Page 71 of Princess of Thorns and Ruin

One moment he’s by the bar, and the next, he’s a few feet away from us, his light swallowing everything else in the room. Maybe I blinked and missed his movement, but I doubt it, and I’m left in a haze, unable to stop staring.

“Hello.”

When death says hello, you either grin and bury your soles in the ground, or turn around to run.

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips, because I prayed for this. Now that he’s here, I don’t want it, but I can’t pretend I haven’t yearned for it.

“Who are you?” Quentin asks. “How did you move so fast?”

“Leave us,” the man dismisses my colleague with a curt nod.

Quentin grips the side of his plate but obeys, not even meeting my gaze as he flees, probably under the same thrall as I am.

The stranger takes his place and tilts his head to the side, surveilling me the way you do a child or a puzzle. He sets his glass in front of him and runs a finger along the rim.

“You’re…afraid. Why?” He says with a brash, unfamiliar accent.

My heart hammers in my chest, the rise in adrenaline now prompting me to jump to my feet and run, but I know better than to turn my back on a predator.

He inches closer, and I’m floating on air. The sense of…peace is overwhelming, like a shroud has been laid over my shoulders, my heart, my fucking soul. “Are you here to kill me?” I ask.

He leans in ever so slightly and squints, his eyes set on me like he can see directly into my soul. “Why would ye say that?”

That’s a yes.

“Do you wish to harm the princess?”

“I would never hurt her.” The stranger kneels next to me. “Can I confide in you, Leo Callas?” The demon cups the side of my face, his thrall so potent, I can’t move. “I was hired by Felipe Pereira for a…disagreeable task.”

His breath caresses my lips, heavy with the promise of a damned, unescapable kiss. His presence fills my blood with something foreign, a lust the likes of which I’ve never felt. I crave the peace he incites in me, and my blood sings like a fucking choir under his thrall.

“What are you doing to me?” The question costs me all the air left in my lungs, my soul crying out for him, for his kiss, his bite, and the sweet, sweet death he’s so clearly offering.

He scrapes my wrist with his teeth, right where Arielle bit me last, and licks the scar. “I’ll tell you what I was hired to do, and you’ll let me speak with the princess.”

Blood rushes at my temples, my will as brittle as his touch. “She’s getting fitted in her wedding dress.”

“All the more reason to hurry.”

Chapter 27

Wedding Bells

ARIELLE

The living room next to the balcony has been reorganized to serve as a dressing room for the wedding, allowing for Bella, the hairdresser, and the make-up artist to tend to my beauty needs, but no amount of face paint could cover up the claustrophobic ache in my heart. Victor might have made a power match for himself… but it doesn’t mean I need to do the same.

But it’s my duty. To my kingdom, my people. My mother’s legacy.

White birds fly in the pink sky, the bright hues of twilight acting as a physical timer, counting down the minutes until I have to walk down the aisle. Orange was safe, pink is alarming, and the deep purple streaks mean it’s almost time.

As my stylist adjusts the endless string of buttons that run down my arms, my fingers start to shake.

“Let’s take ten.” She claps her hands, forcing the Pereira-employed staff out, and whistles out after them.

I inch forward to sit on the oval ottoman, the long, laced train of the dress weighing me down, the delicate fabric ready to rip at the first sign of a swift movement.

Alec slips inside the room from the same door Bella just exited, stealthy as a ghost. I meet his golden stare in the mirror, and my chest shrinks as the air inside the room is suddenly ten degrees colder.

---