Chapter 18
My dreams were plagued by memories I had buried deep, hoping to never have to face again.
First, my encounter with the witches. Now, the Autumn Court. I couldn’t escape my past, no matter how much I tried.
And Fenn… Gods, he was insufferable. And far too curious for his own good. He noticed my discomfort. It wouldn’t take him long to figure it out, especially once we announced ourselves at court.
What a stupid, foolish decision I’d made. The last thing I wanted to do was visit the Autumn Court.
But relations with them were delicate, especially after ending my engagement with their prince. If they heard from someone else that I was getting married, it could drive a wedge between our kingdoms and shatter our precarious alliance.
When my eyes opened, registering the faint fuchsia and amber glows of sunrise filtering through the curtains, I found myself encased in warmth. It pressed close to my skin, wrapping me in a cocoon of pine and mint and the fresh scent of waterfalls.
“Mmm.” I burrowed further into the warmth.
Only to realize it wasn’t a blanket or fur.
It was a person.
Fenn.
My eyes flared wide, and my breaths turned to sharp gasps. The foggy remnants of my mind now burned with sudden, blinding clarity.
Fenn’s arm was wrapped around me, tucking me against his chest. One leg had draped over mine.
I was effectively trapped in his embrace.
Oh, gods. This couldn’t be happening. How had I allowed this to happen?
Damn Fenn and his bedmates. He was likely used to curling up with another woman in the middle of the night. I gritted my teeth and carefully grasped his fingers, then lifted his arm and placed it gingerly along his side.
He didn’t even stir.
I exhaled, then wriggled closer to the edge of the mattress. His leg shifted, and he grunted in his sleep, turning his head to bury his nose in my hair. He inhaled, then hummed something incoherent, his breath tickling me and sending prickles dancing over my skin. His leg tightened over mine, pressing himself directly into my side.
Pressing something else directly into my side. Something hard.
Closing my eyes, I felt a blush creeping along my cheeks. Burning suns, now was not the time.
Ignoring Fenn’s legs—and other parts—I rolled until I flopped off the bed, barely catching myself before I collapsed in a heap on the floor. I straightened and faced the bed, my face on fire, as I expected Fenn to wake from my movement and berate me with ridicule and flirtatious remarks.
But he didn’t. He murmured something in his sleep, then clutched a pillow against his chest in the same position he’d had me in.
In spite of my embarrassing situation, I found myself smiling. In his sleep, he seemed like nothing more than a lovable puppy who wanted to cuddle.
And he talked in his sleep. I couldn’t make anything out, but I logged that information away for later.
Once I’d escaped the bed, I allowed myself to study the prince a bit longer. He had the thickest eyelashes I had ever seen, and they fanned out against his tan skin. His jaw was slack, his mouth slightly open as he breathed deeply.
He seemed so peaceful. Blood still stained his chin and neck, and most of his clothes. His shoulder was bandaged heavily. But with the way he was stretched out so carelessly, one would think he hadn’t been injured at all.
Shaking all thoughts of the prince from my mind, I made quick work of peeling off my blood-stained garments. The copper tub on the opposite side of the room was already filled with steaming water, and I slid into it with a sigh of contentment. I kept glancing at Fenn on the bed, but he didn’t stir, so I took my time detangling my hair and washing the grime from my body.
It took me the better part of an hour to scrub the blood out of my hair, but thankfully Fenn snored through the entire ordeal, and I hadn’t had to worry about him seeing me naked.
As soon as I stepped out of the tub, it refilled itself with steaming water in preparation of Fenn’s needs. Water gushed in as if from an invisible spigot, steam floating above it. The sound of the water hitting metal made me think of Kellen Falls again, and I recalled how Fenn had confessed the place had felt like home to him.
The thought was both comforting and alarming. I was touched that this man felt so at peace in a place I loved. But at the same time, I was unsettled by the fact that we had something in common. He was the Midnight Prince. My enemy. A royal from a kingdom that rarely saw sunlight.
We were so different. Opposites, in fact. We couldn’t— shouldn’t —share a common interest. It made no sense.
I dressed myself in a simple gown of elegant burgundy silk, courtesy of the magical cottage that anticipated our needs. It also somehow knew I didn’t have a lady’s maid to help me dress, and the thin fabric was easy for me to button myself, despite my injuries.
