this conversation has taken averystrange turn.”

Her cheeks went hot. “That’s—it was the first one. I didn’t mean that literally.” She laughed.

He chuckled along with her. “I would hope not. I am telling you the truth. I came here with Arthur and his knights in search of the power to save his life. Sadly, we were…unsuccessful.”

“Whoa.” It was clear there was way more of a story there than what he was telling her. All her questions burst out at once. “How old are you? How did you know to come here? I bet it was Merlin. Oh shit, did you know Merlin? Was he awesome? Is he still around somewhere? Did Arthur really have a magical sword? Was there really a lady in the lake? Or did it come out of a stone? And—”

He was laughing, waving a clawed hand at her. “I surrender, I surrender. One at a time, please.”

She sat back. “Sorry. This is just exciting.”

“I am glad. Here, I was afraid you would be cowering in terror all night. I much prefer to be besieged by questions.” He reached over and refilled her goblet.

“Are you going to answer any of them?” She smiled, teasing him back for once.

He leaned back and hooked his leg over the arm of his throne. He didn’t seem much like a stuffy, tyrannical asshole to her. But maybe he was just being nice. “What will I get in exchange?”

“I really don’t have much to bargain with.”

“I would beg to differ.” There was that mischievous glint in his eyes.

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