Page 57 of Dark Prince's Captive

“Get out,” Aruan says in a deep, dark voice.“If you see my mate in any state of undress?—”

“You’ll have to kill me,” Vitai says in a bored tone.“Yes, I know.”Turning his back on us, he says, “Well, make sure your mate is decent so I can heal your wound and get to our soldiers.They need me too.”

A muscle ticks in Aruan’s jaw, but the mention of the soldiers seems to bring him to his senses.

“Don’t move,” he barks out, the command aimed at Vitai.

He lifts me gently out of the pool and onto the floor before rising from the water like a Greek Adonis in all his naked glory.If my mind had been too lust-befuddled and drunk on passion to fully appreciate and memorize his tantalizing form and features earlier, that’s not the case now.The sight of him makes my mouth go dry.But fear and shame also pour back into my consciousness when I think about how I behaved and what I was about to do.

Aruan takes a big white folded sheet from a bench, shakes it out, and drapes it over my shoulders.He does so tenderly, treating me as if I’m made of rice paper that risks tearing.

“It won’t take long,” Vitai says.“I’ll be quick.”

I’m not sure if he’s addressing me or Aruan, but his implied meaning sends heat to my cheeks.

To make matters worse, Aruan commands in that very male, very raspy timbre of his, “Go wait in my bed, Elsie.I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

I shake my head vehemently, trying to come up with an appropriate reply, but words refuse to form on my tongue.

He narrows his eyes.His comment is mocking, but there’s a bite to it.“Lost your nerve, mate?”

The heat rising in my neck intensifies.I can’t believe he’s discussing this—that we almost had sex—so callously in front of Vitai, as if it’s perfectly normal to talk about what we did,andthat I’m chickening out, in front of his brother.

Whatever mortification was keeping me silent evaporates in a burst of anger.“Have you never heard of discretion?”I snap, and clutching the sheet between my breasts, I spin on my heel and march away.

Or more likerunaway from what could’ve happened.

Aruan’s laugh follows me.It’s a dark, sardonic sound, saying what we both know.That at some point, if I stay here, I’m going to give in.No matter what I do, I’ve already lost.Like the Phaelix, I don’t stand a chance against Aruan.Only, in this battle, the risk isn’t being dissolved into a puddle.

It’s losing my life as I’ve known it and never returning to Earth.

Chapter13

Aruan

My mate’s rejection stings.We were a heartbeat away from fucking, from sealing our physical bond.One more breath, and she would’ve taken what can only be hers for eternity.I was a whisper away from impaling her on my cock and filling her with my seed, my mark.And then she changed her mind like the capricious western wind.That I can forgive her for.That I can understand.But not the shame that painted her face red.Anything but the horror that transformed her doll-like features.

Vitai says nothing, but the smirk remains plastered on his face while he heals me.I don’t need Kian’s power to know my youngest brother’s thoughts.He thinks I’ve finally met my match, and it amuses him.

Well, he can go jump off the bridge.This situation isn’t funny in the least.

When he’s done, he leaves without a word, knowing it’s dangerous to provoke me when I’m in a dark mood.That mood is also the reason I don’t approach Elsie where she stands in front of the window with her back turned to me, pretending she hasn’t heard me enter the bedroom.The stiffening of her narrow shoulders tells me she’s aware of my footsteps on the floor.

She’s changed into a pale-pink dress and clean slippers.The ones she wore this morning must be muddy.They’re not very practical for walking outside.Boots are for men, but she would’ve been better equipped for our stroll with a pair.

In the afternoon light that streams through the window, her hair shines like ruddy moonbeams.Her smell drifts to me on the breeze, the faint womanly scent of her arousal still teasing my nostrils.They flare as I inhale deeply.

Dragons.

It’s best that I don’t hang around her when her body is ripe but her mind and heart are unwilling.Especially not when the killing rage in my veins hasn’t completely abated.I’d never harm my mate, but I’m too explosive to face her, too close to ripping that dress off her body and finishing what we started.

Choosing wisdom in lieu of desire, I only linger long enough to grab a clean set of clothes from the trunk.I don’t look at Elsie as I shove my legs into the pants, pull the tunic over my head, and fasten my boots.

As I walk from the room, an uncomfortable ache settles in my chest, almost like a persistent hiccup under my breastbone.I rub a fist over the spot in a futile attempt to ease the pain.

My father waits in my mother’s quarters.He hovers next to the daybed on which she’s reclined, poised like a big, brooding shadow over her.Suno is there, pressing a cool cloth to her forehead.

Concern eradicates most of the volatile anger and bitter disappointment that, together with frustration, war inside me.My mother isn’t faking her weakness.She’s truly ill, and despite what she may have done, what Iknowshe did, I hate to see her like this.

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