Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

I lead him downstairs again, through the kitchen, where Nivene stares wide-eyed. She takes a step closer. "I can show you the farm."

Talan's expression is ice-cold. "Nice of you to offer, but I'm sure you have dinner to prepare."

"We could show you the farm together," Nivene says, her eyes desperate. The jealous sister, upset at being left behind.

"Nivene!" Meriadec snaps, staggering. He grabs her by the arm. "You heard His Highness. Nia will show him the farm. Make us some food."

She scowls at her father, and I pluck a coat off the hook on the wall.

As we step out, I hear Nivene arguing with Meriadec, hysterically yelling at him that it's not fair. He's howling arguments in return, calling her worthless. I want to roll my eyes. I almost feel like they're enjoying this.

I glance over my shoulder to see that the two armored soldiers are following closely behind us. In the cold air, I pull my cloak tighter around my shoulders.

Just to the right, on the farm's rolling hills, is the apple orchard, its trees gnarled and dark. "Strangely pretty here," Talan murmurs.

"It's my favorite part of the farm. Come spring, it'll be a sea of white blooms. But the apples don't grow anymore, just the flowers." I'm making pleasant conversation for the benefit of the soldiers.

"Let's walk there for a bit," he says, then turns to look at his bodyguards. "Boys, you can keep back. The young lady and I would like to be alone."

One of them smirks at the other, not even bothering to hide his amusement. I wonder how often the prince does this.

When we're far enough from them, he leans in and whispers, "I chose the guards carefully. Most of the palace's guards are terrible gossips, and these two are probably the worst. By tomorrow, everyone will have heard about how the prince fell for a farm girl."

"Will they be shocked?"

He walks with a casual grace. "Some will, but no one expects me to make good decisions."

My lips quirk. "Because you rarely do?"

"Precisely."

I whisper, "And is our fake relationship one of those bad decisions?"

He flashes me a disarming smile. "Oh, I'm sure it will be a complete disaster, but I don't know how yet, and that's always interesting."

We reach the apple grove and walk deeper between the bare trees, as far as we can from the soldiers. Finally, I stop by one of the trunks and lean back against it. "What now?" I whisper.

Talan turns to me, cocking his head. "Pretend you find me captivating. Imagine I'm Lumos."

Talan is about a million times better looking than Lumos, but I think I hate him more. "What makes you think I find Lumos captivating?"

"He was able to persuade you to sneak into my castle to see him in the middle of the night."

I smile at him. "For the rent money. Truly, I can't decide which of you is more terrible. It's like trying to decide if I'd rather get boiled to death in oil or slowly eviscerated by starving ravens."

It's what Viviane told me to do—give him attitude. I'm just not entirely sure where the line is.

I'm relieved when a playful glint sparks in his eyes. Maybe if you insult people with a smile, you can get away with anything.

"Given all the things you've heard about me, I'm astounded that you'd be willing to insult me to my face. But I suppose someone with a primal power isn't as afraid of me as everyone else is."

I shrug. "I think you kill people on a whim, whether they're nice or not. Usefulness matters to you more than pretty manners."

He brushes my hair off my face, and the stroke of his fingertip against my cheek sends a tingle over my skin. It takes me a moment to remember we're acting.

"Do you object to a monarch killing subjects to maintain order? You slaughter a pig when you need to."

"We kill them to eat, but I wouldn't go on a pig-murder spree just for the hell of it, as you and your father famously do."

"Well, perhaps the pigs aren't invading your kingdom as spies and threatening to destroy everything that you hold dear."

My heart flutters. He really wouldn't love the real me.

His gaze flicks up for a brief second, and he licks one of his elongated canines. "Well, this is all very charming, but we're not done yet. We need enough time to make it seem like you've captivated me with your charm."

"Are you telling me I haven't captivated you with my pig slaughter analogy? I'm borderline insulted. Most of my seductive banter involves various livestock butchering scenarios. It's not a turn-on?"

His dark eyes sparkle. With a sly smile, he toys with a loose strand of my hair. "Why don't you tell me something real about yourself, Nia?"

"Like what?" I ask in a whisper.

"Do you fall asleep easily, or does sleep elude you?"

For a moment, it strikes me as such a strange question. But I suppose to the dream stalker, sleep is his domain.

Taking Meriadec's advice, I answer honestly. "Lately, I'm awake all the time. I drink herbal teas to help me sleep, but they hardly work. Most of the time, I fall asleep after the sun rises, but it's a light, dreamless sleep."

"Well, that won't do at all. I think you have too many responsibilities here. At least when you're pretending to be my mistress, you'll be free of them. And free of all your work."

"And you? How do you sleep?" I ask.

I actually know a lot of these random details about Talan. I've been hearing his thoughts for years. The battles, the sex, the women moaning his name with their fingers threaded into his hair…and the intense loneliness when it's time to sleep.

"I seek company to sleep because I cannot stand to be alone," he says in a honeyed murmur.

I stare at him. He surprises me by telling me the truth. Even when he surrounds himself with lovers, it never seems to ease his isolation. But they all treat him with utter deference. There are no surprises for him. No authenticity. Just tedium.

He gently hooks a finger under my chin and lifts my face to look up at him. "When was the last time you were truly happy?"

He actually seems to want to know the answer.

My heart races with the intensity of his expression in his deep, dark eyes. "Months ago. But I was almost content today when I was working in the field. When I found a good onion. That probably sounds dumb to you, but it was satisfying."

"Living with your father doesn't seem like it would be peaceful to me."

"He's mostly harmless. He just needs looking after. It's like having a large child." Meriadec is right. It is easy enough to transpose my own experiences to Fake-Nia's.

"And who looks after you?" he asks. "Your sister doesn't seem remarkably well composed."

"I don't need looking after."

