Page 39 of A Beautifully Crafted Lie

“Say please.” The corners of his lips turn up. Bastard! Heat grows in the pit of my being. Anger, rage, complete and utter loathing. I allow the golden knife to slip from my fingers, letting it fall onto the couch with a dull thud.

“Fuck you!” I spit at him, allowing the venom of my hatred to saturate my words. Those two basic words that have become my default response to him.

“Certainly looks like you want to. Perhaps another night, I have a headache,” he murmurs.

I ball my hand into a fist. With all of my strength, I strike his jaw. Odhran’s head snaps to the side as I finally draw a droplet of crimson from his bottom lip.

“Bloody hell!” I mutter to myself in a rushed whisper. White-hot searing pain shoots from my hand and up my arm. I wince audibly, shaking my hand as though it’s caught fire. Broken! My hand is broken! My knuckles burn as though I’ve put them in the hearth behind me. I can’t open it or form a proper fist. I want to scream, but I don’t. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

Odhran’s fingers close around my wrist, his lips touching my inflamed skin. It stings before it soothes. Every nerve ending in my body fires all at once. The air tastes of satin and summer rain.

He releases my wrist. “Better?”

“No!” I lie, narrowing my eyes at him.

“It’s not broken, merely bruised. You’ll live.” His right hand joins the left at the back of my thighs, and for a moment, I forget that I don’t want this. Fingers reach around the backs of my thighs, flexing against my skin, so close to the seam of my underwear, it would only take one movement of his index finger to slip beneath them. My core tightens in response, my heart racing as my lips part. I close my eyes, a vivid image coming to mind—golden hair and a smile so captivating that it could have been meticulously crafted by the devil himself. I’ve seen this face many times in my dreams. It’s a face I know too well and not at all.

I gasp, free from my trance. “Let me go!”

“Say please.” His lips curve into a wicked smile, showing two faint dimples near the corners of his mouth. Honey-tongued and dangerous, that’s what he is. That’s what they all are. Deceptive monsters.

“I hate you!” My eyes burn. My ribs become too small for my lungs to expand. He glamoured me. My head still swims with the effect.

“Good.” Without another word, he releases me, and I climb off him without sparing a moment. I don’t even adjust the stupid shirt I’m wearing as I rush toward the door. The roaring of blood in my ears pushes me toward the dark hallway on the other side. “I guess you don’t have questions, then?” he asks, sounding utterly bored once more.

My steps falter, and I stop dead in my tracks, one hand braced against the open door beside me. I do have questions. Too many for a single conversation. But I’d rather die with them unanswered than spend another moment in his company.

“Go to hell,” I mutter, stepping into the dark.

“Already there, Slìbhìn.” His deep rumbling laughter fills the empty hallway, chasing shivers down my spine.

Asshole!

I reach my assigned bedroom faster than it took me to leave it. My heart pounds wildly against my ribs. My breathing is rushed, my head filled with curses—most directed at myself.

“You stupid, idiotic girl. You cannot ask for my guidance and dismiss it when provided. You could get yourself killed!”

“He wasn’t going to kill me!”

“Says a mortal without the faintest clue of where she finds herself or who she is surrounded by.”

“Just because I asked for guidance doesn’t mean I’ll turn into your puppet and do exactly as I’m told.”

“Maybe you want the prince’s hands on you?” he mocks, a cruel edge to his voice. “To slip his fingers beneath your underthings…”

“Shutup!” My heart pounds with anger.

“Tell me I am wrong.”

“I’m not talking to you. There’s no need to converse, so leave me be.”

Aed’s laughter is menacing as he slowly retreats to the back of my mind.

Stepping away from the door, I catch a glint of gold in my eye. I blink, forcing them to focus.

It’s a book. A book of Prussian blue or teal—I can’t decide which. The pages shine with a rich golden colour, and I rush toward it.

It’s heavy in my hands, and my fingers tremble as I open it. The discovery of the handwritten note inside isn’t a surprise, but tears burn my eyes, nonetheless.