Prince of Darkness: A Dark Romance Duology (Part 1)
Page 10
Sobs tried to crawl out of Fawn’s throat but she forced them back down, sinking her teeth into her lower lip until she drew blood. It was tempting – so, so tempting – to sink deeper into the oblivion the prince’s hands offered.
But she knew she couldn’t do that.
Because now she realized that was what she had been doing all these months.
Pretending she didn’t notice Grant was changing---
Pretending she didn’t know Grant was lying---
Pretending she didn’t feel Grant was cheating---
Fawn reached shakily for the prince’s hands, and she didn’t have to say anything else. It was as if he had read her mind, felt her need to face her fears and her pains, and the prince slowly released her from his hold.
She turned to him.
She could see him again.
And somehow, even though Grant was no longer in front of her, seeing made the pain worse.
He took her hand, and she let him. A moment later, and he was drawing her away from the door. As they descended the stairs, they heard footsteps coming up and the prince automatically released her hand.
She followed behind him, neither of them speaking until they made it out of the building where the prince’s limousine was waiting.
He helped her inside and as the car started to move, the prince said casually, “Just say the word---”
She looked at him in confusion.
“And he’ll die tonight if you want.”
Fawn almost, almost laughed. “Prince.”
His rock-hard shoulders moved in a Gallic shrug. “You know who I am.”
“Oh, of course I know you,” she managed to say with feigned solemnity. “You’re Reid Chalkias, Christopoulos University’s most infamous and heartless playboy.”
“And a prince,” he reminded her solemnly.
“And a prince,” she agreed.
But deep in her heart, she knew…
She had always known the prince was more than that.
The prince was a man burdened by secrets---
A man trapped in the darkness---
But he was also a man who took away other people’s pain, a man who gave others a chance for a new life at the cost of his own.
Shaking her head, she said unevenly, “I do know who you are, prince, which is why I know you wouldn’t really have been able to kill him just like that.” She snapped her fingers for emphasis.
The prince’s lip curled. “You underestimate me, parthena mou. Whoever said I’d have to dirty my hands with his death?” He added solemnly, “I can always ask one of my henchmen---”
“Stop it.” This time, Fawn managed a watery smile, thinking how the last word was so woefully inaccurate in describing the fatherly demeanor of Noah, Igor, and the other senior guys in the prince’s staff.
“We both know you won’t do that,” she told the prince. “So stop pretending.”
“Not pretending,” the prince said quietly. “I just wanted you to smile.”
Oh.
“Sorry. I’m n-not used to you joking.” She swallowed. “I mean, I’m used to seeing you joke around with others, but with me, you don’t really---”
“My adopted mother says the same thing,” the prince revealed in the same casual tone, almost as if he was deliberately downplaying the fact that he was telling her things she had never expected to know about him.
“S-she does?”
“When I crack a joke in her presence, she thinks it’s the end of the world.”
She choked back a teary laugh. “I k-kinda feel the same.”
As the prince watched her wipe her eyes, he heard himself say, “I’m sorry.”
She froze.
“I’m sorry I made you leave that way.”
Without meeting his gaze, she whispered, “Then why did you say it?”
The prince laughed humorlessly. “Do you really not know?” Tipping her chin up, he looked straight into her eyes and said in a hard voice, “Because I was jealous.” Her eyes widened, and he could see that she truly had no idea.
The prince released her and exhaled his breath in frustration.
Well, damn.
She was even denser than he thought.
“Sorry,” he heard her mumble in a small voice. “I didn’t realize it.”
“It’s fine.” And not wanting to give her a chance to delve deeper into his fit of jealousy – which he was doing his best to forget – the prince swiftly changed the subject, asking bluntly, “Do you wish for more time to lick your wounds?”
Despite the numbing pain inside of her, Fawn couldn’t help rolling her eyes at his less than sensitive question. “Are you ever this outrageously offensive with other people?”
He smiled lazily at her. “Only with you.”
“Oh.” Should she be flattered or offended? She thought about it and decided on the former. It wasn’t the nicest method for giving comfort, but she couldn’t argue with the results, the way he was able to keep her mind from---
Ah.
Images she had unconsciously tried to bury resurfaced.
She choked out bitterly, “I can’t stop seeing them fuc---”
A finger on her lips cut her off, and Fawn froze. A second later the prince was peering down at her, and all of a sudden his classically handsome face filled her entire vision.
“Don’t do that,” the prince murmured. “While I admit to having fantasized about hearing you say dirty words, I don’t want to hear it if they’re for another man’s sake. You understand this, don’t you, parthena mou?”
