“Thorne,” he corrected. He picked up his whiskey. “This should come as a surprise to no one, but just so we all are clear, what I want? I get. And what I want is for you to keep me company during my stay here.”
I inhaled sharply. “Well, I suppose this will be a first for you then.”
He took a drink as he looked up at me. “I already had a first. Just once when I didn’t get what I wanted. There will not be a second time.”
Anger welled up inside me so quickly that I forgot what he was and who I was. “You are out of your mind if you think you can just demand to have me.”
“Lis,” Claude warned.
“No,” I snapped, chest rising and falling heavily. “It will be over my dead body.”
The Prince only raised a brow. “That’s a bit dramatic, na’laa.”
“Don’t call me that.” My lips thinned. “I am not an object that you can simply take possession of or collect.”
“I didn’t suggest that you are an object.”
My nails bit into my palms. “Exactly what are you suggesting then? Because I didn’t hear you ask me what I wanted.”
“I already know what you want.” Something far too close to amusement danced in his churning eyes.
“You have no idea what I want.”
“We’ll have to disagree on that.”
“There’s no disagreeing— ”
“I’m only asking this once,” he said to the Baron, cutting me off. “I will not ask again.”
“In other words, you’re not asking for permission,” I shot back.
He lifted a shoulder. “You can choose to see it that way.”
“Choose?” I exclaimed. “There is no other way to see it.”
“Once more, we will have to disagree.”
“Why her?” Claude demanded again, surprising me.
Prince Thorne didn’t answer for a long moment. “I will need to feed, and I prefer to do so with her.”
He wanted me so he could feed? The anger nearly choked me, but it was tinged with something akin to . . . to disappointment? Which made no sense. Furious, I turned away from the Prince, fully intending on leaving the dining hall. I was done with this absurdity.
“You asked if I was cruel.” Prince Thorne spoke again, focusing on the Baron. “I ask the same question of you. Are you cruel?”
I stopped, turning back to the Prince. He wouldn’t . . .
“I’m sorry?” Claude stood, planting his hands on the table. “I’m not sure why you would ask that question of me.”
“You’re not?” Prince Thorne spoke softly, sending a chill through me. “You claim that she is most valued and yet you have treated her with such reckless disregard. You sent her to my quarters, apparently either too forgetful or too intoxicated to inform me of her arrival. She could’ve been killed.”
“But I wasn’t,” I hissed. “Obviously.”
Prince Thorne ignored me. “Not only that, she has been treated cruelly. When I saw her earlier, she was bruised.”
My head jerked back. “I was not bruised.”
The Prince eyed me. “I do enjoy your lies.”
Claude turned stiffly toward me. “What is he speaking of?”
“Nothing— ”
“Her wrist was bruised,” Prince Thorne interrupted. “She said she got it while gardening.”
“I did.” I shot him a glare that should’ve set him afire.
He was unfazed. “It was such a strange bruise to obtain while gardening, considering it clearly resembled fingerprints.”
“What happened, Lis?” Claude asked, pressing his hands flat to the table.
I lifted my chin. “As I said, nothing.”
Claude’s jaw hardened as he leaned forward. “Hyhborn cannot lie, but caelestias and mortals can. I want the truth.”
“I’m not saying he is.” The tips of my ears burning, I crossed my arms. “I didn’t even realize I was bruised, so I assumed it happened while I was gardening.”
“Huh.” Prince Thorne inclined his head. “I didn’t know plants had fingers and were able to grab someone hard enough to leave a bruise.”
“No one asked you for your opinion,” I retorted.
Slowly, the Prince turned his gaze upon me.
“Lis,” Claude hissed this time. “You know better.”
I did.
I did know better as I stared at the Prince of Vytrus, my heart slamming against my ribs. I’d overstepped, more than once, but this time, I’d belly-flopped over that line. I froze. Tiny hairs lifted along the nape of my neck as the air thickened and the flames stilled. That mouth of mine had surely gotten me in trouble this time.