Her eyebrows rose.
He glanced up. “Does my apology surprise you?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry for that also. They don’t come easy to me.”
“Why did you say so little to be when we parted?”
“Another chance to practice my apologies.” He rubbed his chin. “I thought it best if you just forgot about me. I was a fool.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I’m sorry for that as well. The sight of you walking away, disappearing into this castle...it was not easy.”
She slid her hand over his. “What made you go see your mother?”
Leaning forward, he looked into her eyes. “I needed some advice.”
“You?” She couldn’t imagine him needing advice from anyone. “I didn’t think you were coming back. I was sure of it.”
“I knew time on Elysium meant nothing but it never occurred to me what that would mean when I returned. Lelaya, I’m most sorry for that.” He came around the table and picked her up in his arms, kissing her forehead. “Do you forgive me?”
She’d ached for him. Cried over him. “Do you promise not to do it again?”
Still holding her, he sunk into the chair she’d been sitting in. “You want me to stay?”
“Yes,” she whispered as she kissed his mouth. “What was it like to see your mother after so long?”
He broke the kiss reluctantly. “Bittersweet. She’s happy enough. She still refuses to tell me the name of my father, though.”
Jessalyne stiffened. “I need to talk to you about that. That and so much more.” She slipped off his lap and walked toward the fireplace.
“What is it?”
Before facing him, she took a deep breath. “I know who your father is.”
His dark eyes fixed on her. “You do?”
“Yes. But you must promise to hear me out and that you won’t hurt him.”
“I’ll listen but I won’t promise more than that.”
“I don’t know how else to say it so I’ll just come out with it. You’re the firstborn son of King Maelthorn. The man you yanked off me in the passageway is your half-brother, Prince Erebus.”
His jaw tightened and the muscles in his neck corded. He sat silently, unmoving, staring past her into the dying embers of the fire.
“Ertemis? Are you all right?”
After a long moment, he spoke. “I’m the son of a king?”
“Yes, but it’s more than that. You’re first in line for the throne.”
He shook his head. “That cannot be right.”
She knelt in front of him and took his hands. “It is right, and I would very much like to take you to meet your father in morning, if you are willing. But there is one more thing you must know.”
“There is more?”
She sighed. “Yes. In less than a week’s time, I’m to marry Prince Erebus. Somehow he persuaded the king to bless me as his bride.”
“What?” Ertemis sprang to his feet.
She groaned at the thought of all that had expired. “I’m betrothed to him. I had little choice in the matter.”
“You will not wed that slavering animal. I’ll kill him before that happens.”
She twisted her hands. She’d expected his anger. “It’s not up to me. As soon as we wed, he will become the new king of Shaldar. That’s all he wants me for.”
“I’ll meet the king tomorrow morning and see for myself what can be done about this.” His shoulders straightened. “If he has any desire to right the wrong he did to my mother, he will end this betrothal.”
“Your father still loves your mother.”
He ran a hand through his hair and dropped back into the chair. “She still loves him.”
“I know how she feels.” Jessalyne walked over to him, trembling at how easily the words slipped out. If only he would say them back.
His jaw unhinged. “What did you say?”
“I love you,” she whispered before reseating herself on his lap and burying her face against his neck.
* * *
Ertemis closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as the stone wall around his heart crashed down. She loved him. The thought rippled through him, tingling down his spine and quickening his breath. Before he lost his nerve, he fished his mother’s ring from beneath his breastplate. Shifting Jessalyne off his lap and onto the chair by herself, he knelt before her.
Her face was buried in her hands.
“Jessalyne, look at me.”
“No.” She swiveled away from him.
“What’s wrong, sweeting?”
“I never should have said it. You didn’t say it back.”
“Jessalyne.” He paused to take a breath, willing himself to speak the words of his heart. “I love you desperately and if you would look at me, you would see I am trying to ask for your hand.”
“You are?” She peeked through her fingers. “Even though I’m betrothed to your brother?”
“Half brother, and if you will have me, I will rectify that matter. One way or another.”
With tears in her eyes, she nodded. “I will. I will. Of course, I will!”
Emotion thickened his voice. “My mother gave me this ring to give to you. My…father,” the word was hard to say without grimacing, “gave it to her many years ago.” He slipped the ring from its chain and onto her finger before pulling her into a tight embrace. “I promise never to leave you again, lelaya.”
She pulled away. “Then tell me again.”
He paused, losing himself in her pale violet eyes. “I love you, Jessalyne.”
Smiling, she kissed him softly. Rapping at the door turned both their heads and they stood. Jessalyne smoothed her dress. “Come in, Fynna.”
Fynna peeked around the door. “I couldn’t eat anymore.”
Ertemis laughed. “We haven’t even started our dinner.”
“Well, that explains why it’s safe for me to come in.” The pixie shut the door behind her.
“Fynna!”
“It will be firstlight soon.” Fynna crawled into her bed.
Ertemis looked out the window. “Aye, that it will.”
Jessalyne smiled. “Then I shall be better able to inspect my new ring.”
Ertemis rolled his eyes. “Is there going to be a great deal of noise now?”
“What ring?” Fynna popped up.
