And then it happened. The most unexpected thing.
“Why didn’t you just kill him?” Dimitri asked. “Surely it would have been easier to chop off his head than let him steal your man.”
“That seems extreme for something I really didn’t do,” I said. “And stop giving him ideas, Dimitri.”
Justin let out a long-suffering sigh. “I can’t kill him, no matter how much I want to.”
“Why?” Dimitri asked.
“He’s a pain in my ass,” Justin said. “There are days when I can’t stand the sight of him. He’s too mouthy, opinionated, and he made my fiancé fall in love with him by just existing. People worship the ground he walks on while turning their nose up at me, even though I am the king-in-waiting and he is but from the slums.”
“And he still has his head because….” Dimitri said.
“Because he’s my wizard,” Justin said. “And we’re going to be together for a very long time.”
My jaw dropped.
“Huh,” Dimitri said. “I think I’m attracted to you.”
Justin snorted. “Not going to happen. I am staying free of men for the foreseeable future.”
“You,” I breathed. “You like me.”
“Not hardly,” Justin said wearily.
“You seriously like me.”
“That’s not even remotely true.”
“We’re going to be best friends,” I said in awe.
He sighed. “I knew I should have chopped off your head.”
“Dimitri,” I demanded. “Lower your fairy ring this instant. I am having so many feelings right now and I need to project them onto the Prince.”
“If you do that,” Justin growled at Dimitri, “I will punch you in your tiny face.”
“He won’t,” I said. “I won’t let him. Lower the godsdamn ring.”
“Sorry,” Dimitri said to Justin. “Sam and I were almost married. That bond never goes away.”
“There is no bond,” I said, even as the rings lowered.
Justin took a step back away from me.
“I’m going to awkward hug the fuck out of you,” I warned him.
“You stay right where you are,” he said, holding up his hands.
“No. You just said we’re going to be friends forever and that you want to go get coffee with me and gossip about boys while eating pastries.”
“I didn’t say any of that!”
“It was implied!”
“There were no implications!”
“It’s okay,” I told him as he backed into a tree. I opened my arms wide as I stalked toward him. “I hear all the things you can’t say because you’re emotionally stunted and need me to bring out your softer side through the fiery depths of your man pain.”