Page 53 of Court of Winter
“Is there something you need, Nuwin?” the prince snapped.
Nuwin glanced at him before taking another drink. “Not particularly, but I would love to hear more about your travels over the continent and how you came to meet this pretty thing.”
Veins swelled in the prince’s neck. “Now’s not a good time.”
“Oh? Then when is?”
In two strides, the prince was towering over his brother and hauling him to his feet. Nuwin’s wing caught on the chair as he tried to set his glass down.
“Really, Nori...such manners.”
“Don’t even think about it,” the Death Master said under his breath as he dragged his brother to the door.
I watched them both wide-eyed from the couch.
Nuwin smiled devilishly. “Think about what?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” They reached the door, and the prince lowered his voice even more, but I still caught his hushed words. “She’s off-limits.Don’ttouch her.”
“Have you claimed her?” his brother asked, his eyes widening to saucers.
“No, but—” The prince dragged a hand through his hair, loosening half of the long strands. He cast a glance my way, then shoved his brother out the door, passing through the wards, which muffled any further conversation.
I strained to hear them, trying to pick up something,anything, but the prince was back in my chambers and firmly locking the door behind him before I could.
“I apologize about that.” Prince Norivun’s aura continued to pulse around him.
My eyes narrowed. “Why did you tell him I’m off-limits?”
The prince’s agitated movements stopped. “You heard that?”
“And,” I added, ignoring his probing stare, “what did he mean about claiming me?”
It was such a preposterous thing for Nuwin to say. Only mates claimed one another, and the prince wasnotmy mate. Blessed Mother, I could barely stand being in the same room with the male.
The prince’s jaw locked. “It’s nothing. Forget you heard anything.” He strode toward me and plucked my half-drunk drink from my hand.
“Excuse me. I was enjoying that.”
But the prince dumped the remains in the bar’s sink. The leminai trickled through the plumbing in the icy wall, and I watched as the bright-green liquid disappeared through the bottom, into the floor, and to the nether regions of the castle.
The prince set the empty cup on the bar’s counter. “That drink is particularly strong, and my brother knew that.”
“So?”
He rounded on me, his wings extending slightly. “It would have been an easy way to get you drunk.”
“Again, so? At this point, being perpetually intoxicated may be the best way to exist.”
His eyes flashed. “You’re to stay away from my brother.”
Heat rose in my neck. “Why?”
“Because I said so,” he growled.
I stomped toward him until I stood only an inch away. My chest nearly brushed his, and I had to tilt my head back since the bastard was so tall. “Do you think I have any control over who comes in and out of this room?”
“Of course, you—” But the prince cut himself off and scowled heavily.