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“I can walk on my own, thanks.” I push away from him, and he lets me. Hope is all over Lysander in the corridor, his hands cupping her ass and holding her to him. He kisses her shoulder, meeting my gaze as I step out. I wrinkle my nose in disgust, even as my cheeks burn, and look away. In the corner of my eye, I see him put Hope down and slap her on the ass once before they walk on ahead of us as Arden comes to my side. Hope looks over her shoulder and winks at me. I really, really hate that girl.
Arden leans down, walking at my side, far too closely. For a moment, I swear he sniffs me. “You don’t like Hope. Don’t worry, I don’t believe she has ever been able to keep a friend before.”
“Do you know her? Or has she just somehow managed to sleep her way to the top already?”
He laughs, the sound echoing and vaguely nice to my ears. “Yeah, we all know her. She is the ward of Emrys’s mother. She is mortal, but she grew up in this world. She and Lysander have been a thing since they were fifteen. Toxic, if you ask me. Half the time, they’re not together. Half the time, they are, but I’m pretty sure her end goal has been to sit on the water throne. I’m sure Lysander won’t mind. She is epic in bed.”
Men.
“So, you and Hope too?”
He leans down to my ear. “We like to share a woman sometimes. You should try being shared between us, princess.”
I shiver at the thought of them—all four of them—like that, but I step away from him. “You’re such a flirt.”
“Only for the pretty girls that take my breath away,” he smoothly replies. I shake my head at him. We walk in silence for a while. “I really need a drink.”
“Why? Burning nine women today took it out of you?” I sarcastically question.
He grabs my arms and pushes me against the wall of the corridor. “Don’t, for a moment, think I like killing them. I’m not a psychopath, and I’m tired of your judgment. You don’t have a fucking clue about the games you’re in, and trust me, princess, dying was a mercy.”
He pushes away from me, my heart pounding, and he carries on walking like nothing happened. Lysander’s the only one to look over his shoulder, meeting my gaze, and the look alone is threatening. I swallow around the distaste of saying anything nice about Arden, but I say it anyway. “You look nice.”
“Nice?” He bursts into deep laughter. “I usually have women throwing themselves at me in this suit, and nice is not a word I’ve been called before. Gorgeous, handsome, sexy as fuck. All those things, but nice? Yeah. I’m not sure that’s exactly something I was aiming for.”
He runs his eyes over me, an appreciative smirk on his lips. “If it helps, you look exquisite.”
“You’re only getting nice from me,” I mutter, which only makes him laugh more. “Between being an asshole or flirting, is there any other side of you? Is there any actual real person beneath the smugness, arrogant assholeness?”
He deeply laughs again. “You’re making me like you, princess. Best stop that or I’ll want you as my queen.” I snort and he ignores me. “Where exactly are you from again? I can’t remember.”
“You don’t remember where you kidnapped me from?”
He rubs the back of his neck. “We just opened portals to where we were told you girls would be. We don’t exactly have time to look around the area unless the girl’s not there. You were in the house, so didn’t get much time. It was by the sea, right?”
We head into a long hallway off the main room. “Yes.”
“I don’t understand the logic of living by the cold sea. Where I’m from, it’s pretty much mountains with volcanoes, lava rivers, boiling hot sun, and it’s perfect,” he says, his voice dreamy. “The women of the court walk around in barely anything. I usually don’t wear a shirt, and here everyone is trapped in their clothes. It’s too damn cold here. Lysander would like it where you’re from, I’d guess. His kingdom is full of water, and his home is by the sea.”
I’m more puzzled than ever before as to why Lysander wants him dead. Worse than dead. He wants me to break his heart, too. “So, your court land reflects your powers?”
“Yes.” He taps me on the head. “Aren’t you a smart cookie?”
He’s so patronising that I stomp on his front foot with my heel without thinking it through. He grimaces with a shout, hopping away from me. “You’re so violent, princess. First with the toilet, now with the heels. This test isn’t meant to be dangerous for us, but with you around, it damn well is.”
The entire group has stopped, looking at us and laughing. Well, not Hope. I don’t think she knows how to laugh. Lysander glares at me before putting all that thunder in Arden’s direction. “Do you need someone to heal you?”
Arden straightens, glaring at him. “You’re hardly one to talk. She actually knocked you out with a toilet.”
“A toilet?” Hope questions, arching an eyebrow at me.
Lysander grumbles. “It was a toilet seat, and she surprised me.”
Hope leans up to his ear. “I can surprise you, too.”
He looks at me far too long before kissing her and carrying on down the hallway. Arden keeps his distance from me, making my lips twitch as I carry on walking. “Don’t do that again,” he warns.
I look over at Arden. “Don’t be an arrogant asshole again. Oh wait, that’s pretty much your entire personality.”
