My focus is tested when Laurel enters the courtyard. Breath catching, I can’t pretend it’s because I’m nervous for Silene, Fionn, and the breakout that will happen floors below. She wears a deep crimson velvet dress the color of the thayar flower. The sleeves are long, but her perfect breasts are once again on display with a deeply cut neckline. The dress hugs her curves, emphasizing the way her hips sway as she walks, while the color of the dress brings out the reddish hue of her hair. It hangs around her in soft waves, and the desire to run my fingers through it is all-consuming. She doesn’t wear the dark makeup I’ve come to associate with her, and I find I prefer her this way. When she reaches me, I take her hand for the dance, giving her one of my signature disarming smiles. I think I notice her cheeks flush, and it stirs something low in my stomach.

“Ready to dazzle them, witchling?” I ask in a low and suggestive tone. Her eyes heat, and another grin breaks out across my face, this one genuine.

“Have you seen this dress? I’ve already dazzled them. It’s your turn, princeling.” A deep and genuine laugh erupts from me at the confident and cocky comment.

“The dress is indeed something to marvel at,” I say with a flirty wink, my meaning very clear. Rather than blushing or shying away from the compliment, she gives me a wide smile, and I can’t keep my hands off her for another second. I wrap my arm around her waist and have to stifle a growl when I feel warm, bare skin meet my hand. The dress is backless. I splay my hand low across her exposed back, and her breath catches, igniting a fire in my blood. “I’m perfectly capable of dazzling, you know. I’m sure you learned that when you asked about me,” I say with a dry smirk to hide my reaction to touching her bare skin. She rolls her eyes.

“I didn’t ask about you. I gathered intel about a political emissary being sent to spy on me. There’s a difference,” she snaps, but with none of her usual iciness.

“Sure you did. And that political intel just so happened to talk about my thriving sex life. Standard procedure, I’m sure.”

“Hm, I don’t remember reports of a sex life,” she quips back, barely missing a beat. “Just your tendency to flirt with anything that moves. It gives desperate, if you ask me.” Once again, I can’t stop the chuckle at the perfect barbs she lands.