Page 67 of To Charm a Dark Prince

“No, I’m not.” Yeah, she probably was. “And I know you want to disagree, but you’re changing the subject and—hey!”Her world upended. The bastard had just slung her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. “Put me down!”

“No.” They were moving now. One of his arms was around her knees, keeping her legs pinned to his chest.

It left her with nothing to do except smack at his back. Which was armored. So it did absolutely no good. With a disgruntled sigh, she decided being semi-upside down was also not great for her stomach. So she propped herself up on her elbows to keep her head the right way up. “If I puke on you, it’s not my fault.”

“Noted.” He was chuckling, clearly enjoying this.

“You suck. And that’s an insult.”

“Also noted.”

Luckily, they reached her chambers pretty quickly, and she yelped again as he dropped her rather unceremoniously on the bed. “Gah! You can’t just—” She stopped as the point of one of his claws touched the end of her nose. That shut her up real fast.

“Oh, I can. I am the ‘bad guy,’ remember?” He smirked down at her. “Sleep. Stay in your room until the morrow. I will not have you wandering about like this.”

“I’m fine.” She lay her head down on the pillow. The room was wheeling around a little bit, but she didn’t think it was bad enough to make her sick. “But what if I said you didn’t have to go? Or that you didn’t have to be the bad guy?”

His expression softened. He sat down on the edge of the bed beside her and, reaching out, ran his claws through her hair. The points scraping against her scalp felt amazing. “I am what I am, and what I shall always be, Gwendolyn Wright. Whether or not you still find me an amicable suitor when you understand that is beyond my ability to control.”

She’d have to be way more sober to figure out what he meant by that. “But—”

“No.” He smiled in that lopsided way that made her want to jump his bones. “However tempted as I may be, I am a knight, above all things. That said…perhaps I will allow us both this one indulgence.”

He leaned down over her, hovering his lips an inch from hers. His breath pooled against her skin, and she found herself shivering in anticipation. When she didn’t say anything or make any move to stop him, he closed the distance between them.

Like a warped prince charming, he kissed her. It was firm but not forceful, passionate but not overwhelming. He tasted just a little metallic, and she found it didn’t bother her at all. Far from it. Her eyes slipped shut, and she found herself clinging to the cape he wore over his armor.

When he broke away, he was smiling. “Sleep well, Gwen.”

It took her a long time to find the words to reply. It was like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. “You too, Mordred.”

“For the first time in a very long time…I think I shall.” He stood. Before she could gather the wits enough to say anything else, he left, shutting the door. She heard a lock click shut.

Bastard.

Rolling onto her side, she shut her eyes. A bastard that she really wished had stayed with her.

TWENTY

Gwen yelped as something bit her nose. Hard. Jerking her face back, she covered her nose with her hand. There, sitting on her pillow, was Merlin. Glaring at her like he always was. She didn’t think it was possible he could look more annoyed than he usually did, but he had pulled it off.

“Why are yousuchan asshole?” She flopped onto her back, rubbing her nose and checking her fingers for blood. Luckily, he didn’t seem to have broken the skin. “What do you want now?”

“To make sure you remember that we are here with a job to do. Not to get drunk at dinners and cavort with the enemy.” Merlin swished his tail. “And the bite was for nearly ruining everything and telling him about me.”

“I covered for that. It was fine.”

He huffed in disbelief.

“And besides,” she argued. “Youtold me to seduce him, didn’t you? Isn’t that what I’m doing?” She glared right back at him.

He snorted. “No. What you are doing is embarrassing.” He walked down to the end of the bed, sitting and curling his tail around his front feet. “And painful to watch.”

She rolled onto her side, facing away from him. It was still dark out, and she was tired. “He kissed me. I think I’m doing just fine.”

“Which is more of an indication of his desperation and less of your ability.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Go away. I’m tired.” She shut her eyes and snuggled into the pillow. “I’ll try to show more cleavage later or something.”

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