Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

The unexpected and possibly inappropriate orgasm had likely addled my mind, because there was no way I’d heard Prince Thorne correctly.

Claude slowly lowered the bottle of brandy. “Why?”

“Does there have to be a reason?” Prince Thorne countered.

Disbelief coursed through me. I had heard him correctly.

Jerking out of my stupor, I snapped forward, but I didn’t make it very far before the Prince’s arm tugged me back against his chest. My head whipped toward him. “Let me go.”

Swirling eyes locked with mine. A tense heartbeat passed; then his arm slipped away as a faint grin appeared. “Your command is my will.”

I stood, bumping into the table and rattling the glasses that remained as I slipped away from him. “I don’t know why you’re smiling, Your Grace. What you ask for, you cannot have.”

“Thorne,” he corrected. He picked up his whiskey. “This should come as a surprise to no one, but just so we all are clear, what I want? I get. And what I want is for you to keep me company during my stay here.”

I inhaled sharply. “Well, I suppose this will be a first for you then.”

He took a drink as he looked up at me. “I already had a first. Just once when I didn’t get what I wanted. There will not be a second time.”

Anger welled up inside me so quickly that I forgot what he was and who I was. “You are out of your mind if you think you can just demand to have me.”

“Lis,” Claude warned.

“No,” I snapped, chest rising and falling heavily. “It will be over my dead body.”

The Prince only raised a brow. “That’s a bit dramatic, na’laa.”

“Don’t call me that.” My lips thinned. “I am not an object that you can simply take possession of or collect.”

“I didn’t suggest that you are an object.”

My nails bit into my palms. “Exactly what are you suggesting then? Because I didn’t hear you ask me what I wanted.”

“I already know what you want.” Something far too close to amusement danced in his churning eyes.

“You have no idea what I want.”

“We’ll have to disagree on that.”

“There’s no disagreeing— ”

“I’m only asking this once,” he said to the Baron, cutting me off. “I will not ask again.”

“In other words, you’re not asking for permission,” I shot back.

He lifted a shoulder. “You can choose to see it that way.”

“Choose?” I exclaimed. “There is no other way to see it.”

“Once more, we will have to disagree.”

“Why her?” Claude demanded again, surprising me.

Prince Thorne didn’t answer for a long moment. “I will need to feed, and I prefer to do so with her.”

He wanted me so he could feed? The anger nearly choked me, but it was tinged with something akin to . . . to disappointment? Which made no sense. Furious, I turned away from the Prince, fully intending on leaving the dining hall. I was done with this absurdity.

“You asked if I was cruel.” Prince Thorne spoke again, focusing on the Baron. “I ask the same question of you. Are you cruel?”

I stopped, turning back to the Prince. He wouldn’t . . .

“I’m sorry?” Claude stood, planting his hands on the table. “I’m not sure why you would ask that question of me.”

“You’re not?” Prince Thorne spoke softly, sending a chill through me. “You claim that she is most valued and yet you have treated her with such reckless disregard. You sent her to my quarters, apparently either too forgetful or too intoxicated to inform me of her arrival. She could’ve been killed.”

“But I wasn’t,” I hissed. “Obviously.”

Prince Thorne ignored me. “Not only that, she has been treated cruelly. When I saw her earlier, she was bruised.”

My head jerked back. “I was not bruised.”

The Prince eyed me. “I do enjoy your lies.”

Claude turned stiffly toward me. “What is he speaking of?”

“Nothing— ”

“Her wrist was bruised,” Prince Thorne interrupted. “She said she got it while gardening.”

“I did.” I shot him a glare that should’ve set him afire.

He was unfazed. “It was such a strange bruise to obtain while gardening, considering it clearly resembled fingerprints.”

“What happened, Lis?” Claude asked, pressing his hands flat to the table.

I lifted my chin. “As I said, nothing.”

Claude’s jaw hardened as he leaned forward. “Hyhborn cannot lie, but caelestias and mortals can. I want the truth.”

“I’m not saying he is.” The tips of my ears burning, I crossed my arms. “I didn’t even realize I was bruised, so I assumed it happened while I was gardening.”

