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Taking a detour by the liquor stand, I grabbed an open bottle of wine and left the room.

SALAS WASN’T IN MYsitting room. Only the guards lingered around in their usual places. Their leader greeted me, “Your Highness.”

“Where is he?” I clutched the wine bottle in my hand as if holding on to a lifeline in a storming ocean.

“In the bedroom, as you requested.” The leader gestured at the door.

“Right. Thanks.” I took a swig from the bottle before pushing the door open.

Salas crouched by the table in front of the couch, assembling sandwiches from bread and cold cuts. The tea light was already burning bright under the teapot, with two cups waiting on their saucers.

“Good evening, Princess.” He beamed, turning to me. “Tea is almost ready.”

Longing tightened in my chest, as if my heart was squeezed by a gentle hand wearing a soft velvet glove. The tension of the day with all its worries drained from me, banished by Salas’s radiant smile.

The desire to come to him like this every night rushed me. For a moment, I believed I’d give everything just for him to wait for me here tomorrow and every day thereafter. But it was the one thing I could never have.

The longing in my chest changed from soft and warm to hard and hurting. I swung the bottle up to my mouth again, hoping for the fog of intoxication to muffle the pain.

Salas followed the bottle with his eyes, then got up from his crouch.

“How much of that have you had, Princess?”

I loved it when he called me princess. It sounded casual and friendly coming from him. Right now, however, he sounded unimpressed.

“Why do you need to know?” I licked my lips and shifted my weight to my other foot, swaying off balance a bit in the process.

He frowned.

“Just trying to gauge how long it’ll be until I’ll have to hold back your diamonds while you puke.” He tipped his chin at my dangling earrings that almost touched my shoulders and the several long strands of precious gemstones around my neck.

“Ah.” I plopped the bottle on a nearby stand, managing not to tip it over. “Don’t worry.” I took off the necklace, then slipped the earrings out of my ears and dropped them all on the stand next to the bottle. “See? No diamonds. No problems.”

I grabbed the bottle again, but he sauntered to me and intercepted my wrist on the way to my mouth.

“Why do you need this, Princess? Are you nervous? Scared? Is it because of me?”

Unnerved by his probing look, I closed my eyes. The air around us permeated with the scent of the fragrant oils that had been rubbed on his skin. But with the desperation of an addict, I searched for his own scent underneath.

I’d seen first-hand what an addiction looked like. I knew what it did to people, turning them first into raging monsters, then into trembling shadows, before slowly killing them in terrible ways. I knew it could start from just one use, so I hadn’t touched any drugs and never drank hard liquor. Yet I had no willpower to resist Salas. One kiss had proven enough for me to crave more of him to the point of insanity.

His hand remained wrapped around my wrist, and I made no attempt to free it.

“Everythingis because of you, Salas,” I muttered. Keeping my eyes closed made it easier to speak the truth. “What ifyoucould be my everything?” I exhaled a bitter laugh, opening my eyes again. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

It might’ve been just a play of shadows and moonlight, but I glimpsed the reflection of my own longing in his eyes. I blinked, and it was gone.

His frown deepened. He took the bottle from me and lifted it to the light, inspecting the contents that now barely reached the half mark.

“In my defense, the bottle was open when I took it. I didn’t drink it all,” I assured him.

“You’ve drunk enough.”

“Are you scolding me? Even my mother doesn’t do that anymore.”

He lowered the bottle. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, Princess. But if you intend to get piss drunk, nothing will happen between us tonight.”

“Is that a threat?” I huffed.