“I think he’s had his suspicions, but he’s left it alone.”
“Why haven’t you fed? Are you wanting to live your life like Tanner?”
“We don’t have that choice. If an Ancient doesn’t feed, we just weaken and we age, but it’s still at a substantially slower rate than humans. Wounds can become mortal and we lose our strength,” he explained.
“So, why?”
His hands came to rest on his chest. “When I was under the Queen’s control, my feeding was… gluttonous. Several times a day. Some I killed,” he said quietly, and I flinched. “Some I enslaved. Others I have no idea what happened to them, and I didn’t care. That wasn’t the only aspect of my life that became… excessive.”
“Sex?” I asked.
“I haven’t fed and I haven’t been with anyone since Fabian broke the spell. I just….”
I reached over, placing my hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I understand.”
He turned his head toward me. “You do, don’t you, sunshine?”
“Yeah.” At least I did on some level. I lowered my gaze to where my hand rested on his arm. “Why do you call me that? Sunshine?”
“Because I saw you smile once and it was like the sun finally rising.”
That was… that was wow.
“And your hair is like golden rays of sun,” he finished.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it or stop it. The laugh just came right out of me.
He lifted a brow as a small grin played at the corners of his lips. “I just complimented you and you laughed at me.”
“I did. I’m sorry. It’s just… it’s just coming from anyone but you that would sound ridiculous.”
“And it doesn’t sound ridiculous coming from me?”
“No,” I admitted, lifting my gaze to his. “It doesn’t.”
That small grin appeared once more. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a big deal, I realized.
“I… I have another question.”
“Of course you do,” he replied wryly.
I grinned at that. “How… how did you heal me? I didn’t know that anything like that was possible.”
“It’s something only I can do.”
“Why?”
The Prince sighed heavily, but there was a fondness to the sound, like my one hundred and one questions amused him more than they irritated him. “As the eldest of my Court, I can… how do I explain this? Reverse feed.”
“Reverse feed? That sounds… weird.”
“Instead of taking from a human, I can give. And if there is still life left in the human, there’s a chance what I can do can save them.”
I considered that. “So, you basically made out with me while I was unconscious in a hospital bed?”
He snorted. “Not quite. I would not do that. Who I was, though?”
“I know. I was teasing.” I squeezed his arm and then started to pull my hand away, but the strangest thing happened.
Caden caught my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. “I did it once before,” he said. “When I was under the spell of the Queen and I’d just come through the gateway.” Pausing, he exhaled heavily as he turned his gaze back to the ceiling. “Ivy had followed me and we fought. She didn’t… fare too well.”
I remembered this. That was the night he got his hands on the blood crystal—the crystal that could open the gateway and was now in the hands of the Queen. I’d seen Ivy briefly after the fight and there didn’t seem to be an inch of her that hadn’t been bruised.
“She was pretty bad off,” he said, and he started to loosen his grip, but I held on. His gaze found mine. “I healed her.”
“Does she know?”
“Yeah, she does.” There was a pause as his lashes lowered. “I think she thought it worked because she was a halfling. I never corrected that assumption.”
“Well, thank you… for saving my life.”
Those lashes rose. “You don’t need to thank me.”
“I do. If you hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t be here. I would be—” Unable to stop it, I yawned loudly, flushing at how obnoxious it was. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” A faint smile reappeared, tugging at his full lips. “It’s the feeding. You’re going to be really tired for a couple of hours and you’ll have the deepest sleep you’ve probably ever experienced. But when you wake up, it will be like any other time you wake up.”
I looked around the room as I started to pull my hand free. It was getting late and the last thing I should do is pass out in his bed. “I should—”
“You should stay.”
My gaze swung back to his. “Come again?”
“You can stay.”
“I… I don’t know.” That seemed like a big step toward… toward I didn’t know what and I wasn’t sure he wanted me here. Yes, he’d saved my life. Yes, he called me sunshine and hadn’t taken advantage of me. But he said he wanted me… more than anyone he ever wanted, and that was, well, that couldn’t be true.
I didn’t think that because I had low self-esteem or anything. I was just realistic. I knew what I was—what I looked like. I also now knew that he hadn’t been with anyone in two years. He probably wanted anything more than anyone at this point.
And that shouldn’t matter. It really shouldn’t.
But it did nonetheless.
So that meant I really, really should go before I got in over my head when it already felt like I was there.
Tugging my hand free, I went to sit up and it took a moment, but I did it. “I do need to go. Tink will worry.”
“Tink.” Caden murmured the brownie’s name as he sat up much faster and more gracefully than I did. “He’s staying with you?”
I nodded as my gaze fell to my ruined jacket. Probably best it stayed here, which meant I wasn’t able to take the stake with me. “I guess until Ivy gets back and so does Fabian.”
“Do you wonder why he didn’t go with my brother?” he asked.
“I have. I asked him why and he said he didn’t like Florida. I think he called it the Australia of the United States or something.” I reached up and could tell that my ponytail was half undone. I tried to tighten it, but gave up and just pulled the rubber band out.
“I like that.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him, and almost wished I hadn’t. The golden hue of his skin had returned and as he rose, his muscles did a whole lot of interesting things. “The whole Florida being Australia thing?”
“No. I have no idea if that is true, but I’ll take Tink’s word on it.” He faced me. “I meant your hair. I like it down.”
“Oh.” My hand floated to the ends of my hair as I shifted my gaze away from his, landed on his chest and decided that was worse, and then I ended up staring at my sneakers. “It’s a mess.”
“Sunshine,” he said, and then his hand was pulling mine away from my hair. He tugged me to my feet. “Still looks like sunshine.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. “I really need to go.”