“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’t touch 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 was not my 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.
“Ah, so you’ve finally come to realize that it seems everyone else is free to come and go through that door, but if I grab the handle, it doesn’t turn.”
The prince raked a hand through his hair again, refusing to meet my gaze, but then his eyes caught on the double doors leading to the courtyard. “You cleared some of the garden.”
I placed my hands on my hips, knowing he was steering the conversation away from my imprisonment, but also realizing I lacked the righteous anger to pursue it further. My shoulders slumped. I was tired. So tired. After two days of unknowns, long flights, captivity, knowing I was powerless to resist whatever happened to me, and now dealing with an angry royal heir . . . I was quite simply exhausted and ready for him to leave.
“Yes, I did,” I replied with a sigh.
“And you enjoyed it?”
“I suppose so.”
The prince strode toward the door, then stepped outside. I followed him, wrapping my arms around myself as the cold air swirled around us. The three moons were bright, two of them full while the other was a waning gibbous. Combined, they lit up the courtyard in silvery light.
Frowning, I watched as the prince went to each plant that I’d cleared of snow. He fingered their dark stalks and brittle leaves, his face a blank mask. When he finished his perusal, his attention shifted to me.
A wave of his aura pushed toward me, hitting me unexpectedly.
Warmth bloomed over my skin as the heat of his energy consumed me. It felt even more potent than normal. Different, raw, and like barely leashed . . . something.
The prince prowled closer, and I instinctively took a step back.
The minute I did, he stopped in his tracks and drew himself up short.
I plastered myself to the doorframe, gripping its edges for support.
The prince’s aura abruptly diminished, and his face wiped clean. “I shall bid you goodnight.” He bowed stiffly.
He didn’t look at me when he passed, and my skin prickled in awareness when his arm brushed against my forearm.
“What am I to do from here?” I called.
He faced me when he reached the door, his gaze skimming over my sleeping attire.
I thanked the gods that Daiseeum had chosen a modest pair of pants and a long-sleeved top. I supposed it didn’t matter, though. The prince had already seen me naked in Liss Lodge’s bathing pools, although that had been from a distance and when it’d been dark in the cave. Not like in here, where the fairy lights burned brightly and only twenty feet separated us.
I raised my eyebrows at him when he remained silent.
“You’re to keep yourself in this chamber.” With that, he strode out the door and locked it behind him.
The prince hadn’t been kidding when he’d said I was to stay in my chamber. The next day he returned in thick clothing, similar to what he’d worn when I’d first met him.
He pulled on leather gloves, refusing to meet my gaze as he said, “I have to leave again for a few weeks to tend to business on the continent.”
From his back pocket, hidden beneath his huge wings, he extracted several rolls of parchment and a quill. After setting the writing supplies on the desk, he added, “I’ve arranged for a courier to deliver letters to your sister after they’ve been read by my staff to ensure they don’t contain damaging information.”
Since I’d dressed myself right after waking in the garments I’d been given in High Liss, I felt less vulnerable when I placed my hands on my hips and scowled at him. “Information such as the crown prince keeping me locked in the castle for no discernable reason?”
His power rumbled. “Mind yourself, Ilara Seary, daughter of Mervalee Territory. You’re to stay here until I say otherwise.” With that, he stormed out of my chambers before I could ask anything further.