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My eyes widened at him. “You were?”

Lucais gave me a sly smile and winked. “I’ve been enjoying our quality time together. You moan in your sleep, you know. It’s adorable.”

“You bastard,” I gasped, whacking him over the head with the nearest pillow. “I was trying to be nice to you!”

“There’s still time for you to practise, bookworm.”

“Oh, enough.” Morgoya dragged a hand down her face. “We have a situation downstairs. The honeymoon is over.”

Lucais groaned, nudging her out of the way with one of his feet as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. It was the first time I’d seen him stand since the attack, aside from that brief moment in the hall, and I felt my muscles tense as if they were preparing to catch him.

He rose to his feet with perfect ease, however, and took a step towards the door.

And then he shouted in pain, bending over with his hands clutching his stomach.

I lurched forward. “What’s wrong?” I asked, panic ripe in my voice.

“Poison,” he rasped. “You didn’t…give me enough…blood. Need—more.”

Frantically, I scanned the room for a knife. When I couldn’t find one, I was half tempted to tear my wrist open with my own teeth, but Morgoya slapped him across the back of the head before I could move.

“Cut it out,” she chided.

A split-second later, Lucais straightened up and started laughing. The sound was like soft music that grated against all of my nerves in all of the best ways.

“Worth a shot,” he chuckled, a roguish smile on his face. “I haven’t had a vacation in over three hundred years, and I meant what I said about the way you taste.”

The High Lady made a choking sound.

With a wave of his hand, Wren—Lucais,for fuck’s sake—was fully dressed in a smart black jacket with golden trim and polished boots. He straightened his lapels and brushed invisible dust from his knees before turning to face me as he combed his hands through his sleep-tousled hair.

“Are you staying with us?” he enquired, turning to find a mirror. He let out a rough breath when he couldn’t find one and gave Morgoya a questioning look, gesturing to himself.

She rolled her eyes. “You look beautiful. Even better if you’d pick up the pace.”

Lucais’s answering smile was nothing short of charming.

“Staying,” I blurted when they both turned to look at me.

I hadn’t even thought about leaving. I hadn’t fully processed my feelings yet, either. But the idea of going home, of leaving Faerie, made everything seem so much worse.

Wren had ruined our chance of happiness together by lying to me. I knew that much already. And Lucais had let it go too far for any reparations to be made to what was left of the mating bond. But I had to admit that I understood why.

While he had feared for my life because ofThe Sins of Stars, I had spent three months fearing for his life because of my dreams.

I didn’t love him, not like I had loved the man in my dreams before I met him in real life. But the thought of him being tortured still made me queasy, and I had questions about the premonition.

“I’m not… I’m not ready to go home yet.”

A flicker of pain crossed Lucais’s eyes, but he smiled broadly and nodded. “Very good. I have a cramped schedule to tackle, so this will save me time. There’s a body downstairs I need to examine, and then we need to go and find your father.”

My stomach dropped. “What?”

Morgoya echoed me, and then asked, “Why?”

The High King shrugged and brushed his hands together before stuffing them into his pockets. “To ask him for Aura’s hand in marriage, naturally.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, seriously. Why?”