Page 19 of The Autumn Prince

“Oh, my god! Your father?”

“Yes?”

Shit. Oh, shit. “Did you see him die?”

“Excuse me?”

“Did you actually witness his death?”

But Incendis turned to everyone else in the room and smiled. “Thank you, gentlemen. Please return to your duties now.”

Okay, yes, oopsies. I probably shouldn’t say anything in front of anyone else, but… No, I probably absolutely could because there didn’t seem to be a person in this place who didn’t know the details of the curse. We could let it all hang out, and they’d just nod and say they knew that already.

Once everyone had left the room, Incendis rounded on me. “What are you doing? It’s not dignified to discuss⁠—”

“That’s your father?” I pointed again.

“Yes, Zalman. What⁠—”

“That’s Lars.”

Incendis blinked at me. Blinked at the portrait. “Pardon?”

“The skinny old man who said his name was Lars, who gave me a burrito and wanted me in bed with you as soon as possible, is that guy right there.” The portrait could’ve been finished yesterday, it was so accurate.

“My…my father visits you?” he whispered.

I gulped at the heartbroken look on his face, feeling awful that his father wasn’t visiting him. “Maybe he can’t come to you,” I whispered back. “Maybe it’s part of the curse?”

He closed his eyes, nodding, before he moved to sit down in one of the wingback chairs facing the darkened fireplace. He seemed so sad, his hand even shaking as he leaned over his knees and held his forehead.

I went over because it felt like I’d hurt him. On my knees in front of him so I could see his face, I said, “I’m so sorry, Incendis. If I see him again, I’ll ask him what’s going on, but from everything he’s done and said, he’s trying to explain and help. I’m sure of that.”

“I never got to say goodbye,” he said so mournfully. “The spell snatched him up and encased him before I had a chance to say anything.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” I pushed up and into the circle of his arms and wrapped mine around him. He’d been through so much, tried so hard to do all the right things, and the fact that he was wounded and hurting anyway was tugging at my heart. “We’ll figure all of this out,” I said against his cheek. “I promise.”

He nodded, and I thought I felt a tear slid down where our skin touched. Incendis might’ve contributed in some ways to the problems the courts had faced by not getting along with his brothers, but he was a good person at his core. Or he was now? He could’ve been changing for the past three years. Changing for the better.

And now it was my turn to do my part to break the spell.

I pulled back enough to see his face. Red-rimmed eyes, flushed cheeks, tear tracks… I gently wiped the wet away and knew right then that my resistance was a waste of time. I liked him. He was trying so hard to improve himself—something not a lot of men did in my experience—and I was over here saying he couldn’t have the thing he needed.

Was it so bad to be a goal? A line on a checklist? It could lead to better things down the road. With the curse broken, I could come and go as often as I wanted. We could make a real relationship work. Because if the guy who’d cast the curse said to get with the sex, maybe I shouldn’t argue. This could be how we started.

I kissed Incendis. He flinched, and I eased back to look him in the eyes. His gaze flicked all over me before zeroing in on my lips. My eyes. My lips. I chuckled and kissed him again.

It was clear that Incendis was new to kissing, but he was enthusiastic and the breathy sounds from him were really turning me on. He didn’t hesitate or hold back; this was him desiring me and letting me know he liked what I did to him. When he clutched me close, pulling me up against him, I felt how hard he was getting and moaned because he was literally huge.

While he breathed shaky and fast against my neck, dropping kisses here and there, I looked to the door. It was closed. So was the other one. Not locked, but maybe no one would come in without knocking? The windows were closed and the gauzy curtains might obscure us just enough to keep who we were a mystery.

“Incendis? Baby, can I blow you?” Because I really needed to see the rod that was poking my guts already.

He sat back a bit, lips slightly swollen and cheeks pink. “Pardon?”

“Blow you. Give you a blowjob?”

He blushed more.