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I grin in response. “Did I hurtyou?”

His responding smile is delicious, but then, as though looking at me is too painful, he sits up. Eryx runs his fingers through that messy hair, and I watch the way the muscles in his arms flex with the movement.

“You went to the king,” he says softly. “You lied to me.”

“You didn’t seem to care about that thirty minutes ago.”

His shoulders slump in shame, as though he’s guilty for ravishing me. I nearly laugh at the thought, but this is a serious conversation.

“I lied to you about many things,” I admit. “I killed your grandfather.”

His head snaps in my direction.

“I’d had enough of his pawing and belittling. I smothered him with a pillow after he bruised me.”

Eryx says nothing, so I continue. “I also tried to kill you. The poison in your curry? That was me. Not Sarkis.”

Now his eyes are so wide they nearly pop from his skull.

“I thought I was in danger from you. I was convinced you were a fake, no matter what other sources said. You had stolen everything from me.” I bend over the bed to my ruined dress and come back up holding his letter. “Turns out I was right on all accounts.”

His eyes darken back to their usual brown, but his face is a mask.

“If it’s any consolation,” I say. “I didn’t read it until after I told the king about you. That’s when I realized my mistake.” I look down to the rumpled bedsheets. “I found out about you and Vander before reading this letter. I hired a private investigator. It’s the reason I agreed to put in a good word with the king for you and give you etiquette lessons—so I’d have the means of paying the man. I thought you lied about yourfeelings for me to manipulate me. To try to convince me to stop my investigation and let you stay. Always the superior to me. Instead, you gave everything up for me.

“And I…” A tear slides down my cheek. “I gave you up. I ratted you out to the king. I killed your grandfather. I tried to kill you. Gods, I can never fix this, can I?”

He wipes at the tear with a thumb. “I’ve killed innocents. I’ve killed not-so-innocents. I came here under false pretenses. I was fully ready to take everything from you.”

“But you didn’t, in the end.”

“You didn’t leave the king to kill me. You came back.”

“Of course I came back, you stupid boy. I love you.”

“Always with the age difference.” He rolls himself on top of me as his eyes turn amber again. “We’ll see how much it matters to you once I’m inside you again.”

A delicious tremor runs through my whole body at the promise. “The words you said to me in that letter. I want to hear them aloud.”

“Which ones?” he asks as he leans down to kiss my neck, but he knows very well which ones I mean.

“The only ones that matter,” I answer.

He raises his head to look me in the eye once more. “I love you. I fought loving you, but it was as inevitable as the sun rising every day. For you are my equal in nearly every way and my superior in all the rest.”

I make a humming noise. “You say such pretty words.”

“No more talking,” he demands. Then he claims my mouth.

IPROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVEleft the king and queen of Naxos to wait while I consummated my relationship with Eryx.

Three times.

There’s just something about knowing that my sister is waiting in the woods while I’m being pleasured by this enthusiastic man that makes it all the more exciting.

I truly am a terrible person, and I smile at the thought of it.

But as I realize that Eryx is still potentially in danger from the king, I hurry to dress. Eryx goes into the adjoining room to find his newly made attire.