The healer’s magic was indeed astounding. There was only the dullest ache in my shoulder, as if I had pulled a muscle while training with Father weeks ago. I rolled my shoulder, marveling at the ease with which I could do so. Then I found myself staring into the mirror on the wall by the wardrobe. My skin was still pale, my freckles standing out starkly on my cheeks like sickly spots. My strawberry blond hair was finally clean, and it fell in wavy tresses down to my ribs.
Swallowing hard, I turned and slid my sleeve off my shoulder. A pink, jagged scar cut through my shoulder blade. I couldn’t see it, but I knew the witch rune was there. I ran a finger over my scar, waiting to feel… something. I wasn’t sure what. Warmth? Ridges ov er my skin? Some kind of indicator that there was magic infused in my flesh.
But there was nothing. Whoever had put the rune mark on me had been skilled. The spot didn’t look or feel different from any other part of my body.
With a sigh, I slid my sleeve back into place, then twisted my hair into a messy braid that draped over my injured shoulder. The gown was sheer, and though the sleeves draped past my elbows, the neckline cut low, and the dress exposed a large portion of my back. If I shifted a certain way, the scar would be visible.
And so would the rune. At least, to anyone who was able to see it.
Like Fenn.
I frowned, glancing at his unconscious form still sprawled on the bed. His untidy chestnut hair had flopped over one eye, and one small point of his fae ear was visible from underneath.
The Midnight Prince was an enigma. He was a flirt and a rake, that was for certain. But he also dabbled in witch magic and befriended dragons and had enough compassion to distract me with anecdotes of his home when he noticed I was in distress.
I wasn’t sure what to make of him.
Fenn groaned and rolled over in his sleep, and I quickly turned away before he caught me staring. He grunted, then swore loudly, hissing in pain when he no doubt exacerbated his wound.
I smirked and faced him once more. “Good morning, dearest.”
He blinked sleepily at me, his green eyes clouded and incoherent. “Morning, little firebird.” His voice was low and throaty and made my stomach do dangerous things. I clasped my hands behind my back, reminding myself that however handsome he was or however delicious his husky voice sounded, he was still… well, Fenn. Nothing but trouble.
Fenn squinted at me, looking me over slowly and deliberately. “You are dressed.”
“I am.”
He groaned again and sat up, then winced. “And I am not.”
“Excellent observations. You are quite astute.”
Half his mouth quirked in a devilish grin. “And you are quite lovely. Especially in that… stunning gown.” He looked me over ag ain, and I was painfully aware of how much of my chest was exposed. I resisted the urge to cross my arms over myself once more.
He seemed to realize he was staring, and he dropped his gaze and cleared his throat. “I mean to say… you look the part of a princess and a devoted fiancée.”
“Thank you.”
“I should probably dress as well.” He lifted an arm and sniffed, then recoiled. “Gods, that’s foul. I apologize for subjecting you to my filth all night.”
I chuckled and waved a hand. “We were both filthy, Fenn. I’ve already washed.”
“Well, I must… I should…” He sighed, then rubbed his eyes.
I found myself grinning. “Why, Prince Fenn, are you bashful in the mornings?”
He rubbed a hand down his face. “It just takes a moment for my brain to wake up, that’s all.” He dropped his hand with an exasperated sigh. “As soon as I get out of this bed, I will completely undress so I can bathe. Either you can assist me, or you can make yourself scarce, but the choice is yours.”
Dammit. My cheeks heated, and I dropped my gaze, unable to find my voice. Now I was the bashful one.
I inhaled deeply, trying to clear my head instead of focusing on the image of Fenn naked.
Naked and wounded. Recovering from severe injuries.
Injuries he sustained from fighting by my side. Protecting me. All with an arrow embedded in his shoulder.
I thought of how he had ordered those goblins to stop attacking me, and they had. How the very ground had seemed to shake from the power of his words.
An image of the blazing blue fire that consumed the goblins filled my mind.
We still hadn’t discussed what had happened. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I didn’t want to consider what kind of volatile power flowed through my veins—lethal enough to incinerate a clan of goblins.
But Fenn was keeping secrets, too. He had some kind of magic that had stopped the goblins from feasting on my flesh .
I needed answers. I had to find out what his fae magic could do, and I had to know the extent of my own powers as well.
One thing was for certain: I wouldn’t get any answers by hiding.
Lifting my chin, I looked Fenn straight in the eye and said, “I’m not going anywhere.”
He blinked at me, his eyes flaring wide for a moment before a smirk spread across his lips.
Before he could say anything scandalous that would likely make my cheeks turn even redder, I strode toward him and whipped the blanket off him. He jerked from the motion, then winced, rubbing his shoulder.
