Chapter 18
How does one come to grips with the unexpected knowledge that someone they barely knew, someone who wasn’t even human and just happened to be the Prince, had not only saved their life but did God knows what to do it?
Part of me couldn’t even believe it because as far as I knew, the fae couldn’t heal humans. Unless it was something only Ancients could do. But if so, that was yet another thing I was unaware of, and I was supposed to be the leading authority on all things fae.
Apparently I didn’t know jack.
After promising Tink we were so going to have a conversation about all of this when I got home—if I got home—I found myself back at the Prince’s front door.
I couldn’t even let myself think about what I was doing as I reached out and turned the knob. It was still unlocked.
Saying a quick prayer that, all things considered, would probably go unanswered, I walked back into the quiet condo, closing the door behind me while hoping I was going to walk back out of there.
He saved your life and now you must save his.
This was insane.
What Tink had said was just unbelievable, but I kept walking.
The kitchen was empty and I stopped by the counter, spying a reddish-blue blotch of blood. That was probably going to stain the marble.
I don’t know what I was thinking when I walked around to the kitchen sink, picked up a towel and wiped up the blood. Probably because I wasn’t thinking at all.
There was no sight or sound of the Prince.
What if he was already dead?
He saved your life….
“Uh… hello?” I called out, tossing the towel into the sink. I eyed the door I figured led to a bedroom. “Uh, Prince? It’s me, Brighton?”
Silence.
Concern wiggled around in the pit of my stomach like a nest of vipers.
I started toward the bedroom, seeing that the door was ajar.
Lifting a trembling hand, I pushed it open.
I’d been correct. It was a bedroom and it was as personable as the living room.
In other words, it didn’t look remotely lived in.
Just a super large bed in the middle of the room with deep blue sheets and comforter.
There was a nightstand and a dresser. That was all.
Now you must save his….
Light spilled out from a room off from the bedroom and tiny tremors rattled my legs as I stepped farther inside. “Are you in here? Like alive?”
Several beats of silence passed and then, “I told you to leave.”
The guttural voice caused my breath to catch in my throat, and I froze.
“And you left.” There was another pause. “You should not have come back.”
The entire world with the exception of Tink would agree with that statement.
But I was here.
“I know… I know you’re not okay.” I forced my legs to move, and it was like walking in quicksand. I neared the swath of light. “I know that you’re going to be really not okay because you haven’t fed.”
There was no response.
Wanting to turn and run in the other direction, I did the opposite and stepped into the light.
And I saw him.
“Holy….”
The Prince was… he was shirtless, and while I’d seen a decent number of shirtless men in my life, I’d never seen one like him.
And that had nothing to do with the trails of blood running down his back and stomach, as terrible as that was to admit. My priorities were so, so wrong, because I wasn’t checking out the ragged holes in his shoulder or chest. He was….
He was beautiful, even covered in blood.
All that golden, hard skin. Defined pecs. Abs tightly coiled and a dusting of golden hair that traveled below his navel to the band—
Oh, sweet Jesus, his pants were undone and hanging low enough that I could tell the man went commando underneath.
I should look away.
I couldn’t look away.
Not when my gaze got hung on those interesting indentions on either side of his hips.
How in the world did someone get muscles there?
I’d never seen that on someone in real life.
Only in photographs or on TV. I was beginning to think those kind of muscles were fake news, but he had them and then some.
Actually, his body was absolutely freaking glorious, and it was clear that I needed to obtain sexual gratification from anything other than my trusty vibrator, because I was staring at him like I’d never seen a man before and—
“Do you like what you see?” he asked.
Jerking my gaze to his, I felt heat blast my face as I blurted out the stupidest thing possible. “You’re bleeding.”
The Prince tilted his head to the side as he held a bloodied towel in his hand. “I was completely… unaware of this.”
A thousand smartass responses traveled to the tip of my tongue and died there, because he turned to the gray and black tiled shower stall. Muscles flexed and contracted as he tossed the towel into the stall.
“You have to know why I told you… to leave,” he was saying, twisting at the waist and gripping the basin of the sink so tightly his knuckles bleached white. “I will be fine.”
He saved my life? How?
He had to have, because why would Tink lie? And I knew I should’ve died that night. The pain and all that blood and the scars… the scars no one but those doctors have seen.
The Prince saved my life.
And not only that, he understood why I had to do what I had to do. He didn’t like it. He made it more than clear he didn’t want me to do it and now a lot of what he’d said made sense, but he still understood.
