“If nothing else, you have us.”
He wraps his arms around me, and I stay there for several seconds, just breathing in his masculine scent–something musky and slightly smelling of tobacco, even though I don’t think he smokes.
“Why?” I ask quietly.
“Why what?”
“You’ve been nothing but kind to me. I guess I’m just trying to ascertain why you’re saying all of these nice things when you hardly know me.”
Otto sighs and holds me tighter, squeezing me in a way that fills me with warmth. “It makes me sad that you’ve lived a life where you have to question why someone is being kind, Astern. Maybe some of us are good people. You know, underneath the brutal murder machines we’re about to become.”
I smile. “I can’t imagine you killing anyone.”
“For you, I would.”
“You hardly know me.”
Otto pulls away and places both hands on either side of my face. His expression is serious, and so earnest that it makes my chest ache.
“You don’t feel it? This thing between us?”
I open and close my mouth. “I mean, I suppose I do–”
“I’ve been in love a lot, little minx. I’ve had lovers for every month, every season. But you’re different. I don’t believe in love at first sight, so don’t get any ideas,” he teases, smirking. “But when I saw you on that dance floor for the first time… I knew immediately that you were going to be an important person in my life.”
“I wish I could trust that easily,” I tell him, feeling my eyes prick with tears. “I wish I could let myself feelsomethingother than hate.”
His thumb swipes at a stray tear, and he tilts his head before responding. “Nothing in life is guaranteed. I don’t believe in fate. We have dangerous jobs, and there’s a decent chance that another one of us will die before the end of training. I’ve never felt the point in hiding my feelings and skirting around how someone makes me feel when it could all be taken away tomorrow.”
“Where have you been all my life?” I whisper.
He bops my nose with his finger. “I’m here now, darling. I’m here now.”
CHAPTER 15
Lachlan
I can’t concentrate on the treadmill because Astern is in front of me doing all sorts of yoga poses. Finishing a five-mile run is difficult while sporting a semi, but I manage. I’m just about to hop off, wiping my face with my towel, when Alexander gets onto the treadmill next to me.
“Fancy a race?” he asks, smirking.
“Not really,” I grumble.
“Aw, come on.”
I turn my head to glare at him. “With all due respect, I’m done and I don’tfancya race,” I tell him, trying to keep the sneer off my face.
While I was rotting away in a jail cell, this guy was eating off gilded platters and wearing diamond-encrusted crowns. The fact that he’s now one of the Lords is irksome, but as long as he keeps to himself, I won’t want to pummel him too much.
Alexander sighs and comes to the front of my treadmill, bracing himself on the front of it so that his face is close to mine.Up close, his eyes aren’t just brown–there are flecks of gold in them.
Fuck.
Why am I speculating about the color of Prince Alexander’s eyes?
“Listen, mate. I don’t exactly want to be here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
I swallow before clearing my throat. “You and I have nothing in common.”