“Why do I get the feeling you will not be gentle?” he grumbled.
“Oh, does the poor, pampered prince want someone to coddle him?” I teased. “You’re stronger than that, Fenn.”
His head whipped toward me, his eyes narrowing slightly. Confusion, surprise, and some other emotion I couldn’t place flitted across his features. “Perhaps you’re right,” he said, his voice soft and contemplative.
I looked at him, assessing the rigid set of his jaw and the determination blazing in his eyes. I had only been joking, but perhaps there was a truth to my words that he didn’t often let himself see. Despite his flirtations and romantic exploits and cavalier attitude that aggravated me so, he did have a strength about him that I hadn’t expected. And perhaps those around him were so used to him making light of situations that they didn’t often see it.
Perhaps he didn’t see it too often, either.
Fenn eased off the bed, letting his legs dangle off the edge. He groaned, his face paling as he shifted. I extended a hand to help him up, but he ignored me, rising from the bed and swaying slightly before striding toward the tub.
“Do you want me to—” I offered, feeling uncomfortable.
“No,” Fenn said, his voice uncharacteristically stern. “I’ll do it.” With his good arm, he unbuckled his trousers and let them fall to the floor.
Burning suns, my face was on fire. His tunic covered most of him, but his bare, muscular legs were on full display. My mouth felt like sandpaper as I watched him step out of his trousers and tug at the hem of his tunic .
Oh gods, oh gods. I swallowed hard and found myself moving toward him, desperate to help, to busy myself with something other than gawking at this injured man as he undressed in front of me.
“I don’t need help,” he argued.
“Shut up,” I snapped. “I’ll still let you do it, but I’ll wager getting your wounded arm through your sleeve will be more difficult on your own.”
He scowled but made no further objections. His good arm was free first, and I carefully eased it over his other arm, avoiding the injury as best I could before freeing his body from the stained, bloody garment. I let it fall to the floor, then turned away from him, refusing to let my gaze stray toward his bare chest. Instead, I bustled through the drawers of the wardrobe and found various healing balms and ointments, plus lavender-scented bathing soap.
“Are you going to bathe me?” Fenn asked, and I was relieved to hear a mocking lilt to his voice. It meant he was more like his normal self again.
“Would you prefer I call an attendant?” I asked. “I’m sure Dreya has someone available.”
Fenn was quiet for a long while before he muttered, “No. But I’m perfectly capable of washing myself.”
I snorted. “Are you? With that wound in your shoulder, it will be hard for you to use both hands.”
“The wound is healed.”
“No, the healing has only been quickened. It still hurts, doesn’t it?”
His silence was answer enough.
I pretended to keep looking through the wardrobe for supplies as I heard him move behind me. Then, a light splash sounded, indicating he’d gotten in the tub.
I exhaled, my chest loosening, before I turned to him with several bottles in my hands. He was fully submerged, and he groaned in pleasure as he slid so low that only his head and the tops of his shoulders were visible.
“Gods, that feels good.” His voice was low and husky again, and gods above, I couldn’t think knowing he was completely naked under that water and making sounds like that.
“You have blood in your hair,” I blurted .
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Yes. I fought goblins yesterday, you know.”
“I can wash it out for you.”
He chuckled. “You are quite hospitable today, aren’t you, darling?”
I rolled my eyes and moved closer to him, setting the bottles down on the small table next to the tub. I squirted a bit of lavender soap on my palm before running it through his hair. Despite what we’d been through, his hair was still soft and thick. It was matted and tangled and sticky with blood and sweat, but it was still soft.
Fenn cleared his throat, fidgeting as I weaved my fingers through his hair. “You know, this is ridiculous,” he said, the words coming out in a rush. “You had a goblin take a bite of your shoulder, and you still managed to bathe yourself.”
I found myself smiling. “Yes, but I didn’t have the goblin’s teeth pierce all the way through my shoulder to the other side and then continue fighting through the injury, making it worse.”
He scoffed. “Are you scolding me? If I hadn’t kept fighting?—”
“I know,” I said softly. “We both would have died. As much as it pains me to say it… you saved my life yesterday, Fenn. I couldn’t have fought them without you.”
He said nothing. For a few moments, silence fell between us as I worked my fingers gently through the tangles in his hair. The act was so intimate that I felt my face burning again. I was bathing this man, this prince. He was naked in a tub in front of me and I was lathering soap in his hair.
I abruptly dropped my hands, letting soap drip onto my skirts. “Should be ready to rinse now.” My voice was strained, and I cleared my throat.