“Huh.” Prince Thorne inclined his head. “I didn’t know plants had fingers and were able to grab someone hard enough to leave a bruise.”

“No one asked you for your opinion,” I retorted.

Slowly, the Prince turned his gaze upon me.

“Lis,”Claude hissed this time. “You know better.”

I did.

I did know better as I stared at the Prince of Vytrus, my heart slamming against my ribs. I’d overstepped, more than once, but this time, I’d belly-flopped over that line. I froze. Tiny hairs lifted along the nape of my neck as the air thickened and the flames stilled. That mouth of mine had surely gotten me in trouble this time.

But Prince Thorne . . . he smiled.

My stomach dipped.

The smile he bestowed was not tight or cold. It was wide and real, showing a hint of teeth and softening the icy, unreal beauty of his features.

“She meant no offense. That I can assure you,” Claude promised, and I almost laughed at the irony of him having to defend me. “She sometimes speaks passionately and . . . without thinking.”

“No offense taken.” The blue of the Prince’s eyes had brightened once more. “Quite the opposite, to be honest.”

I shook my head in disbelief, but he did seem . . . pleased, and that was just, well, somehow more disturbing.

“Your understanding is appreciated.” Claude took his seat. “I swear to you that my treatment of her is not what left her skin bruised.” A muscle flexed along his jaw. “But I will get to the bottom of it.”

“Glad to hear that.” Prince Thorne’s fingers tapped along the table again. “And my request?”

His request? More like his demand.

“I will be leaving the day after tomorrow to meet with my armies to escort them here,” Prince Thorne continued. “It will take several days to make the journey, but while I’m here, I want her with me.”

Claude refilled his brandy. His knuckles were bleached white as he gripped the glass and took a drink.

I started to sweat, anxiety building.

“I have no problem with your request,” the Baron announced.

“What?” I gasped, twisting toward him.

“Perfect.” The Prince nodded at Claude, then rose, turning to me. He smiled. “Our arrangement is agreed upon then.”

Having not agreed to anything, I took a step back, bumping into the table.

His smile deepened. “You have an hour to ready yourself.” He prowled past me, stopping as his arm brushed mine. He looked down, lashes lowered. “I so look forward to seeing you later.”

Stunned speechless, I watched the Prince of Vytrus stalk out of the dining hall. I couldn’t even move as I stood there, my skin flashing between hot and cold.

“How could you tell him that was okay?” I faced the Baron. Then it sank in, finally breaking through the anger. Hyhborn could take what they wanted, even from a caelestia. “You didn’t have a choice,” I admitted, but he could . . . he could’ve at least said that he wasn’t okay with it.

“He gave a choice, Lis. Even if it didn’t sound like he was, you know that he did.” Claude stared from beyond the now-calm candlelight. “He could’ve simply compelled both of us into agreement.”

Yes, the Prince could’ve done that. “Does that matter?”

“It should always matter,” Claude stated softly, drinking.

It had mattered last night, but that had been different. “This is absurd!” I shouted, throwing up my hands. “I cannot— ”

“Who?” Claude asked. “Who bruised you?”

I couldn’t believe he was focused on that when he had basically handed me off to a Hyhborn prince. “That’s not really important at the moment.”

“I beg to differ. I want to know who.”

“It isn’t— ”

“Answer me!” Claude yelled, smacking a hand onto the table and causing me to jump. He took a deep breath, looking away. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not perfect and there is so much that I could do better when it comes to you— with all of this.” He gestured to the hall with a wide sweep of his arm as his gaze returned to me. Several moments passed. “But especially you. The gods know I want more for us— for you, but I know why you stay, Lis. I do.”

I fell silent, a knot lodging in my throat.

“The fear you have of being back out there— you and Grady living off the streets? It’s a horrible thing to live with, one that I’ve been lucky enough to never know.” He laughed, but it was without humor. “But I’ve capitalized on that fear. I’ve benefited from it when I should’ve done the exact opposite.”

I . . . I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I hadn’t known that he . . . he realized. That he knew. The knot expanded.

