hand around her wrist and lifted her arm until she moved of her own volition, sliding her fingers over my shoulders.
I eased her into a slow, languid rhythm, and we rocked from side to side.
“I’m not sure,” she whispered, and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Rosy color bloomed in her cheeks as she held me tighter. “I don’t understand why you’re being nice to me, and I’m tired of not understanding things. Usually I’m quite clever, I assure you. But I defied your orders, and now you’re dancing with me.”
“Yes. You did defy my orders.” I searched her gaze. “And I think you do understand why.” One very big reason pressed between her legs.
Her blush deepened. “I didn’t want to assume...”
“We’re past assuming when you can feel the evidence,” I told her dryly. Unless she didn’t know what a hard-on was?
I almost groaned.
Her scandalized gasp confirmed that she did, in fact, know and I chuckled. At the sound of it, her eyes widened with shock. A timely reminder. I had no right to be laughing around her.
“Won’t your people protest?” she asked. “I mean, I realize now I must have put you in a terrible position. Because you keep losing.”
“Yes, I understood that part. And I’ve put myself in this position, Ashleigh.” I wasn’t sorry, either. Would my army care if they heard about this? Probably. No chance they wouldn’t hear about it. Two guards had flanked me as I’d hunted Ashleigh. Now those same guards stood nearby, awaiting my command. One of them—Adriel—despised me at the moment. After leaving Ashleigh in the tent, I’d punished him severely, doing to him what he’d threatened to do to the princess this morning. I’d broken both of his legs, ensuring he had to be carried or fly. And, though he was now in great pain, I was forcing him to remain in the air by my order. No rest for the wicked.
Avian healed faster than most, and he’d be walking again in a few hours. If he so much as scowled at Ashleigh after that...
He didn’t want to find out what I would do. When I gave an order, I had to know it would be obeyed. If you couldn’t trust your team, you couldn’t win a war.
“Well, I do happen to like this particular position,” she admitted shyly.
Her sweet scent intensified, and my most primal, possessive instincts flared to sudden, vibrant life. When she traced her fingers over my shoulders, coming closer and closer to my wings, I caught myself rolling my hips. As we brushed together, her pupils enlarged.
They drew me in...
Her fingers inched closer...
If she touched a single feather, what remained of my control would cease to exist. I would claim her mouth with my own. To start.
Almost within reach...
Her fingers stopped, and I tensed. Panting a bit faster, she asked me, “What are your plans after the tournament?”
The question stopped me cold. I admitted, “We’ll go our separate ways, and we will never speak again.” Because you’ll be locked away, forever trapped. Exactly what I desired.
Yes. Desired. The way it has to be.
She tensed before urging me into a slower sway. Her fingers moved away from my wings and her gaze went far, far away. A dreamy smile teased the corners of her lips. “Well, you’ll be missing out. I’m fated to have the most amazing happily-ever-after.”
I had to push my next words through clenched teeth. “Leonora used to say the same. That she was fated for a happily-ever-after with me. Cinder and her prince.”
Ashleigh humphed. “I don’t care what she said. I’m Cinder from ‘The Little Cinder Girl.’ Obviously. And guess what? I kind of agree with Leonora. I’m pretty sure you’re the dishonorable prince, too. Although you might also qualify as the evil stepmother. I’m still figuring everything out. It’s a process. But if you are the prince, you don’t have to worry that I’ll think we’re going to get romantic or anything because I know many of the story elements are symbolic. Am I rambling? Anyway. Whatever your role, I’m for sure getting a happily-ever-after. I’ll accept nothing less.”
Her nervousness was cute. “So certain? Despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary?”
“Evidence?” she sputtered. “What evidence?”
Namely, the sleep spell headed her way. Something I knew about, but she did not. “You war with a warrior known as the Destroyer. Twice you’ve lived and died without wedding the one you claim to love. Your own father—” I pressed my lips together, going quiet. I