Fenn didn’t seem to notice. He took a breath, then slid into the depths of the tub. He lingered for so long underwater that I worried I would have to pull him back up. At long last, he resurfaced with a gasp and shook his wet tresses out of his face with a grin. “That was quite pleasant.”
I rolled my eyes. “You are a child.”
“Will you be applying soap to my entire body, little firebird?” He cast a dark and heady glance my way, which I dutifully ignored .
“I will wash your right side, but that is all. The rest you can reach with your uninjured arm.”
He chuckled, and I forced my thoughts to distance themselves from the task at hand. Instead of dwelling on the fact that Fenn was naked in this tub, and my fingers would be roaming across the expanse of his skin, I thought of the last book I had read. It was a mystical tale of a dark plague that had befallen a kingdom of elves.
After a steadying breath, I poured soap onto my hands and knelt by the tub. I felt Fenn’s eyes on me, but I stared at the soap as I rubbed my palms together, forming bubbles.
The elven king sought out the help of the wise enchantress to banish the plague from the land, I recalled, focusing on the words from the pages I’d read last week. Gods, had it only been last week that I was reading in the library, with Gigi pestering me to go riding?
Knots formed in my stomach, but I pushed them away and dived into the elven kingdom I had been so eager to read about.
All magic has a price, the enchantress told him.
“Aurelia?” Fenn asked, jolting me from my thoughts.
I realized I was kneeling next to him, my soapy hands poised mid-air. I must have looked quite foolish, sitting there utterly frozen.
“Raise your arm, please,” I said quietly.
Fenn obeyed, lifting his uninjured arm out of the water. I methodically began scrubbing the grime and blood from his skin while recalling the details of my book.
Name your price, the elven king had said. The enchantress had told him the plague had been created by a dark curse enacted through a blood sacrifice. A life had been given to bring about the plague. And a life would have to be given to end it.
“This is the most serious bath I’ve ever taken,” Fenn said.
I looked at him and found his amused eyes fixed on me. Only then did I realize my brows were furrowed, my jaw set with determination. I probably looked ridiculous, so stoically focused on keeping my mind clear of distractions.
“My thoughts are elsewhere,” I said, which was entirely the truth.
“Oh? What are you thinking of? ”
My soapy fingers glided up his arm, and he tensed when I reached the tender spot underneath his shoulder.
“A book,” I said.
“What kind of book?”
“Something I read last week. It’s about elves and curses.”
“Oh.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “What kind of book were you thinking of?”
Fenn grinned. “Something scandalous that you would only be reading in the privacy of your own bedchambers.”
“Gods, do you ever stop? You are utterly incorrigible.”
“Incorrigible? Or irresistible?”
I only sighed, working the soap into his shoulder and then down the left side of his chest. When I reached just below his ribs, he jerked wildly, then snorted.
I stilled, my eyes growing wide. “What was that?”
“Sorry.” He snickered again. “Ticklish.”
My mouth quirked into a smile. “You’re ticklish ?”
“What’s so unbelievable about that?”
“Oh, nothing… if you’re ten years old.”
“You mean to tell me there isn’t a single spot where you are ticklish?” He gave me a flat look of disbelief.
I swished my soapy hands in the water to rinse the soap off and met his stare with my own. “That is something I never intend for you to find out.”
His eyes glittered. “Mmm, good. I do love a challenge.” His pupils flared, and for a moment, the vibrant green of his eyes seemed to burn, making my skin boil and my blood sing. Heat flooded my face, and my lips parted. He was sitting up in the tub, leaning toward me, so close I could see the droplets of water running down his throat and disappearing down his chest.
I stood so abruptly that my hands splashed water onto the floor. “Your left side is clean,” I muttered quickly before wiping my wet hands on my skirts. “I’ll see about getting us some breakfast while you finish up.”
“Aurelia—”
Before he could say anything else, I slipped out the door, letting it snap shut behind me. For a moment, I leaned against it, focusing on calming my erratic pulse and steadying my breathing. My eyes closed, and my thoughts returned to the book I’d been thinking about.
I will do it, the elven king said. To save my people, I will give my life to end this plague.
The enchantress had nodded solemnly. So be it, she said.
My eyes opened, and I set my lips into a grim line. For a moment, I’d forgotten why I was here—why I was tethered to this infuriating prince in the first place.
My people were in danger. And just like the elven king from the story I’d been reading, I would do whatever it took to save them.
Nothing—not Fenn or his naked body or his lewd jokes—would distract me from that.