“What kind of secret?”
“One no one else knows.” He winks. “Come with me, and I’ll show you the stars.”
9
ALISTAIR
“I can seethe stars from anywhere.” Elsie laughs, but the tense wariness in her eyes is back. I scared her when that idiot scribe nearly revealed my true identity. “All I have to do is go outside and look up.”
“Not like this.”
Hidden passageways riddle this castle. I duck into one, where I’m forced to release her so she can hold up her frothy blue skirts to climb a short stairway. I can’t stop touching her. I can’t stop thinking about that kiss.
By the fae gods, I have never met such a conundrum of a woman. She can recite erotic poetry from memory, yet she’s never been kissed. She carries bruises and a guarded vigilance that belies her story about where they came from, yet ventures into the castle with a man she’s barely met. She has a girlish innocence about her, yet she displays no shyness when I touch her, only eagerness for more. Like she has been starved for touch for so long that she’s drunk on it.
My cock strains against my trousers. At the top of the stairs, I take two deep breaths, willing it to subside so I can walk comfortably.
“This way.”
Elsie settles her skirts and pats her autumn-hued hair into place. A blush still clings to the apples of her cheeks and the tops of her breasts. I want to see those tits. I want to feast on them. I want her moaning and writhing beneath me. I want it now. Tonight.
Yet I don’t want her to think I’m a cad who only wants her for one night. Every second I spend in her presence only further solidifies my decision that this is the woman who should sit beside me as my queen. She is artless, effortlessly winning, and kindhearted to a fault, if she’s letting her stepsister get away with hurting her.
My brow furrows. Her story doesn’t add up.
This is a potentially serious problem. I once attempted to claim a legend for my wife. There was considerable resistance from my father about my choice. Any social capital I had to spend is gone. Wasted on faithless Briar and my even more faithless knight.
I suppress a pang of loss.
One way or another, I must make her mine tonight, under my father’s rules. I won’t get another chance. The fact that I cannot take her into the ballroom without risking discovery is a problem.
In the empty trophy room, Elsie’s steps falter. Alarm flares across her features.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I didn’t think you were,” she says, too quickly for it to be true. She’s trying to appease me. “I thought you were going to show me the stars.”
“I am. First, I need you to make me a promise.”
“What kind of promise?”
Marry merushes to the tip of my tongue, trying to escape. I swallow it back. For all I know, she could be a spy. An assassin.
That would be intriguing. I almost hope she is. Going to bed each night wondering whether my wife might try to murder me in my sleep could lead to all kinds of games.
“You must never tell anyone about what I am about to show you.”
She hesitates. Determination firms in her aquamarine eyes. “I promise.”
I pinch her chin and drop a kiss on her forehead. “Good girl.” Without shifting position, I smack the hidden lever. The invisible door scrapes open. “After you, darling.”
Elsie stares at the narrow passageway.
“Which way?”
“Up.”
“What’s down?”
