“What plans?” A hint of menace in the air. “Or should I ask, who? Tell me.”
I made a face. He kept proving his base nature wasn't different from any other Fae male. Possessive, obsessive, and territorial—and capable of huge leaps of illogic.
“Aerinne.” Renaud transferred my wrists to one hand, and trailed a finger down my cheek, across my bottom lip. I would bite him, but he'd only like it. “You have a lover? A secret betrothed?”
I rolled my eyes. Right. “As if I would give you the name of someone you could march right to an executioner.”
“I wouldn't need an executioner. I would take their life myself.” He leaned down, nose in my hair, and inhaled. “You don't smell of another, not in that way. Though the boy's scent is stronger than I like. Or is it the girl who claims you?”
“No, I don't have a lover.” I sneered. “I don't need the shield of a current entanglement. Recall how much I hate and loathe you.”
His gaze turned wicked. But it was a safe wicked. “Your hate and loathing don't concern me.”
Now who was waving a red cape in front of a bull? Cow. Whatever. “They should. If I have my way I will pull your palace down around your ears. Then I'll host a feast on the ruins for the entire city to remind them of what happens to a male who crosses me.”
Renaud laughed, the rich sound skating down my body. “Aerinne,thatis not how Fae hate. That is how Fae love. Give me your hate, for in doing so you hand me the key to your heart.”
Eyes bright, so bright. Faceted like diamonds, rainbows of color beneath.
I yanked at my wrists. This time he obliged. I backed away, clutching the dress in my hands to make sure I didn't trip on the hem.
“I will never love you. My hate is a curse, a sentence. It's not—not—”
I stopped, at a loss to describe my irritation. He spoke so openly of love, of wanting my heart. We weren’t an unemotional people, but we also didn't bandy around words like love. It was so. . .human.
“Foreplay?” He strolled forward. “A boon? A pinprick of light in a dark cave, beckoning me to freedom? You don't know how your hate makes me feel. If you did, you never would have offered it to me. It's too late, Aerinne. I made my choice.” He cupped my cheek. “You don't know that you made yours, as well. You're young, and as I said, I'm patient.”
I knew he would kiss me a second before his lips savaged mine, wine and chocolate on his tongue, his scent in my nostrils. His hand tangled in my hair, holding me still.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Itrembled in his arms, distantly aware I made no move to escape him. I’d burned through my—evidently limited—store of resistance so quickly. A hand traveled down my spine, over the curve of my bottom, and he pressed me against him.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” I managed to say. “My heart and mind don’t follow my body.”
“Lie to yourself if it pleases you. I care not.”
It infuriated me that he knew it was a lie. That I had to desperately cling to everything I’d thought I knew or felt.Whatwas this inexplicable draw to him? It made no sense.
I arched, experiencing a peculiar mix of desire and helplessness. I shouldn't be responding like this. I shouldn't be allowing this.
Insteadofretreating,Ikissedhimback.
Not surrender. But close enough.
His lips were hard and insistent, but I didn’t want him to stop. His tongue flicked against mine, and I moaned, even as I hated myself for it. Hated him. I dug my nails into his chest, whether to push him away or pull him close, I didn’t know. I’d never felt this storm of internal conflict before.
Suddenly I laughed, and even to my own ears it was a wild, not quite sane sound. The Prince lifted his head, trailing the tip of his finger over my cheek in silent inquiry.
I stepped back. “All my life in the back of my mind I've wondered if I was Fae enough. I've killed to prove I was Fae enough. I've shed blood to prove I was Fae enough. I've pursued vengeance as relentlessly as any of my full-blooded cousins, and every action I've taken has been to the benefit of my House.”
Renaud tilted his head. “It's always a mistake, little one, to allow your sense of self to be determined externally. What is Fae? What is Fae enough?” He paced towards me, gaze trained on my face. “I want you. I don't care how Fae or not anyone thinks you are.”
I’d been retreating from him, but not out of fear this time, but simply from the need to control my space. Because the irony of my hidden insecurity was this,
“I want a male whom I have Vowed to kill, who is my sovereign Prince and also the sworn enemy of my House. There is nothingmoreFae.” I laughed again.
He waited until I was done. “I am not your sworn enemy. I made no Vows nor oaths against House Faronne.”
