CHAPTER 17

Korven

We flew to the library.

I took my time, holding her legs over my shoulders as she laughed in the most beautiful way, her arms outstretched as if she had wings herself. Her knees bent pressed to my neck, and I let myself occasionally rub a thumb over her ankles as I held her in place.

There was more of Seraphine Dupont.

More of her had materialized as she lay tangled in my bed.

More of her soft skin had shown itself wrapped through my legs, and Goddess be, it had been painful to leave her side and send word we’d be late. But she had been sleeping so hard, I knew if I got back quickly, I’d still have a chance to lay in a warm bed with the woman I could never have.

We soared through the afternoon sun, the promise of summer still a few weeks away from the kingdom of Havenshire. The Krukus Mountains shone in the distance with white peaks and tree-lined slopes. Just beyond the jagged cliffs were both of our homes where we’d met so long ago.

I hadn’t had a sister back then, and now, I couldn’t forget what I was doing and who all this was for. Seraphine’s curse was just a sidestep before I got back on track. There was more than one reason I couldn’t have her, and I needed to remember that.

Her gasp as we soared near the tall spires was a breath of delight. “That’s the library?” she called as I circled us over the towering pinnacles.

“The largest in the human kingdoms. Built over two centuries ago, according to a scribe I met last week.”

She rocked on my shoulders, urging me to land. “It’s magnificent! And books are loaned to anyone?”

“Well…” I began, touching down behind the building and pulling my black cloak over my shoulders, leaving half of her transparent form riding above my head. “No, actually. Patrons of Havenshire are required to access the thousands of books inside the library.”

“But you said the books in your room are from…oh,” she finished.

I pulled three out of my satchel, waving them in front of her face. “What they don’t know are missing, won’t hurt them.”

“You thief!” she squealed, jabbing my ribs with her heel.

I caught her ankle wrapped in the stocking I’d made for her. “Thief I may be, but a poor one at that. I’m returning them, aren’t I?”

“What if you’re caught?” she whispered harshly, as if one of the library patrons could hear her as I opened the door.

I answered with a shrug. “What if I’m caught?”

I took us through the entranceway and let her take it in for a moment. Out of all of the Havenshire I’d seen, this building was the most impressive. The whole of the inside was encased in beautiful delicate scrollwork of dark wood carved in sworls and intricate patterns across the parquet flooring. The library entrance lay at street level, whereas most of the stacks and shelves rose four stories above us, each section with its own massive hallway, complete with desks to study.

If you provided proof of status to the clerk, you could pay a mark to borrow an oil lamp for your stay in the more dimly lit hallways.

Thankfully, I possessed enough magic to never need a lantern.

“I don’t know where we should even start,” she murmured.

“We have a good thirty minutes before the duke arrives.”

She bucked at my shoulders again. “Then hurry! I want to see everything!”

I laughed to myself, sliding my hand up and down her leg before I realized I was doing it for my own sake, not hers.

“Any requests on where to begin?” I asked, twisting my head up to see her face. Her lips were parted as she surveyed the halls of books. She lifted her hand to her forehead as if to shield herself from sunlight, turning her head back and forth.

I chuckled, wishing I’d told the prick of a duke to fuck off for the rest of the day. I wanted this day for us. I wanted to spend hours here with Seraphine, pulling books from the shelves when she wanted to read them. We could walk down each and every hallway so she could read the spines, direct me where to go, and squeal happily again and again.

My Seraphine loved books.

But she wasn’t my Seraphine. At least not for much longer.

“There!” She interrupted my thoughts, pointing across the hall to the left at the section labeled Revelry History.

“Aye-aye, Captain,” I replied, earning a questionable glance from the desk clerk and another laugh from the woman I held onto for as long as I could.

* * *

Four halls in, we had to stop after I’d caught a glimpse of the Duke of Riche standing at the entrance and checking his pocket watch more than once.

Disappointed, Seraphine agreed it was time to meet with him. I lifted her from my shoulders, placing her body on a cushioned chair at the end of the secluded aisle. I unfastened my cloak and covered her legs, draping the rest of the wool over the back of the chair.

I bent, pondering what we both knew had happened in the thirty minutes since we’d arrived at the library. I got to work with the cloak, covering all of her legs to keep them away from the duke’s wandering eyes.

Tucking the ends underneath her thighs, I kept my eyes to my task, finally speaking up as she watched me in silence. “There’s more, Seraphine,” I spoke softly in the dim light of the flame I kept suspended over the desk. “Why is there more of you?”

I let my gaze drift to her face, sliding my hands along the form of her under my cloak, my fingers roaming over newly formed hips.

She swallowed and looked down at herself, crossing one leg over the other, despite my attempt to keep her tucked in and hidden. Shrugging too casually, she cleared her throat. “I suppose the arrival of Arthur has…encouraged more of my body to return.”

