His eyes held mine, and the way he was looking at me did weird things to my chest. There was such tenderness in his expression, such care. Best of all, it felt genuine. And maybe it was because everyone else was being a jerk, but his gentleness touched me.
Slowly, he lowered his lips to mine and kissed me. He pulled away for a moment to look at me again and completely disarmed the protective wall I’d started building around me last night.
He kissed me again, pulling me against his hard body. When I was flushed against him, he made a sound of pleasure in the back of his throat and deepened his kiss. Immediately, I was putty in his hands, and he was the same. When my tongue slipped into his mouth, I felt him shudder slightly, as if he wasn’t a grown male accustomed to the rigors of politics and battle, but a young boy who had never experienced a woman’s touch. But surely, I must’ve been imagining things, even if at that moment, it felt as if I could make him eat out of the palm of my hand if I wanted to.
He whirled me around, pressed my back against the wall, and hiked my leg up around his waist, fitting perfectly between my legs. His hardness was exquisite against my core, and I nearly melted in his arms.
“Did you put something in that elixir?” he asked in a rough whisper. “Something to make me crazy about you?”
As hard as it was to clear my head and push on his chest, I managed to put a few inches between us. “I would never! Is that what you think?”
He chuckled. “Of course not. I was just trying to illustrate a point. I believe you’re intoxicating all on your own.” He dived for my neck to kiss and fondle it with expert lips.
I closed my eyes as a wave of desire crashed into me.
“I fucking knew it!” Kryn’s voice growled from the entrance of the cave.
CHAPTER 29
Kalyllpulledawayfromme faster than I’d ever seen him move, even when he turned to mist or whatever it was he did.
“What the fuck, Kalyll?” Kryn demanded. “What do you think you’re doing?”
It took Kalyll a moment to recover and don a nonchalant expression. “This is none of your concern.”
“Is it not?” he asked, missing only a hand on his hips to look like some sort of mother.
What the hell was going on here? Why was Kryn acting like a jilted boyfriend?Oh, God!Was that it? No wonder everyone was treating me like a pariah.
“Since when do you care?” Kalyll seemed puzzled.
O-kay. From the sounds of it, they had an open relationship, and suddenly Kryn had decided to object to that.
“Since now,” Kryn spat.
Kalyll shook his head. “Don’t be stupid.”
I hooked a thumb toward the exit. “I think I should…”
“No.” Kryn blocked me. “You should stay and listen to—”
“You’re blowing this out of proportion,” Kalyll interrupted.
“Am I? I’m worried, Kalyll.”
The prince put on an incredulous expression. “Worried? About ahuman?”
The word felt like a slap in the face. I lived in a world where Stales and Skews got along, for the most part, but I was well aware of the way the different species sometimes discriminated against each other, and the Fae were notorious for thinking we humans wereless.
I glanced at Kalyll, nostrils flaring.
“Daniella…” He reached out a hand.
“Excuse me.” I walked past Kryn, slamming my shoulder into his arm to push him out of the way.
“Wait,” Kalyll called, but I was already out of the cave, marching past the trees in search of a place to hide.
I wiped my mouth, hoping to erase the feel of his kiss, the taint of my humiliation. I fought the urge to cry. I would not shed a tear. I would not let this bunch of conceited Fae hurt my feelings. The moment I forgot I was their prisoner was the moment I forgot my place here.