Holding out her hand, Jessalyne wiggled her fingers. “Ertemis asked me to marry him.”
Fynna squealed, then shook her head. “The Prince of Hands isn’t going to like that.”
“The Prince of Hands?” Ertemis growled. “Your betrothal to him ends tomorrow.”
Fynna shrieked and started jumping on the bed.
Ertemis folded his cloak into a pillow. “Jessalyne, could ask your friend to contain herself long enough for us to sleep a few hours?” He settled onto the carpet, stuffing his cloak beneath his head.
“Fynna, he’s right. We need some sleep.” She stared at Ertemis with curiosity as he stretched out on the carpet.
Fynna stopped jumping. “Yes, your highness.” She erupted into a fit of giggles.
Ertemis shot her a look. “Pixie, please.”
She tucked herself back under the covers. “Sorry, master elf. But it is very happy news.”
He smiled. “That it is.”
Jessalyne looked at him. “You’re going to sleep on the floor?”
“Aye. And you are going to sleep in your bed.”
“Are you ill?”
Just lovesick. “As tempting as you are, that bed could barely hold me, never mind another.” He wouldn’t torture himself by having her so near, but so unavailable. He winked at the tempting pout of her lips. “Your days of sleeping alone are about to end.”
Jessalyne shivered. Did she fear their joining? But then she smiled. “Good night, my love.” She hung over the side of the bed, watching him.
“Sweeting, go to sleep or I will take the ring back.”
She lay back and pulled the covers up
. “Try it and I’ll toast your fingers, elfling.”
“That’s a fine way to speak to your betrothed. I can see this marriage will be a labor of love.” He shifted toward the door so she would not see the grin on his face.
“Hmmph.” Jessalyne wriggled deeper under the covers.
“That’s what I thought,” Ertemis whispered as he drifted off to sleep.
* * *
It seemed to Jessalyne that she had only just shut her eyes when the gossamer wings of firstlight flew in the window. As she stretched, the events of the past few hours came flooding back. She felt for the ring on her hand. It was still there. She propped herself up on her elbows and glanced down. So was Ertemis.
She smiled helplessly at his lanky form sprawled on the carpet. Strands of glistening black hair spilled over the folded cloak beneath his head. One hand gripped the hilt of his sword.
Slipping out of bed, she knelt beside him and studied his handsome face. She traced the angled line of his right ear, running her fingertip delicately over the silver-inked runes.
His hand snaked up and grabbed her wrist as his eyes came open. “I promise very soon to show you just how much your touch on that particular part of my body affects me, but for now it would be best if you did not do that.”
She bit her lip. “Sorry.”
He smiled and winked at her. “I can think of worse ways to be woken.” He nodded toward Fynna. “If we were alone, I would not have stopped you.”
She bent to kiss him and he kissed her back, rolling her on top of him. Her squeals of delight woke Fynna. She stared down at them sleepily.
“You’re ruining my appetite for breakfast.” She stuck her little blue tongue out.
“My apologies for Jessalyne’s indecent behavior this morning.” Ertemis laughed as Jessalyne’s eyes went wide.
She sat up and thumped his chest with her fist. “You’re still a barbarian.”
“Too late, you’ve already said yes. No taking it back now.” He tugged her back down and kissed her soundly.
Fynna yawned. “Will you two be rolling around on the carpet all morning?”
Jessalyne wrestled out of Ertemis’s embrace. “We do have quite a day ahead of us, don’t we?” She turned to him. “Are you ready to meet your father?”
He stood and shook out his cloak out. “Perhaps you should be asking if he is ready to meet me. I’m not the son most men dream of.”
“He will be very proud of you.” She hoped. “And you needn’t worry, King Maelthorn is a good man.”
“What about Sryka? She’ll expect you this morning,” Fynna said.
Jessalyne clenched her jaw. “I have no desire to spend another moment of time with that woman, but she cannot find out about Ertemis. I won’t have her ruin our chances at displacing Erebus.”
“Whatever your normal routine is, stick to it.” Ertemis tossed his cloak around his shoulders. “I’ll wait here until you return.”
“You’ll stay here?”
“I have little choice. My cloaking enchantment doesn’t work well in bright sun. I need shadows at the least.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Patience. I have waited this long to meet him, a few more hours is nothing.”
Fynna shrugged. “Don’t worry. If she does anything to make Sryka suspicious I’ll break something and distract the old hag.”
As the girls prepared to go, Ertemis settled onto Jessalyne’s bed. It creaked but held. He closed his eyes. Was he thinking of how the meeting with his father might go? Trying to comprehend that he was the son of the king? She put her hand on his shoulder and he opened his eyes. “We’re going now.”
He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “Take the ring off.”
She shook her head in objection. Fynna responded. “He’s right. Sryka will notice it immediately.”
“Very well.” Jessalyne slipped it off her finger and tucked it into the pouch on her waist sash.
“Keep an eye on her, Fynna.” Ertemis followed them to the door.
“Yes, your majesty.” Fynna giggled and did a sloppy curtsy.
