28. A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Murder Go Down
Chapter 28
A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Murder Go Down
CINDER
I ’m being carried in two strong arms.
“Move.”
Kai’s voice. He sounds tense.
I try to open my eyes, but my eyelids feel impossibly heavy. I'm vaguely aware of voices around us, whispers and murmurs that I can't quite make out.
“Your Highness, is everything alright with your bride?” someone asks, their voice laced with false concern.
“She's fine,” Kai says, his tone as nonchalant as it is dismissive. “Just a little too much champagne, I'm afraid. You know how humans are.”
“Perhaps you shouldn't feed on her so intensely,” another voice suggests, a hint of malice in their tone. “Humans are such fragile creatures, after all.”
Kai’s stiffens around me, and though his voice remains casual, I sense the anger simmering beneath the surface. “I appreciate your concern, but I assure you, she's my fiancé, not a blood bag.”
There's a beat of silence, and then the sound of retreating footsteps. Kai continues walking, his strides long and purposeful. I drift in and out of consciousness, catching snatches of conversation as he carries me through the castle.
Finally, I feel him gently lower me onto a soft surface. A bed, I realize, as I sink into the plush mattress. I force my eyes open, blinking against the dim light of my bedroom.
Kai hovers over me, concern pinching at the corners of his eyes. “Well, well, my sleeping beauty awakens.” He tries to tease, but his usual smirk is absent.
I scowl at him, trying to sit up. “I'm fine,” I insist, even as a wave of dizziness forces me back down. “I don't need your help. You can get out.”
Kai arches an eyebrow. “Is that so? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're about to pass out again.” He leans closer, his voice dropping to a low purr. “If you don't let me help you, I might have to take drastic measures. Like cuddling you and calling you pet names until you give in.”
I glare at him, but I can feel my resolve wavering. “You wouldn't dare.”
“Try me, my black souled diamond. My ghostly damsel of distress.”
There’s that cocky smile.
I groan, realizing he's not going to let this go. “Fine. My iron pills are in that upper drawer. I need to take them for my anemia. And grab the box of Magic Morsels too. A snack can only help.”
Kai nods, his playful demeanor fading into something more serious. He retrieves the pills and a glass of water, watching as I swallow them down.
“So,” I say, breaking the silence. “You were right about my father. He was murdered.”
Kai sighs heavily, sinking to sit on the bed beside me, handing me the box of snack cakes I smuggled in from the Common World. “I hoped I was wrong,” he admits. “I didn't want to be right, not about this.”
“Are we sure?” I have to ask. My brain is swimming in too much syrup to think it through.
I struggle to open the individually packaged Spice Spell Rolls. The rolled sponge cakes with pumpkin spice filling and a drizzle of white chocolate glaze are only available during the fall. Though I bet if I talked to Red, she could convince her grandma, the producer of Magic Morsels, owner and frontwoman of Grandma’s House, to get me boxes off season it’d be possible.
Even Martha Stewart would give her left arm and her best rose bushes to run a home goods and food company like Red’s Gigi.
He takes the rolls from me and rips the package open before handing it back. “You really should be eating spinach or red meat for your anemia. This is only going to make you feel worse.”
I blink. “Did you research my condition?”
Pushing a spice roll into my mouth, I try to embrace the comfort that is anything pumpkin. Thankfully, when the servants light the candles, they light my personal ones as well so the autumnal scents swirl around us like a hug I desperately need.
“Maybe,” he shrugs in an unexpected moment of modesty.
“Yeah, but this is for my feels,” I say waving the second cake in the package. “Also I can do this now.” I blink hard and a slight green film covers my vision, and I know my eyes are now green.
He frowns.
I do it again and my view changes to a sepia hue. I'm a brown-eyed girl now. Magic Morsels all have small, little magics you acquire for a short while when you eat them.
“Stop that,” he says. “I like your eyes the way they are. And the cover up was sloppy. Likely no one believed anyone would bother to investigate the death of a human in Midnight, even if it was the most prolific one. Jack showed me the notes.”
I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Someone in Midnight drank all of his blood. And they managed to cover it up. It has to be someone powerful, someone with influence.”
“My father.” His jaw flexes visibly as darkness passes over his face. Again, I'm getting a glimpse of the side he doesn’t let the world see. “It has to be him.”
I close my eyes, the weight of this revelation settling over me. When I open them, the world is blue.
“But you aren’t alone, Cinder,” he says. “I’ll help you find out what happened. You can trust me.”
“Trust.” The wry laugh sucks the energy from me again and I sink further back into the bed. “You know trust is earned right? And I don’t think there is enough time in this lifetime for that to build between us.” The exhaustion and weakness make my tongue loose.
“We can make a good team,” he insists. Kai takes my hand, his thumb brushing over my knuckles.