My back is against one of the trees, and Talan presses a hand against the trunk behind me. He's studying me so carefully, I'm almost afraid he's going to read my secrets.

His gaze flicks back up to the guards. "All right, Nia. If they're going to believe you became my head mistress, and that I'm bringing you with me into Castle Perillos, they need to think we had amazing, mind-blowing sex in this grove."

"I'm not going to have sex with you. "

He sighs. "Your loss, but I don't actually need to fuck you right now. I just need you to convincingly fake it. Can you do that?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

"And what was the first?"

I shrug, sticking to the truth again. "I always had to fake it with a lover I had when I was twenty. But he wasn't a sadistic torture enthusiast, so this feels a bit different. I think the worst offense he ever committed was wearing a green suit of cheap velvet with a pink shirt."

This is, in fact, true. Darren was in a bad glam-rock band and had terrible taste in clothes. He was also shit in bed. So, yes, I know how to fake it.

Talan narrows his eyes. "The outfit you describe is a worse crime than torture. And if I fucked you for real, Nia, I can assure you that you would not need to fake it." His voice is a deep, velvety whisper that sends shivers over my skin. "But for now, all we need is an illusion for our gossiping soldiers. The trees are bare, so we might need to make it look real."

My eyebrows rise. "And how are we supposed to do that?"

He crouches for a moment, then he lifts the hem of my skirt, exposing my legs to the winter air. I start to protest, but the next thing I know, he's lifting me up against the tree, spreading my legs so they wrap around his waist, under his cloak. Now my dress is hitched all the way up to the top of my thighs. His hands are firm beneath my ass, and my thighs cling tightly around his waist. As his intoxicating scent wraps about me, his mouth hovers over mine.

I grip him over his enormous shoulders, holding on.

"Is this really necessary?" I hiss.

"If I'm not mistaken, you could use actual, genuine pleasure in your life, but for now, faking it will have to do," he whispers.

I'm doing this for Avalon Tower.

My heart pounds in its cage as he stares at me from beneath his black eyelashes and the warmth of his body radiates over me. He leans down, his mouth hovering over my throat now. His breath warms my skin. "Go on. So I don't have to actually seduce you."

I hate the way his deep, purring voice makes my thighs clench around him. It's an instinct, an animal part of my brain that doesn't understand the bigger picture. The animal part of my brain wants this to be real. It wants us in the dirt, tasting each other.

My feet are hooked together behind him, under his cloak. He's wearing the softest cashmere sweater, and I can feel his body's heat through it, and the hard steel of his muscles.

My fingers wrap into his thick black hair, and the memories of some of his thoughts float through my mind. Like the time I heard him spread a woman's legs open, then lick and kiss her while she gripped his hair, screamed his name. I remember him running his tongue over a woman's nipples, and his thoughts when he'd hiked up a thirsty woman's skirt in the castle's hall, taking her hard from behind where they could have been seen.

I inhale deeply. Talan has a smoky, earthy scent, tinged with something sweet like moonflowers. Jasmine.

Okay. Fine. Why not admit to myself that I've always liked hearing his dirtiest thoughts? The way he practically tortures some of the women he fucks, not letting them come, driving them insane?

My breath is already quickening. For the briefest of moments, I imagine what would happen if I were one of his women. If he hiked up my skirt here in the apple orchard and did exactly whatever he wanted to me. Desire coils tightly inside me.

"I'm very curious what you're thinking about," he murmurs.

The vibrations of his voice over my throat make my thighs clench again. After this is over, I will remind myself of what a ruthless, terrible person he is. But now, I have a job to do. And that job involves making this seem real.

His lips, ever so lightly, brush against my neck, and the warmth radiates over me. My eyes close, and at the feel of his lips on my skin, the moan I let out isn't entirely fake. But I make it louder, letting it rise out of my throat. His fingers flex under my ass, and he moves his hips into me just a little. I arch my neck like an invitation. I moan louder, letting it echo through the orchard, and his canines graze over my throat. Warmth plunges through me at the feel of his teeth on me, at the knowledge that I'm completely vulnerable to this beautiful man. My pulse races. He raises his mouth closer to mine.

For just an instant, our lips brush, and he's breathing as hard as I am.

He lifts his gaze, and he stares into my eyes for a moment before pulling away a little.

He licks his full lips. "That almost sounded real, and my soldiers will certainly not be able to tell the difference."

Gently, he lowers me to the ground, and my skirt falls to my ankles again. I feel disoriented, like I just lost myself for a moment. Like I'm snapping out of a dream. I suppose it makes sense for him.

He holds me by the hand, leading me back toward the house.

I glance at him. I'm supposed to learn as much about him as I can, but even though I've been hearing his thoughts for years, he's still a mystery to me.

"You asked me when I was last happy. What's the answer for you?" I ask.

His dark hair looks rakishly tousled now. His eyes slide to me, molten bronze in the sun. "I don't actually know. Maybe settling down with a nice, loving mistress will be the answer to that."

He flashes me a mischievous smile, and I know that the time for honesty is over.

"I'll have extra food sent to your father to make up for the loss of your labor and the chicken they're killing for me."

Oddly considerate for a monster. "Thank you. When will I join you in the palace?"

"We'll ride all the way back to Corbinelle tonight. You will join me at court, and we will have you dressed in clothes fit for a queen."

My breath catches. We're leaving already?

My mind is a battleground...a young woman gasping beneath cold, barren branches, the fruit not yet ripe for the tasting…sacred vengeance against my enemies awaits me, blood sweeter than apples…

As I'm holding his hand, fragments of Talan's thoughts ring in my mind, cryptic as ever, and goosebumps rise on my skin. I strengthen the veil in my thoughts, blotting it out.

I suspect that while we're together, Talan and I will be playing a deadly game of hide and seek with each other.