“I would call you anything but soft,” she said. “You’re making all of us reevaluate our impression of humans.”
“Good to hear.”
She glanced towards the stables. “He’s troubled. The people he killed last night, it will haunt him for a long time, but it could’ve been much worse, and we owe it to you that it wasn’t.”
I shook my head because I knew better. “I feel responsible, Arabis. I messed up.”
She took my hand in hers and squeezed. “Get that notion out of your head. Dozens, if not more, would be dead if not for you. I don’t know how or why, but you have influence over him.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
She raised an eyebrow. “He huddled under a bridge the entire night and fought the beast’s desire to come back to the palace and slay the queen. Only the sound of your voice in his head kept him from doing it.”
“Maybe the elixir had something to do with it,” I reasoned. “Maybe it made him more receptive.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think that’s the reason.” She patted my shoulder and walked off. “By the way, he wants to talk to you.”
As I turned toward the stables, my heart started beating faster.
It had been a very long time since any male had this effect on me. I hadn’t felt this compelled by another person since my first year in college, when I dated a handsome bear shifter named Jonathan.
Since then, I’d dated Stale men and Skew males alike, and they had all failed to excite me to the same level. Even when there was some chemistry between us, for reasons that escaped me, they didn’t stick around for long, and I couldn’t say I was disappointed to see them go. I missed them sometimes, but it was more out of a desire not to be alone and to feel loved and special. I didn’t need a man to make me feel whole, but it was nice to have someone to share things with, to rely on when things got rough.
But why, oh why, had this particular male reignited my long-lost desire? A prince, of all people? Someone unattainable because our lives were so different, and because there were too many barriers to break through. As the future king, he was likely expected to marry for political reasons.
Ugh, I shook my head. What the hell was this stupid train of thought? What did marriage have to do with any of it?
Passion needed no vows.
Who was to say we couldn’t simply enjoy whatever this was? Because he felt it too. I knew he did.
Biting my lower lip, I walked into the stables. Kalyll was in front of Stormheart’s stall, running his large hand down the length of the animal’s neck. When he sensed me standing there, he threw a quick glance at the attendants, who immediately got the hint and made their way out into the courtyard, leaving us alone.
I walked closer and stopped a few feet away from him. “Arabis said you wanted to talk to me.”
“Yes. I wanted to tell you that I will send for additional supplies from The Sage Crystal. We can at least keep using the marsh flower elixir.”
This wasn’t what I was expecting, but I did my best to hide my disappointment. “We certainly can.”
“Perhaps you can provide a list.”
“Of course.”
He nodded, then glanced at the hay-strewn cobbles under his feet. I thought he would avoid talking about the spark that was between us, but I was glad to discover he wasn’t that type of male.
“The curse,” he started, “it heightens my emotions, makes them more intense and hard to control.”
Shit. It sounds as if this conversation would be along the lines of “it’s not you, it’s the beast.”
“I understand,” I said, determined to save him the trouble as well as to save both of us the embarrassment. “No need to explain.” I started to turn away, but he stopped me with a hand around my elbow.
“I don’t believe you do.” His voice was an octave lower as he whispered. “The beast doesn’t make me feel anything I don’t already feel. What is it about you, Daniella Sunder?” He cupped my face in one hand, his thumb caressing my cheek and sending a delicious blush up my neck. “It’s not just me who feels this way, is it?”
I shook my head. “It’s not.”
He leaned closer, his nose nearly touching mine. “Good, because I mean to make you mine.”
His mouth crashed into mine, his lips insistent as they moved against mine. A delicious thrill drove down the length of my body, straight to my core. He wrapped a large hand around the back of my neck and hooked another around my waist, pulling me to him.