Page 43 of Hateful Prince

Hand shaking as I reached her room, I went for the doorknob, praying my girl had left me easy access to her. Usually that wouldn’t matter; I have yet to meet a lock I couldn’t master, but given the state I was in, I couldn’t be certain of my skills.

My eyes swam as neon lights bloomed before me. I would have sworn they were accompanied by childlike laughter.

“Away, you buggers,” I cried, swatting at the Neverflies as I pushed open the door and tumbled inside.

I was quick to shut it behind me, pressing my trembling form against the wood as if I’d been on the wrong end of a wild pursuit.

Dahlia rolled over in her sleep, a soft moan escaping her, which I took as her welcoming me. Approaching the bed, I let out a little hiss of disappointment to see that she was not alone. Kai had apparently drawn the lucky straw tonight. His bulky form curled possessively around her, cradling her against him.

A better man would have left them to it, but I had never been a good man—though I was fast becoming a desperate one.

“Let me in, Wendy-bird. Please?” I whispered, stripping until I didn’t have a stitch of clothing on.

Her body was barely covered by the sheet, all that glorious flesh calling out to me as she curled herself around her dragon. It didn’t make me jealous, knowing Kai’d obviously been inside her tonight. All I wanted now was her skin touching mine. She was my safe harbor, a place I could finally know peace. Already my proximity to her had eased the chaos of my mind. The whispers were gone, along with the tick, tick, ticking. At least for now.

I must have been standing there for a while just staring at her, because I hadn’t noticed Kai open his eyes.

“Well? Are you just going to stand there, or are you getting in?”

His eyes were luminous in the darkness, lit from within by some inner fire.

For a second, I wondered if that meant his dragon was close to the surface.

When I didn’t move or speak, an annoyed growl slipped from him.

“Ticktock, pirate. Get in the bed, or get the fuck out.”

A shudder racked my frame, his casual echo of the sound that tormented me so sending me diving under the covers. The instant my skin made contact with Dahlia’s, it was as if a blanket of soothing warmth wrapped itself around my soul. Blessed silence replaced the wild, frenetic energy in my mind.

Something more akin to a whimper than a sigh escaped me as my eyes fluttered closed.

Safe.

I was safe.

For now.

Chapter

Fourteen

DAHLIA

Iwas warm. Deliciously so, in fact, and the scents of woodsmoke and the sea curled around me, cocooning me in the blanket of sleep. My eyelids were heavy, limbs languid. I didn’t want to leave this peaceful in-between place.

Caspian’s roughened voice filtered into my awareness, a soft melody that tickled my ears. “Way ay, blow the man down,” he sang, his lips feathering over the spot on my neck he knew instantly got me wet.

My lips twitched with laughter, but still, my eyes remained closed.

“Well, aren’t you a pretty sight to wake up to, gem?”

Kai’s sleep-roughened brogue sent a jolt of awareness through me. As did the hand lazily moving over my belly. I couldn’t tell if he was heading up toward my breast or down between my legs, and that, more than anything, woke me the rest of the way up.

Blinking a few times to clear my eyes, I attempted to shift my position, but Caspian, who was wrapped around me like an octopus, clung to me more tightly, locking me in place.

“Where do you think you’re going, love?” His palm found my breast as he nuzzled into my neck. “It’s early yet, and I was having the best dream.”

“Did it involve a ship, by chance?”