Ertemis rolled his eyes. “I’d do better asking a hungry man to mind a sweet shop. I’m going to bolt the door so give three rapid knocks when you return and I’ll know it’s you.”
“Three quick knocks it is.” Jessalyne squeezed his hand, then she and Fynna slipped out and up the stairs to face Sryka for what she hoped was the last time.
* * *
Three raps in quick succession woke Ertemis and his hand instinctively sought the hilt of his sword. He shook himself awake. He could not remember falling asleep but Jessalyne’s small bed was more comfortable than he’d imagined. If only she’d been in it, too. Three taps on the door. He slid the bolt back and let Jessalyne in.
“Where’s Fynna?”
“She always stays later. Sryka invents a myriad of unnecessary chores for her to do. It makes me mad but there’s little I can do about it.”
“Sryka didn’t suspect anything?”
“No. I’m sure of it.” Jessalyne fished in the little pouch hanging at her waist.
“Good.” Happiness filled him as she slipped the ring back onto her finger.
“Are you ready to meet the king?”
Ertemis shrugged and held his hands out. “I’m not sure battle leathers are the most appropriate outfit but it’s all I have.”
“I’m glad you mentioned that. I had completely forgotten.” She went to the wardrobe and took something out.
Ertemis narrowed his eyes at the sight of a man’s shirt in her hands. “Who does that belong to?”
“Do you like it?” She shook the shirt out for him to see.
“Do I like the fact that you have an expensive man’s tunic in your wardrobe? No, I don’t. It looks like it belongs to the prince.”
“It belongs to a prince. You. I bought it for you as a present but with all the excitement last night, I forgot I had it.”
His jaw hung slack as he sat on the bed. “You bought that for me?”
Nodding, she grinned hopefully. “Do you like it?”
Save his mother’s bestowal of his Feyre, no one had ever given him a gift. “When…when did you buy it?”
“My first day here. Fynna took me into the city so I could buy a few things. I saw this in a window and thought of you. It was foolish, I guess. I didn’t know if I would ever see you again, but...” Her voice trailed off and she twisted the toe of her slipper into the carpet.
“Come here.”
She walked over clutching the shirt in front of her.
He pulled her near, his hands cradling her forearms. “I was wretched to you. I barely acknowledged our parting, and yet you bought this for me that same day?” He bent his head, ashamed by the memory of his actions. He didn’t deserve her.
She tossed the shirt on the bed and wrapped her arms around him. His forehead pressed against her ribcage.
“You’re too good for me.” Their closeness muffled his words, but not the pain in his soul. How would he ever be the man she was worthy of?
“Hush now. We were both cross with one another.” She kissed the top of his head and petted his hair. “You still haven’t told me if you like it.”
He looked up then. “It’s the finest thing anyone has ever given me. I will put it on right now.” He pulled her onto his lap. “Well, maybe not right now.”
She gasped as his warm mouth nibbled the tender spot beneath her ear and closing her eyes, arched into his embrace. He trailed hot kisses trailed lower, down her neck and across her collarbone until he reached the soft rise of her breasts. He paused to take her in. She opened her eyes.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.” He took her hand in his and kissed the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist. “The only woman I ever want next to me.” He worked his way down to her arm, nibbling her skin.
Jessalyne wove the fingers of her free hand into his hair. “You think I’m beautiful?”
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“You know I do.” He traced a finger down the path his lips had taken, starting at her jaw line. “But I’ll tell you more often.”
Her eyes shuttered and goose flesh rose on her arm where his fingers played. She shivered. “Perhaps you should undress.”
His eyes widened. “I’ll tell you you’re beautiful every day if that’s what it gets me.”
She playfully pushed him away. “I meant so you could put your new shirt on. You do still want to meet your father, don’t you?”
“Aye.” He tugged off his leather breastplate and made a show of being disappointed. “I thought my attentions were finally getting to you.”
She sat up and fanned herself. “I enjoy your attentions very much. Too much, perhaps. My thoughts have gotten quite wicked.”
He laughed as he removed his worn tunic. “Now that’s my saucy wench.”
Her eyes fixed on his bared chest and a sigh escaped her.
“You like what you see?” He raised his eyebrows.
She nodded slightly and her cheeks went scarlet. The sight made him lightheaded with pride and wanting. He took her hand and placed it against his bare skin. “Can you feel my heart thumping? You do that to me.”
Slowly, she splayed her fingers out, her hand soft and warm and smooth. “Your skin reminds me of silk tumbled with sand. I didn’t know a man could be so soft and so hard at the same time.”
He bit back the words he really wanted to say, how he’d like to show her just how hard he could be. Instead, he groaned as her hand moved across his skin.
She started to speak, then faltered.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know the right words.”
“Just speak your mind.”
“I think…I think you are beautiful, too.”
He smiled and captured her hand in his, kissing her fingertips. He would do anything for her. Anything. His smile faded as he considered what that meant. “If this meeting does not go well, I may have to leave quickly.”
“You won’t go alone.”
“You would give up this life for what little I can offer you?”
“Without looking back. In truth, I might have left soon anyway. I find little purpose in being trained by a woman who seeks to destroy the king she serves. And Erebus makes my skin crawl.” She shuddered.
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