Asima didn’t comment on the outburst, but her expression said clearly that perhaps Cinn wasn’t a worthy recipient of Vince’s confidences. Fine, so Asima’s expression said no such thing because cats didn’t have expressions. But Cinn knew that was what her royal kittiness was thinking.

Cinn gave up on Asima and turned her thoughts to someone much more interesting. “Was Dacian still here when you arrived?” She swung her feet to the floor and stood.

“No, but I was. To my everlasting regret.”

The deep male voice froze her in the middle of a stretch. She swung toward the narrow castle window. Someone had pulled back the heavy drapery. Edge sat in a chair he’d dragged over to the window, so he could bathe in the sunlight pouring through the glass.

“I thought Bain was guarding me during the day. And why are you inside my room?”

Edge raised one tawny brow. “Dacian was in here. Besides, I don’t wait outside any woman’s door. Deal with it. And Bain had other things to do.” His smile suggested that whatever Bain had to do didn’t bode well for the world.

Cinn gripped her bottom lip between her teeth. He was right. She’d have to deal with it. Airmid would take any moment of aloneness as an invitation to visit with Cinn. And Cinn didn’t really want to have another conversation with the goddess. “You’re right.”

She went to the closet and pulled out an outfit without even looking at it. They were all the same—sexy with designer labels.

“Sparkle came in and took some of those clothes.” Edge sounded unconcerned.

She turned to look at him. “Did everyone in the castle tramp through my room while I slept?”

He shrugged. “She said something about not going outside the castle wearing the big-box horrors she’d bought.”

Cinn nodded. “I’m getting dressed, going down to eat breakfast”—she looked at the clock on her night table—“or maybe I should say lunch, and then I’m going to take care of my plants.”

“Sure.” He got up and turned off Asima’s music. “There, that’s better.”

Cinn didn’t wait to listen to the argument. Closing the bathroom door behind her, she pulled on her clothes as she thought about the coming afternoon, and more importantly, the coming night. Dacian would be with her from sunset to dawn if she had anything to say about it. Funny how just a few days ago all she could think about was escaping from here. Now she looked forward to spending the night with a vampire. A bad vampire. She smiled to herself. But a very good vampire in several important ways.

“I think it’s disgraceful how they never give you any alone time. I was going to snatch you last night when you went into the bathroom, but I thought you’d be more rested today.”