No one understood.
I’d never let anyone in the last two years get a chance to understand. Not even Ivy, but I let… I let the Prince in and I was now just realizing that. I’d let him in and even though I knew of him for two years, I’d only really known him for a week. And he already knew more about me than most.
What did that mean?
Something warm and confusing and consuming filled up my chest as I stared at this beautiful, complicated man. And that’s what I saw when I stared at him. Not a fae. Not an Ancient. Not a Prince. Just a man.
A man who was dying.
And I could save him.
“No, you won’t be okay.” I found my voice and actually said something useful. “I know if you… if you don’t feed, you will die.”
His gaze swung to mine and his features were sharper, more stark. He took a deep breath and it lifted his chest. “Are you… offering yourself up?”
My heart stuttered in my chest as he pushed away from the sink and faced me. “I’m here and I really can’t believe I’m here, but it’s either me or I go out and kidnap a human, and the latter isn’t going to happen.”
His bloodied hands opened and closed at his sides. “I am not going to feed from you, Brighton.”
“Then you’re going to die.”
A muscle flexed in his jaw and a moment passed. “You do not want me to feed from you.”
“Not particularly,” I admitted. I’d never been fed on before. Not even when I’d been attacked, but I knew what feedings could do. I could walk out of here like nothing happened or he could take too much.
He took a step toward me, and I tensed. His nostrils flared. “Then why are you here, offering yourself to me?”
I could lie, claim that I was an altruistic soul, but I had a feeling he’d know that was utter crap.
“Because I… I know.” I swallowed hard, meeting his gaze. Those eyes burned straight into me. “I don’t understand how and I don’t understand why, but I know you saved my life.”
The Prince became very still, so much so that I feared for a moment he’d died right there and was about to topple over, but when he didn’t, I continued.
“I thought I saw you in the hospital, but I wasn’t sure. You were there and you did something to make sure I pulled through.” Now my heart was pounding fast, too fast. “That’s why the doctors said I was a miracle. Because I was.”
The Prince closed his eyes.
I wanted to ask him why, but we’d already wasted too much time. Hopefully there’d be a chance to find out later.
“You saved my life, so I’m going to return the favor,” I said, stepping back.
His eyes snapped open. “That’s not why I did it. So you could return the favor.”
“Well, I would hope not.” I kept walking backward, relieved when he followed me like an animal stalking its prey. Probably not the best comparison to make at the moment.
The back of my legs hit the bed at the same moment I figured it out. “You saved me because I helped your brother the night everyone fought the Queen.”
His head tilted to the side and he didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
I knew.
Reaching into the pocket of my peacoat, I pulled the stake out and placed it on the dresser. “So, I, um, don’t accidentally stab myself or you.”
His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he watched me.
Nervousness nearly made my knees shake as I fiddled with my jacket. Then I undid the button, thinking it was too hot in this room. I shrugged off the ruined peacoat, letting it fall to the floor.
The jeans and the light, loose sweater still felt like too much, but I wasn’t going to strip. “I’m not going to leave, Mr. Prince, and I’m not going to let you die.”
In a blink of an eye, he was right in front of me. Caught off guard, I lost my balance and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Do you know what will happen when I feed?” His voice was barely above a growl.
Staring up at him, I swallowed. “I know… I know some people like it… or so I’ve heard, but I guess…no, I really have no idea.”
“You’re going to like it.”
A wholly unexpected thing happened. Heat boiled my blood. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
“I know what I’m getting myself into.”
The Prince’s hands moved faster than my eyes could track. His fingertips touched my cheeks. “You can leave.”
“If I do then you die.”
“Maybe that’s for the best.”
Stunned and more than a little disturbed, I lifted my hands and wrapped them around his wrists. “Why would you say that?”
He was getting paler by the second. Soon he’d be as white as a ghost. “You know what I’ve done.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“There is no coming back from that.”
“Stop,” I said, my voice cracking. “You have come back from that, because you’re standing here and you’re going to feed so you don’t die. That’s it. This has been decided. Get with it.”
He went still, but I saw the moment resignation settled into his features. Relief mingled with a little bit of fear. He was going to live, and I just hoped I didn’t die in the process.
“I won’t hurt you,” he whispered. “And I won’t let this go too far. I promise you this.”
Before I could ask what too far meant, the tips of his fingers glided down my cheeks, along the sides of my throat. He tilted my head back and a heartbeat passed.
“I didn’t save you because of what you did for my brother,” he said, and then he brought his lips down.