“Chatri prince,” the stranger complained, glaring down the length of his noble nose. “It’s not difficult to remember.”
Fury slammed into Cyn with unexpected force. This too-pretty man with his cognac eyes and arrogant expression was Fallon’s fiancé. The man who thought he had the right to claim the female at his side.
Without warning, Cyn was lunging forward, intending to plant his fist in that perfect fairy face.
“Cyn, no,” a voice snarled, as a massive pair of arms wrapped around him, holding him in place.
Cyn grunted, struggling to break free of the painful bear hug. An impossible task. Even if he’d been at full strength.
Trapped by the unmovable object known as Styx, Cyn was forced to content himself with glaring over the Anasso’s shoulder at the unwelcome intruder.
“How the hell did you get in here?”
The bastard calmly smoothed a hand down the sleeve of his jade silk shirt that he’d tucked into a pair of black slacks, pausing to pick an invisible piece of fluff from his sleeve.
“I followed my fiancée’s imprint.”
Fiancée? Oh hell, no.
Cyn gave another furious attempt to break free. “What does that mean?”
It was Fallon who answered. “A Chatri with royal blood can trace a portal created by another fey.”
The pompous prince sent her a warning frown. “How I arrived is no business of the vampires.”
“It is if you don’t want to become dinner,” Cyn warned.
Magnus curled his lips. “You don’t frighten me, leech.”
“Then you’re an idiot,” Cyn shot back.
“Stop,” Styx commanded, turning his head to send Magnus a warning glare. “The penalty for trespassing in a vampire’s lair is death.”
The prince held up a slender hand, a strange glow surrounding his fingers. “Just as the penalty for kidnapping a Chatri princess is death.”
“No, Magnus.” Fallon took a sudden step forward, her face pale. “I wasn’t kidnapped.”
Magnus never allowed his gaze to stray from the vampires. “Do not contradict me, female.”
“She’ll do whatever the hell she wants to do,” Cyn barked.
The cognac eyes narrowed. “She belongs to me.”
No fucking way.
A red mist exploded in his mind, short-circuiting any attempt to think.
Instead it catapulted him into action.
He was going to rip off that fairy head and . . .
“God. Damn.” Styx spread his legs wide, his face tight with the effort of holding on to the crazed vampire. “Get him out of here before Cyn shows you just what happens when you piss off a berserker.”
Fallon sucked in a sharp breath, trying to rid herself of the nasty sense of panic that she always felt when in the company of her fiancé.
Magnus was never cruel. At least not physically.
But he’d lived among the Chatri royalty who firmly believed that females were little more than property. He’d bought and paid for her; now he expected her to fulfill her role as the submissive, always-dutiful fiancée.
He was the adored alpha male and she was nothing but another female expected to kneel at his feet.
Unfortunately for both of them, Fallon had never truly accepted the part she was expected to play. And it was even worse now after being away from her homeland.
Or maybe it is worse because you’ve been with a man who’s treated you as if you are more than a thing, a treacherous voice whispered in the back of her mind. Even when they were fighting, Cyn made her feel as if she were an equal opponent. And when she’d been in his arms . . .
With a smothered gasp, she hurried to grasp Magnus’s hand and tugged him out the door. This was no time to think about the shocking pleasure she’d felt when Cyn kissed her. Not when her fiancé was calling on his powers as if he intended to use them against the furious vampire that Styx was barely restraining.
Good Lord. The violence in the air threatened to drown them all.
“I need to speak with you,” she muttered.
Once they reached the hallway, Magnus snatched his hand free, his eyes glowing with a frustrated anger.
“We will speak once we have returned to our homeland.” His gaze flicked over her casual attire, his disdain obvious. “And after you’ve changed into proper attire.”
Endless years of training had Fallon bending her head in apology; then, with a swell of long-suppressed defiance, she forced herself to meet the cold cognac gaze.
She’d been brought to this world for a reason. And the attack on Cyn only stiffened her determination. The mysterious enemy now knew they had been spotted. It was very likely they would step up their pressure on the Commission to complete the spell.
She had to discover who was responsible before it was too late.
That duty was greater than any contract her father signed.
“I can’t return,” she said, her voice low but steady.
“You are my fiancée.” The words were cold, clipped. “You will do as I say.”
His power beat against her, but Fallon squared her shoulders, refusing to be intimidated.
“Not this time.”
Magnus went rigid, his nose flaring. “You dare to defy me?”