“I wish I could say I’m a better person, but I know I’m not,” he continued, jaw working. “However, I have never raised a hand against you— against any of my paramours. That is the one thing I could take comfort in providing you. Safety. Security. Because that is why you stay.”

I clutched the back of a chair as my throat thickened and my eyes stung. “You . . . you have given me that.”

“I clearly haven’t.” His stare met mine. “Was it Hymel?”

I hesitated, because the gods knew I didn’t want to protect that bastard, but I feared what Hymel would do if Claude confronted him. To Grady. Even to the Baron. “No,” I said. “I honestly don’t know how I got it. I swear to you.”

Claude said nothing for many moments; then he looked away, picking up his glass and swallowing the sweet liquor. “I’m actually relieved by the Prince’s demand.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Who else would you be safer with than the Prince of Vytrus?” he appealed.

My fingers pressed into the wood of the chair. “I don’t need to be safe.”

Claude raised his brows.

“Okay, that didn’t come out right,” I said. “What I meant is that I don’t need to be protected.”

“Obviously you do.”

I stiffened. “I am safe here. I promise— ”

“I’m not even talking about that,” he interrupted. “Vayne Beylen and the Iron Knights are heading this way. You said so yourself. He’s coming.”

Well, I wasn’t so sure that my premonition had been about Beylen, but that was beside the point. “We may get lucky, and the sheer force of the Royal regiment will sway the Westlands and the Iron Knights away from attempting to seize Archwood.”

Claude snorted. “Beylen is many things, but easily swayed is not one of them. If he was given an order to take Archwood, he will follow through.”

“How can you know that?”

The Baron said nothing.

Pressure clamped down on my chest, and my senses opened immediately. My intuition stretched out as that string formed in my mind. I came into that gray wall and pushed. “You do know him.”

Claude turned a look of disapproval on me. “Don’t read me, Lis.”

“I would apologize for doing so, but my gods, if you know the Commander of the Iron Knights, don’t you think that’s something you should’ve let Prince Thorne know before either he or the King learns of this from anyone else?” I dropped into the seat. “If they find out . . .”

“I’ll be hanging from the gallows?” Claude laughed roughly. “Trust me, I know.” He let his head tip back against his chair. “We’re actually related, Lis. Thankfully, a cousin distant enough that it would be hard to find exactly where our family tree meets.”

If I hadn’t been sitting, I would’ve fallen down. “If you’re related . . .” I placed my hands on the table. “On which side of the family?”

“Father’s.”

“Then that . . . that would mean he’s a caelestia,” I whispered. “The leader of the lowborn rebellion isn’t even a lowborn?”

Claude saluted his glass as answer, chuckling. “Sorry, I do love seeing you surprised. It is such a rarity.”

I fell back in the chair. “Well, maybe that answers why he would join forces with a Hyhborn— something you pretended to have no clue about.”

“I wasn’t pretending. I too am . . . surprised by that, but Beylen isn’t . . .” His eyes closed. “We spent a few years together when I was a boy.”

“He’s from the Midlands?” I asked. “How did he end up in the Westlands, a mortal commanding a Court army?”

“He’s starborn,” he said, and I frowned. Not only because that told me nothing at all, but because there was something vaguely familiar about that phrase. “None of that matters right now. What does is that Beylen won’t be swayed and there’s no place safer to be than with a Hyhborn prince.”

I was still stuck on the fact that he was related to the Commander of the Iron Knights. That was more important than Prince Thorne’s demand. “Then Beylen knows you’re the Baron of Archwood. You’re family.”

“Family isn’t always everything,” he murmured, stare fixed on the candles. “Not when it comes to what he . . .” Claude shook his head. “There are things far stronger than blood.”

A tiny shiver erupted, and my thoughts flashed to Maven and to what the Baron knew about my abilities— the gray shield protecting their thoughts. “How did you know it would be easier to crack the shield of a Hyhborn that wasn’t as powerful as a prince?”

His brows knitted. “What?”

“This morning, you said that.”

He took a drink. “I truly have no idea what you’re speaking of.”