“The fuck it did,” I growled back.

“Prince Korven!” the duke called behind me. The bastard had come looking for us.

I held her gaze a moment more before rising and turning, crossing my arms and nodding toward the duke practically sprinting our way.

“And Princess Seraphine…” He grinned. “Is she…oh.”

He caught sight of her long legs, crossed and draped in the stockings I’d made to keep her warm. The delicate shape of her foot rocked gently.

I opened my mouth to order the duke to get lost when he stepped around me and pulled another chair away from the desk. “May I?” he asked, gesturing with an open hand to the seat in question.

“Yes,” Seraphine replied.

He continued to wait.

“Korven,” she growled.

“She said yes,” I responded, leaning against a shelf, watching his every move.

He thanked her and sat, leaning forward on his legs and stealing a glance at the drape of her calf across her knee.

“This will be…difficult, won’t it?” he said. “It’s unfortunate we require a chaperone to get to know one another.”

I scoffed, my wings rustling in irritation. “Even if you could hear and see her, I wouldn’t let you within five feet without a chaperone.”

The bastard grinned back at me. “Thank you for protecting her so devoutly, Prince Korven.”

Before I could even begin my next stream of curses, Seraphine uncrossed her legs, tucking them up underneath her, and quickly saying, “Ask him if he has any other family besides his mother.”

I gritted my teeth, scowling in his direction. “She wants to know about your family.”

He folded his hands, replying to where her face should be. “I have no family. None except my mother. And she is not long for this world.”

“I’m sorry,” Seraphine replied. “What about friends? Social activities?”

A saccharin grin lit my face. “Do people enjoy your company, Duke, or do you lack friendships as well as a living family tree?”

Two heads turned and glared my way.

“Your Ravenfae chaperone doesn't seem to like me much, Princess.”

She pursed her lips, but replied, “No, he certainly doesn’t.” Then, she retorted to me, “If you do not say exactly what I say, this will never work and we’ll both be dead soon, so I demand that you follow through with this plan we agreed upon.”

I loved her ire. I considered keeping it going, shooting back something about how much I didn’t trust this duke without a family—and more than likely—without friends.

“Fine,” I caved. “She would like to know if you have any friends and what, if any, social activities you find yourself in.”

“Ah,” he chuckled, “I do have a few close friends, but I’m afraid I’m not the type to attend many parties or dances. Perhaps it’s why I’ve been a bachelor for so long.”

Before Phinie could ask, I did it for her. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-seven this fall.”

“Where did you get the scar?” I asked next, ignoring her hiss of my name.

“Fell from a tree about ten years ago.”

“Ten years ago, you were still older than Princess Seraphine is now.” I continued my inquiry. “What happened to your father? Siblings? Aunts? Cousins? Surely it is not just you as duke of an estate in Riche.”

“Unfortunately, Prince Korven, it is just me. There is a townhouse in Riche I occupy most of the year. However, in the past few months, I have been visiting my ailing mother at our castle in Heartstone Wood. It’s a drafty old place.”

“You didn’t say what happened to your father.”

“I had imagined you'd realized he’s dead.”

“How?”

“Rasping Sickness.”

“How long ago?”

“Ten years.”

“Is that why you fell out of the tree?”

“No.”

“In Cursed Goddess of the Veil, how long ago was my mother’s fate cast?” I’d stump him here. Even if he had studied the book, it was unlikely he’d done the math, expecting this question.

Without missing a beat, he replied with an accurate, “Five-hundred and twelve years.”

Phinie had gone quiet, her eyes darting back and forth between us.

I stepped closer, standing over him, as imposing a figure of a Ravenfae Prince as I could manage. “You show up to the Burrow, a place you don’t regularly occupy, with a title, land, and her favorite fucking book in your jacket pocket with no family to claim, no wild past, no ring on your finger, and you just happen to enjoy the quiet and reading?” I bent closer. “Do you see, Duke of Riche, why I do not trust you? Why I question you and your intentions with the princess of your kingdom? Nothing fits into place that perfectly.”

He turned to Seraphine with a broad smile. “Your favorite book is Cursed Goddess of the Veil?”

She didn’t respond. She didn’t so much as look at him. She stared at me with bright eyes, something glistening in them I hadn’t yet seen. Her breasts rose and fell heavily above the enormous satin bow at her chest.

I swallowed, forcing myself to look away. “What is your purpose in coming here, Duke? What do you get out of this?”

