Don’t be stupid. Men are not on your menu. At least not for a year, until the anniversary of her adulthood.
But she couldn’t help it. He was compelling. Resourceful. Strong. Intelligent.
Insane.
A heady concoction no matter how hard she tried to not think about it.
He returned to her side, carrying medical supplies that he set down next to her before he handed her a bottle of water and knelt. Resting on his good knee, he gently pulled the hair back from her face to examine her injury. His nearness disturbed her and made her heartbeat quicken. More than that, the scent of his skin filled her head with the most pleasant masculine scent. She’d never been this close to a man before except for her father and her mother’s consorts. While those consorts were attractive, they’d never enticed her.
Not like this.
Was this the hunger she’d overheard her sisters talking about? While she’d studied and done as she was told, they’d snuck online and collected photos of naked men during their study hours. Late at night, once everyone else had gone to bed, they’d get together and giggle about what they would do once they were able to have consorts of their own.
That had never been her dream. She didn’t want a kept pet enslaved to her. Her father had told her stories of how men and women were a team on his world. How they worked together as equals. She didn’t know why that appealed to her, but it did. She wanted a partner at her back not someone who resented her power over them and who would have sullen fits like her mother’s consorts. They’d always seemed more like children to her than men she’d want to father her offspring.
Caillen looked up and caught her gaze. He arched a brow as a sly, knowing half smile curled his lips. “You imagining me naked, Princess?”
Heat scalded her cheeks at his teasing arrogance—and the fact that he had caught her doing just that. Caillen was definitely not the kind of man a woman with a brain would put at her back or anywhere else in a five-thousand-mile radius. “Hardly. You look really creepy like that.”
He laughed good-naturedly. “I’ve been called worse and that by people who claim they love me.”
“You have people who actually love you?”
His smile widened. “Hard to believe, ain’t it? But yeah, I do. At least that’s what they say when I’m in the room.”
She couldn’t understand how he took an insult with such grace and humor. In her world, people had killed over less. “Do you ever get angry?”
“Of course I do.”
She winced as he wiped the disinfectant along the marks on her neck. “Over what?”
He lowered the linen pad to redampen it. “My sisters and cruelty. And cruelty to my sisters is double-ass beating to anyone dumb enough to try it.”
She pulled back to look at him. “I thought Emperor Evzen only had one child. You.”
“He does.”
When he didn’t elaborate, she prodded him. “Are they from your mother, then?”
“Why do you care?”
Her temper ignited, but she held it back. There was no need to get angry over a simple question. That was something her mother would do. His tone had been inquisitive, not confrontational. So when she spoke, she forced herself to be pleasant. “I’m just curious. When you mentioned them, there was so much emotion in that one word that I can tell they mean a lot to you. In my experience it’s unusual for someone to feel that way toward half siblings.”
He licked his lips before he continued treating her neck. “Where I come from, family’s defined as those who don’t screw you over a paycheck. Blood makes no difference. If you can trust them with your life and know that they’ll be there come whatever hell rains down, then they’re your family.”
In her world, family meant they had the good grace to stab you while looking you in the eyes. She couldn’t imagine her sisters standing by her side for any reason.
Unwilling to go there, she changed the subject to something a little less painful. “You really think you can fool the Andarions into believing you’re one of them?”
“I know I can. Like I said, I have friends who are Andarion.”
And that meant nothing. She had a father who was Gondarion and she knew nothing about his people or their culture. “You speak their language fluently?”
“All nineteen dialects.”
That was unexpected. While most princes were well educated, most relied on their advisors or electronics for translations. “Impressive.”
“Not really. I’ve spent a lot of time making runs through their system. Since they don’t like outsiders, I’ve learned to fake it, hence the fangs and contacts in my bag. When I was making heavy runs, I even grew my hair out and dyed it to blend in with them. But I’m not a fan of long hair on me.”
“Why not?”
“Gets in the way when I’m having sex.”