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“I’ve taken a lot from you already,” I whispered.

“You’ve taken nothing I haven’t wished to give you.”

I pushed myself away from him. Why was it so hard to do? As if my body was made of metal and he was a powerful, inescapable magnet.

“You and I, Salas, we have unfinished business. And it’s only up to you if you want to finish it.”

I didn’t look up. I didn’t want to see his face, scared of the rejection I might read on it. From what I knew, his life had been a series of obstacles on the path of survival, and I’d just selfishly thrown another hurdle in his way.

But I couldn’t help it. I wanted him enough to risk it all, including his peace and mine.

As he moved away from me, I turned on my heel and ran. Back to the palace. Back to my room, where my crown waited for me along with a massive load of official obligations, none of which included Salas.

Chapter 15

Ari

The following night, I came to my bedroom deliberately late. During the day, I had stayed busy, occupying my thoughts with enough activity to keep them away from Salas. The moment I set my foot in my bedroom, however, the memories of him rushed me anew.

Bringing him here had been a huge mistake. Now, everything in my bedroom reminded me of him. Every piece of furniture he’d touched held an image of him imprinted on my mind. The couch where he had placed his cloak. The table where he’d served me tea. Even the damn sword on the wall over the fireplace that he’d spoken about. And my bed where we’d slept together... I couldn’t even go behind the screen to look at the bed now.

Longing tightened around my heart like a chain, pulling it toward the man I shouldn’t want.

I opened the patio doors wide, poured myself a glass of ice water from the carafe on the table, and sat on the couch, staring at the gaping mouth of the dark fireplace.

A sudden noise from the patio behind me sent me to my feet.

“Who’s there?” I whipped around to face the open glass doors.

“Evening, Princess.” Salas stood on the patio, his large frame backlit by the evening sky.

In the sepia light of the dying sunset, he looked like the embodiment of all my thoughts and longing—a wish come true.

Speechless, I carefully set my glass on the table by the couch.

“You need to get someone to remove that lattice from the side there.” He gestured at the parapet behind him with the climbing jasmine vines. “It makes it way too easy to climb up.”

I exhaled an incredulous laugh, taking him in. He certainly was real, not just an apparition conjured by my lonely mind. He was wearing the shirt I’d given him, and it looked even better on him than I’d imagined.

“You’d mentioned unfinished business between us,” he said.

“Is that why you’re here?” I finally found my voice, sauntering toward him with a wide grin on my face.

My heart beat faster, my skin flushed. I barely felt my feet carrying me toward him, moving as if I was floating. All because he came to see me again.

It was insane. The effect this man had on me was incredible. It also proved incredibly addictive, and I had no strength and no desire to fight it. I needed his kiss more than I needed my next breath.

He lifted both hands between us, however, halting my advance.

“We do have unfinished business that I’m dying to finish, Princess. But you need to know what kind of a man you allowed into your bed.”

“What do you mean?” I kept smiling. “I know who you are.”

“No, you don’t. I never told you. I never told anyone.” He rolled his shoulders back, his broad chest rising with a deep breath as if he was about to jump off a cliff. “I’m a fallen man, Princess. Before I signed my very first slave contract seven years ago, I worked in a fun house. I was a man for hire, Your Highness. Even slaves look down at men like me.”

Air rushed out of my lungs. Shock sent me stumbling backwards until my legs hit the back of the couch and I propped my butt on it to stay upright.

I’d never been to a fun house myself. But everything I’d ever heard about “those men” rushed into my mind now.