“Whatever your name is, you cannot be here. You need to leave.”
“First, I need a favor.”Oh!Would you look at that. Aveen had a jewelry box painted with little pink roses. How fitting. None of the jewels inside looked too fine, most of them appeared to have faux gemstones. She did have one or two decent pieces that looked old enough. Family heirlooms, most likely.
“What sort of favor?”she asked with obvious reluctance.
Being direct was the best course of action.Still, to be so forward with a maiden could send her into hysterics. To think, someone likemewould be requesting something so “scandalous” from a “proper” lady likeher.
“Are you going to tell me or not?” she demanded. “It’s late, and I want to go to bed.”
I’d be more than up for that. The two of us tangled in those white sheets. Bodies intertwined. Waking the whole house with the sound of her headboard slamming against the wall.
“Alone,” Aveen insisted through clenched teeth.
“What’s the matter? Do you not find me attractive?”
“No. I don’t.”
Her lies tasted like the honeysuckle candy Eava used to make when we were children. Fragrant spring. Warm sun. Buzzing bees. I eased closer, savoring the roses on Aveen’s skin. “Liar.”
Her beautiful throat bobbed when she swallowed. “Get out of my room, or so help me, I will scream.”
“But if you scream, you’ll wake your poor sister.”
A deep flush crept up her neck. Her sister was her weakness.Foolish human.Weaknesses were to be avoided at all costs. If you were stupid enough to have one, you kept it hidden.
She licked her lips, leaving them glistening in the firelight. “Tell me your favor.”
“I would like you to kiss me.”
Aveen stumbled back, nearly colliding with the chair a second time. “Absolutely not.”
“You don’t have to look so appalled. It’s not like I’m asking for a feckin’ ride. It’s a kiss.” She should’ve been the one beggingme. She was nothing. No one.
“Why?”
“That is none of your concern.” The less she knew about the hold she may have on me, the better.
A small wrinkle appeared between her light eyebrows. “If I agree, you must swear to go away and leave my sister and I alone forever.”
If she was my soulmate, there wasn’t a hope of that happening. We’d be bound together by fate. No distance, not even death, could truly separate us. “I swear on my mother’s life that I will leave her alone.”
She agreed too quickly to allow my actual promise to sink in.Foolishand naïve. Feckin’ brilliant. The Queen was going to eat her alive.
Aveen closed her eyes, pursed her lips, and leaned forward.
Hold on. Had she never been kissed before?She was at least nineteen or twenty. She must’ve stolen a kiss or two by now. How innocent was she?
Her eyes snapped open. “Well? What are you waiting for?”
I was waiting for her to appear less like a woman about to go to her death. “You look miserable.”She shouldwantto kiss me. I certainly wanted to kiss her. Just the thought of feeling those soft, supple lips beneath mine made me hard. Was I wrong about our connection?
“Then tell me how I should look so that I may be rid of you. Should I smile? Should I swoon?” Her hand flew to her forehead, and she fainted dramatically onto the settee like an actress in a play. “I have it now. I should flutter my lashes and be grateful that someone so handsome would ask me for a kiss.”
“So you do think I’m handsome,” I teased.
Her soft blue eyes narrowed. “I think you’re irritating.”
“Does that mean you’re going to kiss me or not?”