Chapter 37

 

A knock at the door made me spin around, eager for anyone right now, anything to take me out of this deep thought mode. “Come in.”

Troy came through the door. “I’m not interrupting you, am I?”

I shook my head. “No, just driving myself crazy with thinking.”

“Ah, a dangerous thing to be sure,” he smirked. “I heard you’d been left behind and thought you might be a little forlorn because of it.”

Raising my eyebrows at him, I crossed my arms and studied him. “Are you aware your speech goes from normal to stuffy without warning?”

His lips quirked. “You are in an analytical mood, aren’t you? I preferred old English when I was younger and sometimes I find myself switching back and forth.” Moving further into the room, he glanced around and then paused when he spotted the book open on my desk. “Doing a little light reading, Huntress?”

“There’s nothing light about that.”

His lips quirked. “Unraveled all of its hidden meaning yet?”

Staring at the floor, I shook my head. “I haven’t even gotten past the first few pages, but I’m thinking Victor’s assessment is right on the money.”

Going over, he ran his finger down the page left open. “What assessment was that?”

“It’s all hog spittle.”

Throwing his head back he laughed. “I’m sure Victor will be thrilled to know you agree with him now.” Leaning back against the desk, he crossed his arms and looked at me. “Is it that bad, Daxx? To have my brother or I for a mate to dote on you and fill your every whim because when all is said or done, you know that’s what will happen. We’ve been without true companionship for closer to thirty decades, would it be so rough to have a man that not only desires you but will go out of his way to please you?”

When he put it in those terms it didn’t sound half bad, but I wasn’t going to admit it. I shrugged.

“It could be worse you could be me, I have two possible options in this book and to be truthful I’m not entirely sure which one I’d prefer.” Turning he flipped the page and read the next part out loud. “For our King not chosen a mate lies in wait, born of human blood. She will rule over his compulsion as no other could and bring him life times of eternal peace.” He lifted his head and turned around. “While that for the most part sounds intriguing and appeals, does it mean I would have to wait a few more hundred years for this mate to appear to me? And what of this compulsion she’s to rule over? Is that a good or bad thing for the king that’s hers?”

He started walking towards me and my nerves started doing that fluttering thing again. “I don’t think you’re getting the bad end of the deal Huntress.” I’d had fair warning to move, but had stood my ground and now he was right in front of me standing so close I could feel the heat of his body.

Lifting my chin, he lowered his face closer to mine. “Would spending the rest of your existence with me be such a bad thing?”

I got lost in his eyes as they held mine. As much as I could I shook my head. “I don’t want to be the one to choose.”

Something went through his eyes so briefly I wasn’t sure what. “It has to be you. My brother and I may be twins, but we are still very much male and look out for our own interests where a female is concerned. Would you rather we battle as they did years ago and the survivor gets the girl?”

I didn’t reply, mostly because I couldn’t focus on what he’d just said. I could feel his breath brushing over my lips and just his nearness made me forget what my problem had been. We stood like that for what felt like an eternity, his eyes, now red roamed my face, his lips only an inch from mine.

“I think you should go over and spend some time with Chase,” he whispered and then slowly released my chin and straightened back up but didn’t move away.

I’d been so mesmerized by his closeness I almost swayed when he wasn’t there. Placing my hands on his chest, I looked up at him. His hand played at the back of my head and I was waiting for more.

“Daxx…” Rafael burst through the door. “Oh— Shit, sorry,” he mumbled and looked down at the floor. “I figured you were alone.”

Troy’s hand brushed down the back of my head once more before he stepped away. “Perhaps knocking to be sure would be a way to find out.”

“Sorry I interrupted.” Rafael sent his brother a hesitant look.

“It’s of no matter, we were just discussing Daxx going over to Chase’s kingdom tomorrow.”

I turned and looked at him. We had? I didn’t recall any sort of discussion taking place. Troy stood there looking at me, that look on his face I couldn’t read was back in place. His eyes moved over my face once, pausing long enough on my mouth that in reflex I licked my lips.

With a soft word uttered under his breath, he nodded at Rafael. “Was there a reason you burst in here?”

Rafael nodded and then looked at me. “We found two more.”

Troy cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you to it then and will see you both at dinner.”

I watched him walk out and had no clue what had just happened. Shaking it off, I turned to the man giving me strange looks. “Let’s go see what Arius can get out of them.”