Page 101 of The Crown of the Dark Prince
Oh gods. I sat the tea down and let my face fall in my hands, desperate to hide my furious blush. “Did we… keep you up last night?”
Elaina laughed, a carefree sound. “Not at first, but it is hard to sleep soundly when every so often the entire house starts to shake.”
My power had taken on a life of its own last night. I was really going to have to work on getting that under control if Clay and I were going to do that again.
And I most definitely wanted to do that again.
“I am really sorry,” I sighed, lifting my head to meet her smiling gaze.
Elaina waved her hand at me, brushing off my apology. “Nonsense. You should never apologize for an evening as remarkable as last night must have been.”
My blush was most definitely turning the entirety of my face bright red. Elaina chuckled softly before clearing her throat awkwardly. “So I found many of the herbs for the tea in your garden. I left some extra in the kitchen. I would recommend drinking it once a week moving forward.”
It took a moment for her words, and the meaning under them to settle in, and I glanced down at the mug in my hands as understanding dawned over me.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Baby dragons were the last thing we needed right now.
Just then, the sound of heavy hoofbeats sounded outside, and we both glanced toward the door before Elaina gave me an encouraging nod. “Go. I’ll check on our patient.”
I didn’t hesitate, rushing outside into the winter air without a second thought about the fact that I wore nothing but a thin silk robe. Sure enough, Clay was dismounting, with Rankor and Kent following behind.My eyes found Clay’s instantly, a sense of relief and something deeper washing over me as he strode toward me.
Gods, this man had wrapped his entire hand around my heart.
“How was the ride?” I breathed, barely hiding the real question beneath my words.
Are we still okay in the morning light?
He grinned, his gaze straying towards my lips before answering, “Fast.”
His answer was obvious in his body language.We’re perfect.
Relieved, I turned to greet Rankor and Kent – only to notice Kent’s face twisting into a look of horror. His eyes darted between Clay and me, widening before he muttered something under his breath and made a beeline for the house, looking faintly green.
“Excuse me,” he mumbled, barely making it through the door before disappearing.
Before I could ask, Rankor’s gaze started bouncing between Clay and me, a puzzled frown forming on his face before it split into a knowing, triumphant grin. He threw open his arms in celebration. “So you two finally fucked, huh?”
Oh. My. Gods.
“Go inside, Rankor,” Clay commanded, sounding every bit like the King he was about to become, though his lips twitched in amusement.
Rankor started walking, his smile never fading for a minute. “No, really, I think it’s great. At least I hope it was great. Well, who am I kidding? Look at you two. You’re two attractive people. Of course it was great.”
If a portal to the Underworld opened right there beneath me, I would have gladly jumped right into it and never came back.
“Inside!” Clay barked, giving him a gentle shove towards the manor while I hung my head.
Despite my raging embarrassment, Clay seemed unbothered; he grinned and pressed his hands against my hips to pull me towards him for a tantalizingly slow kiss.
“Will Kent be okay?” I breathed when he pulled away to cradle my face.
“He’s always been that way. He get’s a little awkward when he senses certain things.”
“Like love?”
Clay kissed me again, this time longer and filled with unspeakable motives that made my toes curl inside my boots.
