Page 61 of Somber Prince

“I’m not scared.”

“Apprehensive.”

“A little,” I confessed. “Maybe. Wouldn’t you be if you were in my situation? Would you let someone get under your skin freely like this to invade your feelings and roam through your thoughts?”

“I cannot read your thoughts.”

“Thoughts and feelings are connected.”

“Not as much as you think.”

“Ha!” I lifted a finger. “If you can’t read what I think, how do you know what I’m thinking about that?”

He shook his head with a sigh. “Dawn, you’ve just told me your thoughts about that.”

“Did I?”

“You stated—quite adamantly, I should add—that thoughts and feelings are connected.”

“But aren’t they? We think about how we feel. Like I would think that you have a charming smile. And I’d feel the attraction…” That sounded too much like a confession, so I made a weak attempt at back-pedaling. “Purely as an example, of course.”

“You do feel attracted to me,” he said as a matter of fact.

If I wanted to fool him, I should’ve done so before his tendril tapped into my feelings. And now, he certainly got the whiff of my mortification too.

“But I never knew it was because of my smile,” he added, smiling.

Holy shit. Breath caught in my throat. It was an amazing smile—bright, a little crooked, with a cheeky glint of a fang.

I glanced away, feeling slightly winded.

“I should smile more often.” Rha’s quiet voice reached me across the table. “The effect it has on you is exquisite.”

His remaining five tendrils moved closer to my harness.

“Go ahead.” I shifted both arms forward to meet them.

One or six, what difference did it make? Rha was deep under my skin already, in more ways than one.

He connected them all through my arms and my back. Shadowy tendrils reached into my emotions like fingers. For a moment, their intrusion felt overwhelming, but the uneasy feeling quickly settled into the background. I felt Rha’s presence, but it was similar to holding someone’s hand. It required no concentration on my part, easily allowing me to do other things, like eating or talking.

“Alright.” I picked up a piece of the fried duck on my fork. “Shall we?”

After putting the meat in my mouth, I focused on the bouquet of flavors bursting on my tongue, savoring the texture of the succulent meat in combination with the crispy skin. I did it in such detail for Rha’s sake, I realized.

His eyes closed slowly. He tilted his head back, basking in my pleasure. I made it last for as long as I could before swallowing.

“It’s good, huh?” I licked my lips.

He opened his eyes, staring at me in wonder. “I’ve never tasted anything like it.”

“Well, you had lunch with Kostya yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Kostya loves his food. But not like this. You…” He looked like he was searching for words before speaking again. “It must be your attraction toward me. It gives everything a unique flavor. It feels like bubbles are bursting all through my body. Look.” He thrust his arm toward me. His coal-black skin was pebbled with tiny goosebumps. “It’s never happened before.”

I laughed, trying to cover up the awkwardness. It came from realizing how well he was aware of my liking him.

Of course, he’d picked up on all of that too. “You’re enjoying my company, but you seem almost ashamed of that fact. Why?”

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