Page 25 of Somber Prince

My stomach rumbled, urging me to forgo any doubt and just stuff it with all this delicious goodness. But my mind remained cautious.

“Am I the only one eating?”

“Yes,” the prince replied.

“How about you?”

“I’ve already eaten.”

“When?”

“At midnight.”

I made a quick calculation in my head. “That was seven hours ago. Aren’t you hungry again?”

“No. Unlike humans, we only require one meal a night.”

“And only at midnight?”

“Yes.”

“What do you do during the day?”

“We sleep.”

I’d gathered that much since everything seemed to happen at night around here.

“Why?”

If my barrage of questions annoyed the prince, he didn’t show it. Tilting his head slightly, he explained patiently. “Night is a far more agreeable time to stay awake.”

Gathering his long legs under him, he rose from his silk cushions. The men on each side of him moved their fans away as he descended the platform and sauntered my way. He moved with feline grace, stepping softly in his short black boots. The high side slit of his skirt parted, displaying one long, muscular leg. A man wearing a skirt had never looked more attractive.

Alarmed by the direction my thoughts were taking, I tore my gaze away from the prince’s thigh and stared at my hands instead.

“You must be hungry,” he said softly, stopping just a step away from me. “You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast. I made sure of it.”

Resentment flared in my chest, and I desperately held on to it to distract myself from his wide bejeweled chest in my view and the strip of bare skin stretched over the well-defined abs of his midsection.

“You starved me on purpose,” I stated flatly.

“Starved? The Head Keeper’s advice was not to feed you anything before dinner so as not to spoil your enjoyment of the meal. Did that lead to starvation?”

There was not a drop of sarcasm in his voice. If it were, I would’ve taken it as an invitation to snap back. But the genuine concern in his words sounded almost comical, like he really believed I could die from skipping lunch.

“Why is my enjoyment of the meal so important to you?” I asked. “Is it because you want to savor some of it too?”

“With your permission, yes,” he replied.

Black wisps curled out of his upper arms. They spiraled through the air, braiding themselves into the long tendrils.

I swallowed hard. No matter how much I tried to prepare myself for this, the sight of the black smoke snakes was terrifying. What I did not expect was Prince Rha asking for my permission.

Did I hear him right?

“You need my permission? Don’t we all belong to you already? Isn’t that why you stole us in the first place?”

“Joy cannot be stolen,” he replied. “If a Vessel is forced, their joy dies. It can only be shared willingly.”