Page 51 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
He didn’t set me down. “She needs to regain her strength. Make sure you feed her well today. Fruit and vegetables, nuts and some meat too. And plenty of water.”
He sounded like a doctor. I laughed.
He did not.
Mouth flat, he took me to the settee and set me down so gently, it set off that odd feeling of at the back of my neck again. He knelt at my side, eyebrows drawn together. “Behave.” Fingertips and claws traced the edge of my cheek. “Look after yourself—better still, let Celestine look after you. No going outside. Stay by the fire.” He held my chin, golden eyes roving across my face, down to my lips.
Was he going to kiss me?
I wouldn’t pull away—no backing down—but still.
With a firm nod, he was gone.
And I had no idea what to make of… whatever that was.
Eyes narrowed thoughtfully, Celestine watched me for a moment, then glanced back at the door he’d closed in his wake. “Well.” With a shrug, she turned and set about bustling and fussing over me, bringing blankets and platters of food, a glass of water, and a steaming cup of coffee.
I ate and drank and chatted with her, but all the while that odd sensation crept along the back of my neck.
Wrongness. That’s what it was.
An overwhelming sense of wrongness.
Sepher. The prince. His Princely Prickishness was being nice to me. And I meantnice. This wasn’t just desire making him hold me close or caress me and do things that might be misconstrued as nice. This was…
Weird.
“What’s the frown for?” Celestine asked as she topped up our cups from the pot. Its pale blue glaze matched the soft shade in her eyes. “You seem preoccupied this morning.”
I chewed my lip. Would asking be displaying weakness? Asking him, certainly, but maybe I was safe to ask her. “It’shim.” I nodded towards the door he’d disappeared through an hour ago. “He’s… beingnice.”
Her level attention remained on me a beat longer, then she straightened, eyes widening. “Oh, that was it? I thought you were going to say more.” She chuckled, a frown furrowing her brow. “I’m not sure I understand your confusion. Sepher can be nice. On occasion.”
“But tome?” I scooped up my cup, sighing at its warmth soaking into my fingers. “No, that isn’t normal. After everything, why is he suddenly being nice to me?”
She canted her head, a flicker of tension around her eyes as she watched me. “He has his reasons.”
“Which I’m guessing you know. Tell me.”
Her gaze shuttered as she poured cream into her coffee. “I’m not going to speak for Sepher. As much as I like you, my loyalty lies with him.”
“Loyalty? Tohim?” I snorted. “You’ve seen how he treats people, right?”
She arched one delicate eyebrow. “‘People’ or just you?”
“He hurt one of hispeoplewhen he was bringing me in from the cold. Badly, I think.”
“Killed him, actually.” She shrugged and took a sip. “But I hear the man threatened you, so…” She gestured as if to say that justified all.
He’d killed a man simply forspeaking. Not just any man—a member of his court.
Hungering for revenge for so long had turned me into something monstrous, because the thought didn’t horrify me as much as it should’ve. Yes, there was a slight twist of shock in my belly that he’d taken a life so casually.
But that twist tightened into a grasping fist that gathered up the intensity of Sepher’s reaction and held it close. The fact he’d killed for me, the woman who’d tried to kill him and still meant to.
I’d spent a decade obsessed with him, and now that obsession was reflected back on me.
The intoxication of it flowed through my veins, warm and delicious.
