The Shadow Man stared at me. "Jocelynn, my love, surely you don't want him. Especially considering I can give you everything." His grin stretched too far across his face. "What could he possibly offer you that I can't?"
~~~~~
Jocelynn Turner is a De...
The suite was huge. Deep orange rugs covered the floor in the main room, which consisted of a plush black couch, two bookshelves stocked with leather-bound books, and a small deep red loveseat accented with gold trim. An archway led off the right of the bookshelves, revealing a bedroom the size of a small cabin. The bed had a huge, intricate headboard that stretched to half the ceiling and swirled with so many designs they got mashed together but still looked good. A dark wood dresser sat against the far wall of the bedroom as did more bookshelves.
I double checked the suite. Only one bed: check. The couch was the only other option but it looked far too small to sleep on. I groaned. "I'll be sleeping on the floor."
Cole gave me a sharp look. "No you will not. It is expected of us to sleep in the same bed."
"Oh no!" I gasped, feigning horror. "They're going to sneak in here in the middle of the night to make sure we're the same bed." I shot him a bland look.
He returned the look and I felt the blood leave my face.
"They really do that, don't they?"
He nodded, looking as pleased at this as I was. Well, at least we had something in common again. Ever since coming to the Underworld, Cole had been acting all weird. Instead of acting like that cocky man I grew to know, he now acted like he was above everyone else. His expression had stayed perfectly blank this whole time, save for when he was talking to his mother.
I looked at him and then the bed. "Well, at least it's big enough we won't have to worry about hitting each other in our sleep," I joked weakly.
Blank expression.
Seriously? Not even a twitch of the lips, a crease of a smile? My heart sank for him. What had happened to him here?
And then, just like that, I knew. I knew why he walked with an air of royalty. If the Shadow Man, Aidoneus, was his mother's lover, then that meant he had become King of the Underworld. And since the King was Cole's father, that left him as none other than the Prince of the Underworld.
Oh fudge. I suddenly understood what Mirrikh had been talking about weeks ago, how I had wanted to be Cole's queen instead of his. And then Hermes, who called him Prince all the time, and Cerberus, who had bowed to him and then left us alone. My blood ran cold. This was, by far, the most unexpected thing I had ever thought possible.
My guardian was the Prince of the Underworld.
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I awoke in the morning to Cole's arm weighing heavily on my stomach. He had lifted up my tank top so his full hand could rest against my skin. His thumb ran along the curve of my ribs, sending little shivers throughout my body. I didn't dare move.
But he did. In his sleep, he pressed his face against my neck, gently kissing my shoulder before moving to my collar bone. His hand tightened on my side and he pressed himself against me. "Jocelynn," he murmured.
