Page 34 of Split or Swallow

“I mean I would be furious if I were you, paraded in here like a lamb to the slaughter.”

Tem frowned. She may be speaking with the prince, but that didn’t give him the right to insult her.

“I am no lamb,” she said quietly.

He raised an eyebrow.

“No,” his eyes went to her dress again. “You certainly aren’t.”

There was silence, and in it, Tem felt his heat. She understood suddenly that although he was a prince, she was the one who held the power here. She wondered what it would feel like to wield it.

Leo broke the silence:

“Can I offer you a drink?”

Tem nodded, if only to get a break from his probing stare. Leo turned to the liquor shelf, tapping his fingers lightly along the selection of crystal tumblers before resting on one that contained amber liquid. His nails were perfectly manicured.

“Do you like whiskey?” he asked, his back still turned.

“I…don’t know.”

He looked over his shoulder at her. “You’ve never had it?”

“Once,” she said. It was the truth: her and Gabriel had tried it at the Horseman, after several rounds of beer. She genuinely couldn’t remember if she’d liked it.

Leo grinned.

“Whiskey it is, then.”

He selected two faceted glasses and poured an inch of liquid into each. When he handed Tem hers, their fingers brushed. His skin was warm. She stared down at the amber liquid. The harsh smell definitely rang a bell.

“Shall we do it together?” Leo asked.

She was surprised to hear herself answer:

“Sure.”

“Very well. To Kora,” Leo said, clinking his glass to hers.

“To Kora,” Tem said back. Then she raised the glass to her mouth and took a delicate sip of the whiskey. It burned fiercely on the way down her throat, and she pursed her lips in surprise.

Leo downed the contents of his glass in one gulp.

“Well?” he asked once she’d swallowed. “What do you think?”

“It tastes like fire,” she said.

“That it does.”

Tem was still trying not to cough. “How can you drink it so easily?”

Leo laughed, and the sound was like tea cups clinking.

“Lots and lots of practice.”

The prince poured himself another glass and drank it slowly, as if he had all the time in the world to stand there with her. His behavior had the easy entitlement of privilege. Tem got the impression that nothing bothered him, and even if something did, he could make it go away with a snap of his slender fingers. He watched Tem with sharp intelligence, his eyes holding hers for longer than what she would consider socially acceptable. Vera had been wrong, she realized. His eyes weren’t green. They were something closer to gray.

“So. How’s it going so far?” Leo asked.