“Yes!” He didn’t mean to shout, but he would die if she didn’t wrap those ruby lips around his length.
“Then I will...later. Probably.”
He swallowed a groan. “Do not play with your male, Chantel.”
“Baby, all I’m gonna do is play.” A temptress like no other, she slowly eased from his clasp. Her eyes gleamed. “I told you. Evil.”
He shot out his arms to yank her back into his embrace. Pressed together again, he warned, “There will be consequences for teasing me.”
“I’m counting on it.” Her smile never faltered. “If you’re a good baby boy, I’ll let you come on my tongue while I drink you down.”
The things this woman made him crave. “Today’s lesson is officially canceled,” Kaysar bellowed to one and all as he tightened his hold on his prize.
“Jareth,” Chantel called, dancing out of Kaysar’s hold. “You can look now. The lesson officially begins.”
“I’m here, I’m here.” Eye raced into the room, carting a tray of varying tartlets. “I bring the snacks you’re soon to demand, your majesty.”
Kaysar strove for calm as the whole world conspired against him. “Chantel, this is Eye the something or other. Our oracle. Eye, this is Chantel the Briar Rose. My...mine.”
“Is she the one who will show me Pearl Jean and Sugars?” Chantel asked. “And did you call me Briar Rose?”
“My teammates get nicknames,” he told her with a shrug.
“I can’t do it, I’m sorry,” Eye blurted out. “Kaysar didn’t wait around to hear my response to his demand. I’m unable to see into the mortal world.”
Kaysar rubbed the center of his chest again. First, “Chantel opted not to greet her citizens, now the oracle contradicted his claim.
Chantel returned to rest her head against his shoulder and pet him where he’d rubbed, the simple actions calming him. She kept her gaze on the oracle. “Is Eye short for...something else maybe?”
“My given name is Ambrosine,” the girl replied. “Ambrosine Adriene.”
“Hmm. Do you have a nickname?” Chantel asked.
“Amber.” Eye shrugged. “That’s what you prefer to call me, anyway.”
“How do you—Oh.” Chantel gave a husky chuckle, and he kissed her brow, treasuring the sound. “Never mind. The seer sees. I shouldn’t be shocked.”
How much of her future had the oracle witnessed? Kaysar had refrained from inquiring or seeking images, because he was too...he wasn’t sure. Not afraid. He didn’t do fear. Discounting the times he had, in fact, feared. But he might be a jot...uncertain when it came to knowing how to be in a relationship. Did he really want the future interfering with the present?
“I’m Cookie.” She cast Kaysar a pensive glance. “As I navigated this maze of a castle, I experimented with possible titles for myself. Chantel the Briar Rose is great, but I don’t want everyone in Astaria calling me Chantel. Only you. So what do you think of Cookie the Uncrumbled?”
“A designation is given, not chosen,” Jareth said, deciding to insert himself into the conversation. The barest hint of bitterness had infiltrated his expression. “Lulundria was known as the Kindhearted. A label to strive—”
Kaysar flittered and gripped the prince by the throat. “Perhaps you’d like to take a moment to rethink your comment to my honored companion, Jareth.” Before, he’d noticed how much the barb about “normal” had bothered her. What was normal, anyway? “I shouldn’t have to remind you that Cookie the Uncrumbled is perfect, just as she is.”
Fury mottled the male’s skin as he fought to breathe.
“No need to injure my tutor.” Chantel glided over and folded her fingers around Kaysar’s wrist to draw back his hand. “I get it. He misses his wife, and he seeks her substitute. We can’t blame him for that.”
He opened his grip at once, freeing the prince, who sucked in a mouthful of air. Chantel—his Chantel—had spoken kindly about a Frostline who had insulted her.
Eye and her tray of tartlets inched backward.
Was Chantel experiencing the princess’s emotions, without realizing it? A development he hadn’t anticipated.
He clasped his belo—beliked mistress’s hand, linking their clawed fingers. Holding on, lest she escape him. Then he flittered her to the throne, wanting no one else to hear his next words. “You will begin your lessons,” he told her, “but you will not treat the prince with kindness again.” He forced the words from clenched teeth before he changed his mind about the training sessions altogether and another gift disintegrated before his eyes. The sooner she started, the sooner she finished. The sooner he could remind her of the things he made her feel. “All right?”
“Not all right. I’ll treat him however I think is right,” she said, blowing him another kiss and walking away. Over her shoulder, she told him, “This evil seductress isn’t mastered. She masters.”
He wanted to kiss her.
He met Jareth’s gaze. The prince smirked.
“Let’s get this over with,” Kaysar grated.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
UNDER KAYSAR’S WATCHFUL EYE, Cookie trained with Jareth for hours. Her seething king observed from an ornate throne of gold—her throne, to be clear—as quiet as...things that were quiet. He never pulled his gaze from her. Did he even spare a moment to blink? More and more tension emanated from him.
His fear of Lulundria’s memories marked the first obstacle in Cookie’s campaign to win him from his vengeance. Operation First Place was off to a rocky start.
Fear of losing something only drove you away from it. She knew this firsthand. She’d lived this. His worry, if left untreated, would become a wedge between them. She would lose the battle before the war even started. She needed to act ASAP. Which meant she needed to actually remember Lulundria’s life and prove Kaysar’s concerns were moot. But how?
She hadn’t lied to him. After those two flashes of Lulundria’s last minutes in Astaria, when Jareth had tossed his ice daggers, and Kaysar had thrown the princess in the line of fire, Cookie had received zip, zero, nada from the other woman. Well, besides those heart leaps. And knowledge that she hadn’t learned.
“Focus,” Jareth snapped. He reached for her, only to stop himself before contact. Afraid Kaysar might remove his hand again? Smart. “I told you how to create and release vines without allowing the stalks to wither. You continue to disappoint.”
She glared at her merciless instructor. “The problem isn’t the student.” Jerk. So far, the only bit of information she’d gleaned was dancing her fingers for faster vine growth. “You expect me to do everything Lulundria did, when I didn’t grow up knowing what she knew.”