When we finally landed on the front steps of Avolire, I didn’t give him a chance to sit me down. I immediately flung my legs out of his grip. I did, however, take my time unhooking my hands from around his neck. And I made sure to stare at his mouth the whole time. I batted my eyelashes just a little when I met his heated stare. Those cat eyes were actually kind of hot—-or I’d been around this crew too long. It was some form of Stockholm Syndrome, potentially, but if I wanted to beat evil, I would have to play evil.

Instead of saying anything to him, I just looked back to his lips, then back to his eyes and winked. With a little half-smirk, I spun on my toes and somehow managed to have my hair smack into his chest as I turned. I heard the soft hiss he made and my grin widened. I sashayed away from him, swinging my hips left to right as I walked. Those modeling classes I took in high school were really coming in handy. The Prince moved silently. That was one of the creepiest most alien things about him—-he never made a sound unless he was speaking, and even that was sporadic and usually only when furious. So, I couldn’t hear him walking behind me, but I felt his hot stare on me with every step.

His hot breath swept through my hair and over my shoulder. He was right on my heels. I didn’t stop. He reached over my head and pushed the doors open in front of me. I glanced over my shoulder to find his gaze locked on my face. I pointedly looked to his mouth, then slid my gaze down his body before smirking and walking into Sweyn’s throne room. He let out a little rumble and it made me grin.

Which was the exact wrong thing to do as Sweyn stopped her pacing and looked up to us. Those red eyes narrowed. Her upper lip snarled. Normally the ice-queen was perched on her throne like nothing ever ruffled her feathers, yet since Everest left, I wasn’t sure she’d sat down once. No one in her court dared to be within twenty feet of her. They were all huddled near the glass walls—-too afraid to not be here, but too afraid to be near her.

A low, vicious growl echoed around the room. “Where is Pierce?”

My smile dropped instantly. I held my chin high and my shoulders back and stopped in front of her. “The Old Lands.”

“WHY? WHERE IS HE?” She turned her furious gaze to the Prince. “You. What did you do to him?”