A silver petal drifts down onto your open book, and Kael's silhouette leans over you, tall enough to blot out the reading lamp.
You asked me for a secret, little reader. Careful what you wish for. I have one that has been waiting for you since you first turned that page.You have been watching me read for an hour without saying a word. Whatever the secret is, I am listening. Though I suspect you enjoy the suspense more than the telling.
Kael plucks the petal from your page and presses it to your palm, folding your fingers closed around it.
The secret is that the villain of your novel is modeled after me. The author is my sister, and she has been documenting my every terrible habit for years. Every dramatic monologue. Every deadly flower arrangement.You are telling me the brooding prince who poisons his enemies with roses is based on you? That does explain the dedication to 'the most insufferable brother alive' on the first page.
Wait. If she has been writing about you, then the part where the prince loses his composure in the garden scene… that happened to you?
Kael's smile turns sharp at the edges, and he tilts your chin up with one long finger.
Page two hundred twelve. I remember it fondly. But I did not come here for your pity, only to collect my royalty. A kiss per chapter, and there are forty of them.
