Page 64 of Merciless Prince
She had joined a new group of people near the fountain in the center of the courtyard, and she was quietly listening as a loud, obnoxious guy prattled on about how he met Cori outside a lecture hall once. He kept talking about how beautiful she was, and that seemed to be the only thing he knew about her, because he referred to her as ‘Cara’ multiple times. I could tell it bothered Shay due to her flushed cheeks and pursed lips, but she was too polite to call him out on it.
I had a sudden flash of desire to get closer to her, pull her away from every other guy in the courtyard. It wasn’t like my dark fantasy from a moment ago, where I saw myself hurting her and delighting in my dominion over her. It was just a regular old desire to have her close to me, as if she were nothing more than a random hot girl I’d spotted in a bar. Not the girl I was going to take a few days from now; the girl I was going to break and torture into submission.
I shook my head and frowned, staring at her tragically-beautiful face. I couldn’t help but wonder what things would’ve been like between us if we met under different circumstances.
If only that had actually happened.
If only she hadn’t seen me that night in the grotto.
If only she wasn’t such a nosy fucking bitch.
One of her friends pushed through the crowd a moment later and approached her with a sympathetic expression on his face. “Hey,” he said. “I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay, Cooper,” she replied, giving him a sad half-smile. “Thanks for coming.”
“No need to thank me. She’s my friend too,” he said. He sighed and shook his head. “God, I still can’t believe it.”
“Me neither.” Shay’s voice cracked as a fresh set of tears spilled down her cheeks, and Cooper leaned down to give her a hug.
I wasn’t prepared for the full-force wave of jealousy that hit me when I saw him slide his arms around her. I almost lunged out of the darkness to knock him on his ass.
Mine.She’s all mine,a primal voice muttered from a deep, distant part of my mind.
I stepped forward slightly, jaw clenched as I watched Cooper’s arms slide farther down Shay’s back, fingertips resting only an inch or so above her ass. He was murmuring something in her ear, and she was nodding, seemingly not caring how close his hands were getting to her ass.
How fucking dare he touch her like that? She didn’t belong to him.
She suddenly pulled away from him and whipped her head around, peering in my direction with a quizzical expression on her pale face. I stepped back and melted into the shadows behind one of the stone pillars on the edge of the courtyard, not wanting her to see me.
My associates from the society had no problem following her out in the open and making their presence known to her, but I liked to do things a different way. I liked to linger in the shadows, make her feel like she was actually safe for a moment, while I bided my time, knowing she was never truly safe. Not from me.
She turned back to Cooper. “Okay. Let’s do it,” she said.
Cooper nodded and put one hand on her lower back as he slowly steered her away from the group near the fountain. “She isn’t feeling well,” he said to explain their sudden departure. The others nodded and murmured their sympathies and understanding.
A few seconds later, Shay and Cooper stepped right past me in the dim walkway, completely oblivious to my presence. I followed them at a distance to ensure they wouldn’t hear my footsteps.
Shay suddenly froze in the middle of the dark passage. It looked like her whole body was deflating. She headed over to one of the thick stone pillars that ran along the outer edge of the walkway and sank down in front of it, breathing deeply. I quickly ducked behind the nearest corner so I could watch and listen without being spotted.
“Sorry,” Shay said to Cooper, looking up at him. “I just feel so weak all of a sudden.”
He sank to the marble-tiled floor next to her. “It’s fine,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Take all the time you need.”
She flashed a grateful smile at him. “Thanks for getting me out of there.”
“No problem. I could tell you were struggling.”
Shay sniffed and wiped her face. “I just couldn’t stand being there for another second. None of those people were even friends with Cori. Half of them didn’t even know her name. They kept calling her Cora or Cara. I even heard someone call her Rory.”
“Is that why Leah and Faye left?”
“Yeah. They sneaked out fifteen minutes ago. I only stayed because Cori’s my best friend, and I thought it would look weird if I wasn’t there. But I couldn’t stand it. Those people were all so…”
“Fake?”
Shay nodded and sniffed again. “Not long before you arrived, a couple of guys came up to me to say sorry because someone told them that she’s my best friend. Then a few minutes later I heard them whispering about how they hoped she didn’t die, because it would be ‘such a great loss to the world if those tits aren’t in it anymore’. How fucked up is that?”
“Jesus Christ,” Cooper muttered. “What the fuck is wrong with people?”