She nodded, and a familiar, drugging sense of heat enveloped her body as the movement caused her lips to rub against his finger.
Oh.
The prince straightened, and as soon as her lips were freed, Fawn immediately wetted them, feeling like they were suddenly too dry. She swallowed, noticing the way the air around them was charged with sexual tension, something she had never felt with Grant.
When she looked at the prince again, it was to realize he was staring at her mouth, and she mumbled, “No.” A kiss was just going to confuse things, even if she was sure it was the one thing that could take her mind off---
Stop it, Fawn.
His eyes were laughing at her. “What do you mean no, parthena mou?”
“You know exactly what I’m saying, and---” She looked at him suspiciously. “What does that mean anyway?”
The prince was visibly surprised. “You truly don’t know?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t think it was right to look it up,” she said awkwardly. “If I did, it would mean b-betraying Grant.”
His jaw clenched as he forced himself to smile. “I see.”
Grant Bennett, you lucky son of a bitch.
Thankfully, the man was enough of an idiot to not realize what he had.
“If you want to know, look it up.” She started to take her phone out, and he shook his head, murmuring, “Not now.” He took hold of her hand then, and ignoring the way her body jerked, he entwined her fingers with his.
“P-prince.”
Gazing at their entwined hands, he asked steadily, “Do you still love him?”
The fingers in his hold tensed, and with it he already had his answer.
Grant Bennett, you fucking idiot.
“I wish I could say I stopped loving him the moment I saw him---”
“Fucking another woman,” the prince spelled out in a hard voice. He saw her flinch, and he bit back a curse. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
But they both knew it was not.
He had been an insensitive ass, and they both knew that, too.
Dragging air into his lungs, he said slowly, “Up until I was eight years old, I was raised in an environment where weakness of any kind was beaten out of you.”
Fawn was stunned. “I didn’t know. I’m s-sorry.” But now it was beginning to be clear to her that the rumors about the prince – which she had believed were just rumors – had more
than a grain in truth in them.
“I’m the one who should be sorry, and I’m only telling you that because I didn’t want you to think I was a complete ass.”
“U-understood.” Fawn gave him a studious nod. “And you were successful.” Managing a smile, she said, “Now, I just think you’re half an ass.”
His lips twitched. “I can take that, I suppose.” He drew her to him then, and she didn’t even think of resisting. Her head fell against his chest. Her eyes closed.
She needed this---
This reassuring sense of security telling her that she wasn’t alone, this feel of invincible strength, telling her that he could protect her from the pain---
She needed…him.
Fawn felt the prince’s lips touch the top of her head. “I am sorry you had to experience such pain, parthena mou.”
The prince felt more than saw her smile against his heart as she whispered jokingly, “Me, too.”
Good girl, he thought.
Strong, brave, beautiful girl, and he was damn proud of her.
He heard her sigh, and he asked, “What are you thinking of?”
“Him.” Her fingers curled into a fist between their bodies. “I know it’s bad, but I just wish I could hurt him back.”
She expected him to tell her to stop being bitter, but then again she should have known she couldn’t expect something so benign from the Prince of Darkness.
Instead, the prince said easily, “You could.” Before she could answer him, the prince tipped her chin up. “You can hit him where it hurts the most.”
When he spoke again, it was the Prince of Darkness’s voice he used, and the husky, melodic cadence of his tone wrapped its seductive notes around her bruised heart as he murmured,
When the prince’s head lowered, Fawn’s common sense urged her to push him away. But it was too late. The mesmerizing promise in his emerald green gaze had enslaved her, and all she could do was wait---
“Simply say the word---”
His tongue began to trace the curve of her lips, and it was like tasting fire.
Oh God.
“And I will be your lover behind his back.”
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for patiently waiting for Prince of Darkness. The second half should come out soon, and well – that’s when it goes dark. I thought I should warn you in advance.
For those new to my work, you might want to check out the other books in this series, namely Unwillingly Yours, Meant to Be Yours, Nick & Lilac, and Jason & Keanne.
Until our next journey,
Marian Tee
P.S. Before I forget, pretty please consider writing even the shortest review of the book if you enjoyed it. That’s one of the quickest ways for me to know what you guys like to read from me.
CONTACT ME.
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About the Author
Marian Tee is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of steamy romantic comedies. She is Filipino-Chinese, has lived all her life in the Philippines, and is a frustrated mangaka. She is addicted to horror flicks, misses hiphop dancing, and loves all things Japanese.
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