Finally, he faltered, taking a breath to answer before slumping back in his seat. “You’ve got me there, Prince Korven. I came because of…curiosity. Because of this strange situation the Princess of Riche has found herself in. I live a lonely life. One I have chosen to live, but if I could find…” he trailed off and I silently dared him to say the words. He chose not to. “If I could help lift this curse, I would do it. There’s no need for hostility. No need for demanding such a thorough look at my life, though I appreciate why you’re so ardently searching for holes in my answers. I am here to get to know Princess Seraphine Dupont. That is all. No commitment, no confessions of feelings. She is most intriguing, so far as I know.”

“You don’t know,” I shot back.

“ Korven .”

Her command of my name drew me. Instantly, I straightened, turning to her chair.

She continued, “I think that’s enough today. Please tell him verbatim, ‘Thank you for joining us today, Arthur. I feel the same. No commitment, no confessions of feelings needed. If you would like, please come back tomorrow, same time. Prince Korven will be a more willing chaperone then, I assure you.’”

I sighed heavily and repeated her words exactly.

Another of those charming smiles graced his face. The white scar running down his cheek giving him more of a roguish look.

He stood and bowed before Seraphine. “I’m looking forward to it, Princess. I do hope I’ve conducted myself appropriately in such royal company.”

Seraphine inclined her head, but I gave no indication of such a thing. He turned on his heel and left, cracking his neck as he swept past the corner down the long hall and out of sight.

I made sure he left the library. Of course, I did.

“Korven.”

She called to me again, her voice like a pull back to her side where I slumped into the opposite chair, running my hands down my face. I needed to get a grip and react with less hostility, less outright disdain the next afternoon. This curse was in need of breaking, and we were running on little time.

I blew air out of my mouth, nibbling on my bottom lip. “I’ll do better.”

“You’ll do better,” she repeated.

“I hate him.”

She laughed, slipping her legs back out from underneath her body. “You hate him.”

I shook my head, leaning forward on my knees. “That won’t change. He could be a fucking saint of the Veiled Ones and I’d still hate him.”

“He’s no saint.”

“How can you tell?” I said in a snide response.

She hummed, crossing her long leg back over her knee. “There’s something he’s not saying. I can hear it in the way he doesn’t talk about…whatever it is. It’s a very mysterious thing.”

“You’re intrigued by mysterious dukes, then?” I was leaning so close now, my body but a few inches away from the stocking I’d pulled onto her legs a mere hour ago.

She shook her head with a sly smile. “No. I prefer a jealous prince.”

“Careful now,” I growled. “Your words are sounding more and more like an invitation.”

Her lips parted and she uncrossed her legs, lifting a foot to slide across the seat on the side of my chair. My cloak fell away from her easily, even after all that careful tucking her away from wandering eyes.

My eyes wandered, though. She wanted them to. That much was clear as she lifted her other leg, placing the bottom of her foot on the other side of me, sliding it down the seat as well. She kept her knees closed to me, teasing with the most seductive smirk across her lips.

“And what would you say to an invitation?”

I caught her foot at my side, bringing it to my lap where I rubbed the arch with the pads of my thumbs. “What kind of invitation are we talking about, Seraphine?”

It was a dangerous game. One neither of us could afford to play, yet neither of us seemed able to decline.

Pulling out of my grasp, she slid her stocking feet up the inner thigh of my pants, her grin widening at what she found hard beneath her foot. “An invitation to explore. There’s more of me, Ravenfae Prince. Would you care to discover just how much?”

Fuck, if she asked me to, I’d discover all sorts of things about her skin, her shape, her breath, and what sounds she’d make deep in the throes of pleasure.

This woman did more to me in a few days of our cursed reunion than I’d felt in years. If ever.

But she was a Princess of Riche. I was a Ravenfae Prince. She was cursed in this form until kissed by the one who loved her most, and I had cursed her. I couldn’t take advantage of her like this. I couldn’t love her most. I put her here. I gave her that curse that had grown so?—

“Stop it,” she said, startling me from my thoughts. “Stop thinking about it. Stop trying to figure out if it’s right or wrong or any glimpse of the future for either of us.” Rising from her chair, the rest of my wool cloak fell, revealing what she meant by more to explore. She had hips. She had a tangible body up to the underside of her ribs. The sharp white satin of her dress adorned in beads and pearls clashed with the creamy softness of her long stockings.

She stood in front of me, finding herself between my legs. I reached out, pulling her closer, rubbing the backs of her thighs. I slid my fingers beneath the hem of her stockings to smooth over her skin.

She leaned toward me, her next damning words a mere whisper for us to hear. “We have now. We have this moment, right now. Will you live it with me?”

I gripped the back of her legs, pulling her even closer. Once again, there I was, a prince looking up at a princess who had the power to be my downfall. “Whatever you want me to do, Seraphine,” I promised back, “it’s done.”

“Touch all of me, Korven. Touch every part of me you can.”

She needn’t ask me twice.