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She busied herself by shuffling throw pillows around. “I wouldn’t know.”

“They marked the best parts, if you ask me.”

Best.The most scandalous—that’s what he meant—but as shehad not read itand therefore couldnothave folded pages to mark scenes for future reading, she could neither argue nor agree with his assessment, and the bastard knew it.

“The author is quite, eh, descriptive,” he said, all innocence. “Ah, here’s a good line. ‘When the Prince Regent turned to display his most royal sword, the lady gasped. Such an impressive weapon could—’”

A pillow to his face cut him off. Laughing, he tossed it aside. “Fess up. How many times have you read this?”

“I told you, I didn’t—”

“A dozen? A hundred?”

“You’re a horrible person, you know that?”

“I do.” He sounded far too serious, and she hesitated, wondering if she should apologize, but his expression shifted to wide-eyed sincerity. “But I simplymustfind out if our intrepid heroine chooses the prince or the rogue, so don’t you dare spoil it for me.”

Alessa pulled herself tall, every bit the haughty Finestra. “I wouldnever. Only the worst sort of people spoil book endings.”

“True. And you can’t. Obviously. Because you haven’t read it.”

“Because I haven’t read it.”

“You know, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.” He stole a glance at her. “It’s perfectly normal.”

“To read?”

“To enjoy this kind of book. You may be a holy vessel and all that, but you’re still human.”

“Sort of.”

He sat forward. “Entirely. Title or no title, power or none, you’re still human. Don’t let the holy nonsense mess with your head.”

“Holynonsense?”

He waved away her indignant protest. “Keep your gods and goddesses on their pedestals if you want, but the rituals, the rules, the isolation? You know that isn’t really fromthem, right? That’s written by mortals. Men, mostly. We have a bad habit of locking up people who scare us, and the thing that scares men with power most is a woman with more of it.”

She couldn’t imagine why anyone would want her power, butthere were a million things she didn’t understand about people, so she didn’t argue. Even Adrick had sounded jealous the last time they spoke.

Dante gave her a pointed glance. “If parts of this deal don’t work for you, ignore them. Take the traditions you need and toss the rest. Be bold.”

“Bold, huh?” She snatched the book from the table. “In that case, I’ll take this back.”

Dante’s laughter followed her to a chair on the balcony.

“They were talking about a card game tonight,” he said, coming up behind her. “You should go.”

“I tortured them all day.” Alessa smoothed her skirts. “I’m sure they don’t want me there.”

“Won’t know unless you try,” he said. “You want friends, go get them.”

“I won’tforceanyone to be my friend.”

“Ha! You keep bullyingmeinto it.” Resting his hands on the back of her chair, he bent close to her ear. “You aren’tscared, are you?”

Alessa tossed her head with righteous indignation, thwacking Dante in the face with her hair.

Laughing, he brushed a few strands from his cheek. “You smell like an orchard.”