Page 12 of The Demon Prince

Grace’s room was so nice, Katherine thought as she stumbled to the door. Her friend was so clean and orderly. Everything was in its right place, and everything had a purpose to be where it was. Bright flowers that were still alive decorated the pretty windowsills. A rug on the floor in rainbow colors, not sun bleached and hazy.

It was all so nice. So cozy. So safe.

All that alcohol didn’t help as she stepped out into the hall. Katherine closed the door behind her and thudded her forehead against it before turning to the long, long hallway that led to her own door.

The door that was her only barrier between herself and the situation that she had told no one else about. The situation that showed up, without fail, every single night.

Blowing out a breath, she made her way to her bedroom. When was the last time she’d gotten a good night’s sleep? It had been ages. A week maybe?

That shadow always showed up outside her window. Sometimes early, sometimes late. But Katherine always woke when it was there.

She could feel it. The lurking, looming danger of someone watching her while she slept. A part of her brain knew when he was out there, and it always made her heart thunder in her chest and her lungs suddenly squeeze as if preparing for her to run. But she didn’t. She couldn’t run anymore with this damn hip, so she was stuck where she was, hoping like hell that whatever monster stood outside her window wouldn’t come inside.

Putting her hand on the doorknob, she had to fight through her fear to enter her room.

The problem was that it had been getting closer. Every night she didn’t scream or cry out for someone to help her, it got a few steps closer. Last night, it had been in the hidden shadows of the next building. So close it would only take a few steps for her to lunge forward and touch it.

Why was it coming closer? Why was it coming anywhere near her at all?

These were questions she couldn’t ask. Every time she tried to open her mouth when she saw it, to either scream for help or to shout at it to leave, she ended up frozen. Incapable of speech.

Why?

She had no idea. But some hidden fear inside of her worried it was because she wasn’t brave at all. That she’d spent her entire life pretending she was so much more than she actually was. And that feeling burned through her chest so heavily that it turned her fear into anger.

Or maybe that was the alcohol. Katherine wanted to pretend it was because she was brave, so she was going with that.

Instead of bolting underneath the covers like she’d been doing every night since she first saw it, Katherine took her time. If her peeping tom wanted a show, then she’d give him a show.

Katherine took her time undressing. She let her overdress fall to the ground, then stood in nothing but her shift. The chilly wind coming in through her open window brushed against her skin and it felt so good. So good to just stand there and let it cool her warm cheeks. Her bare arms soon were speckled with goosebumps, but it didn’t matter. She wanted to feel the touch of the wind.

The touch of... a gaze.

He was here.

Her breath caught for a few moments before she let it wheeze out of her. She’d wanted this. This was the point of what she was doing. She wanted him to see her standing here, and...

All her nerves roared back to life. What was she doing? She had someone who stood outside her window every night, trying to either scare her or manipulate her. He was probably some murderer or the magical creature that was attacking all those people she had just stitched back up. The last thing she needed was to show him all the pearly white skin he could ruin with a sharp knife and creativity.

At least her shift didn’t show many of her scars. Stiff, she walked over to her small table with a mirror and started brushing out the tangles in her hair. She hadn’t done it in a while, but the slow strokes had always eased her mind.

Of course, it was better when someone else was doing it. She didn’t enjoy ripping through the knots and her arms got so tired.

Still, the lulling sensation of the brush eased that tension that had gathered at the base of her spine. She could almost pretend that there wasn’t someone out her window, watching her, waiting to see what she would do next.

And the sensation of those eyes on her had stirred something else. Something darker that coiled in her belly and made her grow slick between her thighs.

The forbidden, she thought. Perhaps it was that she was doing the wrong thing right now, and they both knew it. She was tempting him. Tempting the monster just outside her windowsill.

In the mirror she caught a shifting of darkness and again, that spike of fear made her freeze.

He was right outside her window. So close that if she leaned even a little bit, she would be able to see who it was. And it was definitely a man. That frame, those features, the shape of the shadow, all of it.

And oh, that heat burned ever hotter.

She was stupid. This was playing with fire, and she knew better. Slamming her brush down on the table, she felt a small amount of satisfaction as the shadow moved away.

Let him be afraid. He was the one who was stalking her, and he had no right to do it.

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