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A brief reprieve from the frigid wind was all too short as we stabled the prince’s enormous horse.

“Stay close.” Prince Vale took me by the hand.

He led me into the frigid night air once again. My hood was still up, my face to the ground, so I trusted him as we raced closer to the castle. When we stopped, I peeked.

“No door?” Our discussion had been about getting onto the palace grounds, not inside. I’d assumed we’d use a servants’ entrance or the like to avoid running into the king, queen, or Prince Rhistel, my new family members.

The queen I was undecided on, but the heir and the king . . . Burning moon, one couldn’t ask for worse family members. Thank the stars for Saga.

“We’re going in the way you came out.” The prince wrapped his powerful arms around me. Again, those chills enveloped me, but I hid the pleasure from my face. “I’ll fly us up.”

“Are you su—aaahh!” The wind stole my words as we launched into the air.

“Quiet,” he murmured as his sheer black wings beat, taking us higher and higher.

I marveled at his strength, his control. I could fly and had needed to do so to sneak out of the palace, but it hadn’t been seamless. Far from it.

He lifted us upward, never straying from the shadow of the palace, and when we reached his suite, hovering before his floor-to-ceiling windows, he shifted my weight into one arm, as if my strong, curvy body weighed practically nothing. With his other hand, Prince Vale pushed open the window I’d left unlatched when I escaped, and we soared inside.

Gently, he set me down, lifted my hood, and allowed it to fall down my back. “We made it without incident.”

“Thank goodness.” I began unclasping the fur cloak.

I’d assumed that once he deposited me inside, he’d go back and enter the way he’d left—through the door. Instead, the prince turned and shut the large window behind him.

“Won’t your guard wonder where you are?” I asked. “You left out the door so I could pretend to bathe, remember?”

He shrugged. “There’s no reason to put on a show for my guard. Tomorrow, my father will hear what happened . . .” he trailed off, his tone brittle. “I only wanted to get us inside so that we might sleep peacefully for one night.”

Right. Sleep.

My eyes wandered to the bed, to the messy sheets,where hours ago the prince and I had kissed. I could still see places where I’d gripped the sheets.

At the memory of our passionate kiss, my breath shortened. It had been nothing like the one we’d shared at our wedding. No, when I’d leapt at Prince Vale, it had been under the assumption that after this night, I’d never see him again. That one kiss couldn’t hurt.

One kiss that felt like fire burning in my veins. At the memory, my neck warmed.

He seemed to sense my unease because the prince took a step away. “Speaking of bathing. Did you get all the vampire blood off you?”

I shuddered. Saga, Anna, and Clemencia had done their best to clean me up for the wedding, but the sensation of vampire blood on my skin clung to me.

“A bath would be welcome.”

He ventured out of his bedchambers, down the short entry hall that exited into the wider castle and disappeared into his private bath. A squeaking of knobs met my ears. A few plops of something being tossed into the tub, and moments later, Prince Vale appeared. He had taken off his sword belt while he was back there and undoubtedly thrown it in that miniature armory he kept so close.

“I put the plug in, adjusted the temperature, and tossed in oil balls. They’re meant to relax you and it’s still hot. The water elementals are working overtime with so many nobles staying at the castle. They’ve had to heat ungodly amounts of water daily.”

“Thank you, my prince.”

He cleared his throat. “About my title. Between us,that should only be used in the most formal situations. Most of the time, you can call me Vale. We are married, after all.”

I swallowed. Roar had made a similar request and that had gone overso well.

But the prince had a point, just like Roar. It would look odd for me to be so formal with my husband all the time.

“I can do that,” I said finally.

He nodded, pleased, and then walked to the bed and sat on it. The creaking of the wood beneath the mattress was too much for me. Brought back too many visions. I had to be out with it.