At least she was talking to me. After last night, I wasn’t sure she would. Now I was certain I could coax her out of her comfort zone.

“Hmm mhmm. You have no idea what kind of dreams I have.” Lately? I’d been dreaming about her all right. Big surprise there. Did it show on my face just what kind of dreams? Pretty sure of it.

“Please… I don’t want to know.”

That flush was going to be the end of me. I hadn’t yet gotten what I came for, which was a distraction from the hunger—because now that I recognised it as that, it couldn’t be anything else. But I couldn’t keep myself from prolonging this conversation. Which, by the way, distracted nothing.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. My dreams are incredible.”

She rolled her eyes. “Good for you.”

“Last night, I dreamt of—”

“Karmuth, I mean it. I don’t want to know.” This time when she said my name it was cold, as if all the melody in her voice fell flat and out of tune. It lost all of the stunning ring to it that kept me wanting to keep her talking.

That same chill replaced the blood in my veins when she finally fully looked at me. Not a sideways glance, not keeping her eyes at my chest, but met my gaze dead on. Her eyes cut through me sharper than any weapon ever forged.

“Last night all I could dream about was ashes and death. The euphoric cries of all of the fae at the courtyard. The whole bloody ordeal. I closed my eyes to Elisia’s terrified face and didn’t open them until your lovely prince barged into my room to play witness to this wonderful show of gallantry.”

I turned a venomous gaze towards Hiko, who remained oblivious to it as Isay kept on fuming.

“Once again not getting breakfast before I was whisked away to someone else’s errands. I don’t need to hear about how incredible your dreams are. I do not care. I want my life back.”

Taking a deep breath, I took a moment to find my response. I couldn’t in all honesty apologise to her about what I’d done, because I was not sorry. It needed to happen and the only thing I regretted was it happening the way it did.

I could’ve waited for Elisia to give up the fight and drawn the life force from her with a simple contact. I didn’t have to do it the old-fashioned way, the move where the ‘kiss of death’ originated from. It had been used to lure oblivious girls down the dark alleys once before, like Isay had pointed out at the king’s wedding. I’d only proven her right with executing the same exact treachery.

I enjoyed it, too. I had no basis to condemn Sinister for his preferences. My own preferences were tenfold worse, no matter how well I attempted to sugarcoat them.

“How about you let me give you a lesson on self-defence?” I said slowly, paying attention to her reaction to my words.

Just as I thought, she shook her head as if I hadn’t understood a thing she’d said. I did, though. I really did. She wanted to get rid of me; couldn’t stand the sight of me after what I’d done.

Getting stuck with me as her protector was rubbing her the wrong way. While I itched to touch her, she’d rather see me dead. At least I knew that much.

I sighed, “Once you can hold your own with a blade, I’ll convince the king to drop the guard on you and you can spend your time however you wish to.”

“You would do that?” Her eyes widened.

You have no idea what I’d be willing to do for you. “I’d give it my best shot.” I forced a smile.

“I don’t think one lesson is enough to get me far,” Isay murmured but stood anyway. A small victory in my favour. “Don’t expect me to do whatever these guys did.” She waved her hand towards Hiko and the rest, still slightly out of it. “Actually, I don’t have any skills to show off whatsoever. You’ll have me with one strike.”

“You’ll be fine,” I reassured her, although I wanted to have her more than anything. “We’ll go slow.”

Really damn slow. I needed to win back that smile she’d graced me with when we showed up at the dining hall, before I’d killed the servant, and her eyes went wide with wonder. If slow was the way to it, so be it.

Sinister’s blade was shorter and lighter than mine and I drew it out of its sheath with the man giving me a side-eye but not pulling away.

I held it by the blade toward Isay so that she had plenty of space to grab it without having to worry about our fingers touching. I was a gentleman like that. If I wanted to be. She took hold of it hesitantly. But the moment I let go, the blade dipped towards the ground. Her face scrunched up in concentration, keeping her hands from shaking at the weight of it.

I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling. She looked damn adorable gripping a one-handed sword between both of her palms, knees slightly bent on instinct and that determination burning in her eyes.

This wasn’t the smartest idea I’d ever gotten because now she stood an arm’s length away from me, and try as I might, I couldn’t convince myself that reaching out was a terrible, terrible idea.

Swallowing hard, I pulled out my own sword and showed her the most basic swing, letting her practise it on me. After that, I showed her how to block hits and how to move her feet. The burning hunger didn’t ease up during the whole practice. If anything, it grew in intensity.

I hoped I would be able to leave Isay to Regar or Ferro after the training so that she wouldn’t need to spend any more time with me than absolutely necessary, but they both scattered the moment Hiko called an end. I was not going to leave her to Hiko’s care after her admission of the prince violating her privacy.

He might’ve been a close second on her hate-list, me being at the very top. So I was the one left to trail her to the dining hall and watch her pile her plate full of the different breakfast options spread out on one of the tables. Not that I was complaining.

She picked a spot in the corner, farthest away from everyone else, and sat with her back to the wall. Her gaze kept sweeping through the room periodically, assessing threats. That was my job, but I was too immersed in studying her.

“What would you like to do today?” I asked after a while.

She remained calm, as if the promise of getting rid of me soon was good enough for now, or perhaps now that she’d had her outburst she could look past it a little easier. I didn’t expect her to forgive and forget, but if she could stand to be around me without exploding, that was a win in my book.

“I would like to go to the forest,” she said quietly.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath to calm my damned heart, and then agreed. “Okay.”

I wasn’t going to tell her that the forest bordering the Vindican court was nothing like what she was used to. That there were things living in there worse than her worst nightmare. That even I might not be able to protect her if some of them came out to play.

She was going to find that out on her own.

Chapter 10

ISAY

I DIDN’T EXPECT KARMUTH TO ACCEPT TAKING ME OUTSIDE THE reservation’s borders, but he was true to his word.

His tense posture searched behind every tree while mine relaxed at the simple comfort of being in a familiar environment, even if this forest was miles from my home. The ruffling of dirt and leaves as a bird ran into the bushes to hide from our intrusion, the crack of a stick under Karmuth’s boot that made him jump out of his skin brought a smile to my face.

“Skittish much?” I asked. It was the first time I’d spoken up since we left the dining hall. Karmuth was the one to convince the suspicious gate guard to let us through. The other fae had been as tense as Karmuth now.

He muttered, “Just keep walking. We do not want to stay in one place for too long and let the delthers catch our scent.”

I brushed a low-hanging branch with my fingers, feeling it hum under my touch as I followed him slower than he set the pace for. A few feet farther along, I crouched down to smell a clematis nested in moss and heard Karmuth shuffle back to where I stopped.

“Princess, I am responsible for your safety, and I take it very seriously,” Karmuth said with intensity burning in his eyes. “Please believe me when I tell you it is not wise to stop.”

“What are delthers?” I stood and let Karmuth lead me through the foliage at a rushed pace.

Being one step ahead, he turned to look back at me. “You’ve never heard of delthers?” His forehead creased in concern.

I shrugged. “Never.”

He almost did not look as though he believed me. “Isay, how old are you?”