My first reaction to seeing him was the realization that there was a good chance I was going to have a massive heart attack. Dead before thirty-one, right here in the grandiose lobby of Hotel Good Fae.
Which, I guessed, was only a little bit better than dying alone at home, suffocated by stacks of dusty books and piles of handwritten maps.
My second, and probably the most troubling of reactions, was that rollercoaster dip in my stomach in response to seeing him, followed by an acute wave of shivers that had nothing to do with who he was.
Goodness, he was just… I couldn’t find the right words other than he did some really stupid things to my hormones.
Somehow I managed not to go into cardiac arrest or punch myself as he stalked toward me with the graceful prowl of a predator. I was a hundred percent human with absolutely no special abilities, but I could still feel the leashed power rolling off him, filling every nook and cranny of the lobby. It was base survival instinct, I figured, alerting the human mind that they were in the presence of a predator.
He didn’t recognize you. I repeated that all the way up to the moment he stopped in front of me. He doesn’t know it was you he had his hands on—
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Throat dry, I blinked once and then twice. “Excuse me?”
His pupils seemed to constrict in response to my voice. “I asked why you were here, Brighton.”
Air caught in my throat at the sound of my name. “You know my name?”
The Prince tilted his head to the side and the look that crossed his face made me think he was questioning my intelligence.
Okay, that was a stupid question. But in my defense, other than Saturday night, when I was confident that he had no idea that was me, I’d only seen him twice before, both times brief. And we’d never been introduced. Ever. And I couldn’t even be sure that I had seen him in the hospital. That could’ve been a hallucination. Or a weird dream. Like the dream I had Saturday night, when I’d been in his lap and he’d been—
Oh my God, my eyes widened as I felt heat blast my face. I was so not going to think about that when I was standing in front of him. Because it was weird. Totally weird and stupid, but I swore I could feel the warmth from his hands on my sides and his lips—
Good God, I really needed to stop thinking.
Those pupils seemed to constrict even further as he dipped his chin. I drew in a sharp breath. He was closer now and his scent…. Goodness, it reminded me of lazy summer afternoons. Being so close to him again was like standing next to a heater.
Tanner cleared his throat. “My liege, Ms. Jussier is here on behalf of the Order. She will be helping us with the missing younglings.”
“Is that so?” he replied wryly.
My eyes narrowed. “Yes, that is so. Tanner contacted the Order and I was sent to handle the meeting and now since it’s over, I’ll be on my way.” I turned from the Prince to Faye, who was currently staring at me like I’d lost my mind. “I’ll be in touch, Faye.”
I didn’t make it very far.
Actually, I was only able to turn halfway by the time I felt the Prince’s warm fingers curled around my left wrist. Like before, the contact of his skin against mine was a jolt to the system. It was almost like he was charged with electricity, but I didn’t think that was possible.
“Do you understand how serious it is that these younglings are missing?” he asked, speaking low enough that I didn’t think anyone else could hear him.
“Yes.” My gaze skittered over his shoulder. We had an audience, a rather large, curious audience. Unnerved, I tried to pull my hand free and failed. “Of course I know it’s important.”
“But do you care?” Those odd, striking eyes latched onto mine.
A shiver danced over my shoulders. “Yes, I care.” Offended that he would even ask that question, I tugged on my arm again, getting nowhere. “Can you let go of me?”
“Why would you care when the entirety of the Order does not?” He didn’t let go.
“How do you know they don’t?” I fired back even though he was mostly right.
“The fact that you’d have to ask that question makes me doubt your intelligence,” he said. “Then again, I already have good enough reasons to doubt that.”
My mouth dropped open. Literally. “Did you just say that to me?”
“I am confident that I spoke in your native language and quite clearly.”
Anger flashed through my system. “You don’t even know me.”
“Oh, I know you.” His voice dropped even further, eliciting an unwanted, confusing as hell shiver from me. “I know exactly what and who you are.”
My fingers curled into a fist. “I don’t even know what you’re suggesting.”
“You know just as well as I do that the Order doesn’t give a damn what may or may not have happened to a few Summer fae.” As he spoke, the space between us seemed to have evaporated. “And you stand before me, claiming that you do while you won’t even admit that the people you work for couldn’t care less.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Damn, he had a point. A good point, but that didn’t mean I was apathetic. “I do care. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have taken this file. I wouldn’t have told Tanner and Faye that I would see what I could find out. If you actually did know who and what I am, whatever the hell that means, you’d know that I wouldn’t lie.”
Faye’s audible sharp inhale warned me that my voice had risen even though the Prince’s hadn’t, and at least she could hear me.
I didn’t care. Frustration and irritation had long since replaced the healthy sense of fear. “And seriously, dude, can you let go of my arm?”
The Prince ignored my request yet again. “You are nothing but lies and façades.”
My entire body jerked at that comment, striking too close to home for comfort. “Let go of me.”
He held my gaze as he slowly lifted one finger after another, releasing my wrist. That bitter knot was back in my throat. The Prince had let go and his heavy lashes lowered, shielding his powerful gaze, but I swore I could still feel it. “My apologies,” he murmured. “That was uncalled for.”
A feather could’ve knocked me over right then. He was apologizing? The Prince? “Yeah, it was.” I swallowed hard, taking a step back from him.
“Even if it is true,” he added.
“Wow. Way to ruin an apology,” I muttered. “Not that you probably even know why you just apologized.”
“I do. It hurt you. Those words.”
“What? You can smell that, too?”
Those heavy lashes lifted, and the intensity of his gaze pierced me. Suddenly I thought back to the day I woke up in the hospital, to those eyes. “I can sense many things.”
Oh.
Oooh.
I had the distinct impression that he was talking about earlier, when I was thinking about the dream I had. And boy, didn’t that make me want to crawl up in a hole somewhere. At that moment, I made a mental note to legit not feel anything when I was around him or any other fae.
One eyebrow, several shades darker than his golden hair, lifted.
“Wait. Can you guys read minds?” I asked, voice hushed and thinking I didn’t know nearly as much about the fae as I thought I did.
“We don’t need to.”
Relief hit me, but it quickly faded when his words cycled back through my head. We don’t need to. Meaning picking up on our emotions probably gave them enough insight on what our thoughts were.
Nice.
“Well…” I held the folder closer to my chest. “That’s freaky.”
His lips twitched.
“And I need to go.” I started to turn once more, ordering myself not to run out of the lobby like it was on fire. But I stopped, facing him again. “I do care about these younglings. I will find them or I will find out what happened to them.”
The Prince inclined his head. A moment passed and then he nodded. Thinking this super awkward face to face was now, thankfully, over, I started to turn away again.
“Brighton?”
Desperately ignoring how the way he said my name made me think of stormy summer nights, I faced him, even though common sense screamed that I shouldn’t. I just couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t a compulsion. It was apparently really bad self-control. My wry gaze flickered over his face, and I bit back a sigh. He was the strongest, the deadliest of his kind, and that knowledge did nothing to dampen my appreciation of his masculine beauty.
“The red hair was a nice touch, but I prefer it this way.”
And then with those parting words, he turned and stalked off, leaving me standing there knowing one thing only.
The Prince knew it was me Saturday night.