Doubt rose. “How could— ”

“You should be readying yourself, Lis,” he interrupted. “The Prince will return for you and you have little time.”

“I don’t care about that right now.”

A brief smile appeared. “You and I both know that’s not true.”

“All right, I do care about that, but we can get back to that mess in a minute.”

“Mess?” He chuckled. “I’m not sure why you’re even protesting so much. You appeared to thoroughly enjoy his attentions,” he pointed out. “I don’t think I’ve seen a person come as hard as you did.”

My cheeks caught fire as I muttered, “I doubt that’s true.”

“Come now, pet. Nothing I’ve done with my cock or my tongue has ever come close to what he did with his fingers,” he said. “Even I can admit I never brought that sort of ecstasy to your face.”

“I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation.” I reached for a bottle of wine left on the table and drank straight from it. “None of that matters, Claude. I’m not an object to be given or taken.”

“And you’re not owned. You stated that clearly enough at supper, but you?” He lifted a finger from his glass, pointing it at me. “You’re wrong. We all are owned by the King. We are his subjects, in flesh and spirit.”

“Okay, well, besides that.” I clutched the neck of the bottle. “He wants to use me so he can feed, Claude.”

“I sincerely doubt that is the sole reason, Lis. There are innumerable ways he could feed that don’t require him doing so from one person.”

“Then why me?”

He raised a brow. “Good question, is it not?”

It wasn’t. Not at all. “I don’t want to go with him and be— be under his mercy, his command.”

“I have a feeling that being under his command and at his mercy will only involve being under him,” Claude replied.

A sharp twist of desire pulsed through me despite my anger, and that made me really want to smack myself. “I want to throw this bottle at you.”

Claude laughed. “You should rest your throwing arm for when you’re with the Prince. I have this distinct impression that such an act will arouse him.”

“Oh my gods.” I fell against the back of the chair, shaking my head. “What if he thinks I’m a conjurer?”

“But you’re not.”

“That hasn’t stopped you from worrying about the Hyhborn accusing me of such in the past,” I reminded him.

“Yes, but he won’t think that,” he argued.

“And how do you know that?”

“Because I do,” he said. “He’s a prince. If anyone would know, it would be him.”

I wasn’t sure if that made a difference or not. Nibbling on my lower lip, I struggled to beat back the rising tide of frustration. “I don’t even know why he wants this.”

“I can think of a couple of reasons,” Claude remarked dryly.

I was sure he could. Staring at the arched ceiling and its gold veining, I shook my head again. Several moments passed. I looked over at Claude.

He was staring into his almost empty glass. “Do you really not want to go to him?”

I opened my mouth.

“Honestly?” he insisted. “I want an honest answer, Lis.”

Snapping my jaw shut, I gave my head another shake. I didn’t know how to answer that. There was nothing but confusing thoughts and feelings if I spared one thought for the Prince— for my Hyhborn prince. “If he simply asked me if I would like to keep him company while here, I could answer that question for you, but he didn’t ask, so I can’t.”

“And if he had, you would’ve said . . . yes?”

I kept my mouth shut.

Claude raised his brows. “He’s a prince, Lis. Their concept of asking is pretty much what you just witnessed.”

“So?”

“Most lords wouldn’t have even gone so far as to ask, let alone a prince. Hell, most Hyhborn wouldn’t have even thought twice. They would’ve simply compelled you, then taken you.”

Lowering my chin, I pinned him with a glare. “So?”

“You’re losing time, pet.” Grabbing the oval-shaped bottle of brandy, he rose. “Ready yourself.”

I didn’t move.

Claude sighed heavily as he crossed the chamber, stopping short of opening the door. “Grady will be fine while you’re with the Prince. I promise you that.”

I closed my eyes against the sudden, foolish rush of tears as it became so quiet in the hall that I would’ve thought Claude had left.

The Baron hadn’t. “This is a good thing, Lis. I hope you come to understand that,” he told me. “Because the Prince of Vytrus will be able to provide you with what I cannot.”

“And what is that?”

“Everything.”

Wiping my palms under my eyes, I twisted toward the door. “What . . . ?”

The space there was empty. The Baron was gone.