I meet his gaze. For a moment, I almost believe him. I almost let myself hope that he means it.
But then I snort, pulling my hand away. “I doubt it,” I say, my voice hard. “You're the playboy prince, remember? You don't do commitment or trust.” I bite into the second spice roll though the sugar is making my teeth tingle.
Kai's jaw tightens, but he doesn't argue. He stands up, running a hand through his hair. “Get some rest,” he says, his voice clipped. “We'll talk more tomorrow.”
He turns to go, but pauses at the door and looks at me over his shoulder. “You're wrong about me, Cinder,” he says softly. “I'm not who you think I am.”
Something about the way he says it makes me think he doesn’t even know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
And with that he's gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts, a red hue, and the growing realization that when it comes to Prince Kaison Charming, I might not know anything at all.
The next night, I return from my vamp in training classes to Kaison trussed up like a naked sex slave on my bed again.
There is a strange, out of focus look in his eyes. Maybe he’s had a shitty day?
Mine was certainly no picnic.
One more subtle warning that if I ever do anything so human as to burp or sneeze at the royal banquet table, I’ll be excommunicated. It makes me want to show those presumptuous vampy fucks how crude I can be.
Unlike last time, I don’t take my time. I rip off my panties and sit on Kaison's lap. Grinding on his hard cock, we both moan.
My body is ready for him, craving his touch like a drug. It’s never been like this before. I try to chalk it up to the fact we have good sexual chemistry. Atomically good.
Intrusive thoughts suggest it’s more than that.
With an almost frantic fury, I position him at my entrance and then slam down on his cock.
His size and pierced texture blows my brains out of the top of my head. I cry out the same time a curse explodes from him. I don’t check the ceiling to see if my gray matter is up there. Instead I lift and slam back down with all my power.
I want to fuck. Fuck until I can’t think. Can’t feel anything else.
All thoughts and worries disappear as I focus solely on the man beneath me, giving into the primal need to be connected to him. Kai's gaze remains fixed on mine, the intensity in his eyes stealing my breath. It's as if he can see straight into my soul, uncovering all my hidden desires. He seems to know what they are before I do. I didn’t even know I had them until he swaggered up to me with his dark eyes and boyish charm.
It’s more than that though. There’s more to him than I thought, than everyone thinks. There’s a depth to him, and I’m falling into it.
As I ride Kai in a punishing rhythm, I’m with him. There is a connection to the man under me, who keeps subjecting himself wholly to my power. He may be restrained but I’m starting to feel like he has tied me to him.
“You like that dick?” he asks.
I stop and open my eyes.
There is a look of knowing in Kaison’s eyes. Not smugness, it’s as if he has disconnected from his own body to make sure I’m having a good time.
The rising, all-encompassing euphoria rioting through me suddenly falls flat on a cold floor.
We aren’t having sex together.
Charming is just playing the part of the party host, trying to ensure that I'm enjoying myself so he can pat himself on the back later and brag about it to anyone who will listen.
My lips pull into a frown. As much as I want to chase the feelings on his dick, I rise and step back. It almost hurts to let him from my body
The prince sputters. “Wait, what? Where are you going?”
I cross my arms under my bare breasts and raise an eyebrow. “ Whatever I want, remember?” I repeat the earlier agreement.
“Didn’t you like it? Don't you want more?” Confusion mars his face.
My body screams to get back on, to complete what I was chasing, but I tell it to shut the fuck up for a second. Somehow, I just knew he turned into someone he’d been with everyone else.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Do that thing where you put on a show. Yes, you have an impressive cock with a lot of piercings—” that feels fucking unbelievable and might ruin my velvet dungeon for all time. “—but don’t think that makes you special.”
His eyebrows raise.
The second he did that. . . looked for his A+ report card, he left me alone. Kaison wasn’t there anymore. It was Prince Charming on his shit again, and I didn’t like it.
Not that I hadn’t fucked people with a fair amount of emotional distance, but it felt wrong. Not with the marshmallows, and the vulnerability pulsating just under my skin.
I don’t want to be alone. I don't want to be some girl he impresses with his massive, pierced shlong. . . though I am impressed and thoroughly interested in riding that sucker like my life depends on it.
“If you pull that shit on me, I will leave you here,” I announce. “Tied up.”
“What can I do?” His voice is rough, and I can’t read if it’s from his arousal, shame, or frustration. I kind of hope it’s all three.
What can he do?
If we are going to go through with this, I want Kaison here. Not Prince Charming.
“Ask me nicely to sit on your cock again.” I drop my crossed arms and reach up to play with my nipple, heating my skin with the motion.
His eyes latch onto the movement.
“Please sit on my cock again.”
“Mistress,” I add with a sharpness that tells him who’s in charge.
“Please,” his voice is even more hoarse now. “Sit on my cock again, mistress.”