Carys’ mouth parted.
Erin’s did too, but she had enough pride left to close it.
Barely.
“Goddess…” Carys sighed.
Erin smacked her arm.
“Shhhh. He can hear you,” she whispered.
Carys blinked, then looked horrified.
“Ohhh… I forgot.”
“How does one forget that a vampire prince has supernatural hearing?”
“He distracted me.”
Erin looked back at the pool against her better judgment.
Magnus reached the far end and turned smoothly beneath the surface.
Water broke around him as he pushed off again, his body stretching into motion, lean and strong and unfairly elegant.
Magnus stopped at the edge of the pool, his back to them.
Water streamed down his shoulders.
His back flexed as he gripped the stone edge, muscles shifting beneath wet skin.
Carys made a strangled little sound.
“Do not,” Erin warned under her breath.
“I am trying!”
Magnus lifted himself slightly, then lowered again, as if stretching his arms.
The motion made the muscles across his shoulders ripple.
Carys grabbed Erin’s wrist.
“I may not survive Blood City.”
Erin choked.
Magnus turned to look at them.
Both women went still.
They stood there at the edge, heads tilted, eyes fixed on him.
His body was half-submerged.
Droplets clung to his skin, sliding over a frame that looked honed, toned, flat in the right places and muscled in the rightest ones.
Erin swallowed.
His mouth curved.
Then he raised one hand and waved.
Erin quickly caught herself and looked away.
Carys moaned hopelessly then dropped.
Erin whipped around just in time to see her maid collapse onto the floor in a dramatic heap.
Irritation kicked in.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Carys.” She tightened her robe around herself and dropped to her knees beside her.
“Carys? Goddess, you embarrassing woman.” Erin tapped her cheek lightly.
“Wake up.”
Carys remained still.
Erin slapped her face a little harder.
“Goddammit, Carys!”
“I think she is allergic to you,” Erin said.
Magnus chuckled.
He dropped to his knees beside her, and Erin made the catastrophic mistake of looking at him.
Up close, he was worse.
Water clung to his lashes.
His hair was pushed back from his face, exposing the clean angles of his cheekbones and the line of his throat.
A towel hung low around his waist.
Magnus lowered his head slightly.
He listened for Carys’ heart beat and found it steady.
“Hey, Carys…” he said, voice calm, smooth.
“I’m just about to drop my shorts. You’re going to miss the show.”
Carys’ eyes snapped open.
Immediately.
One second she was apparently lost to the world, the next she was alive, alert, and looking in the general direction of Magnus’ towel.
Erin groaned.
“Why are you so shameless?” she whined.
Magnus turned his head toward her.
“You were staring at me too, Erin.”
“What? I wasn’t. There was no staring.” Erin wanted to throw something at his head.
Preferably Carys, since the girl had started this nonsense by fainting in the first place.
He ignored Erin’s arguments and turned back to Carys.
“Shall I help you up?”
Carys nodded enthusiastically.
Magnus extended his hand.
Carys placed hers in his like she was touching a holy relic.
He helped her to her feet carefully, one hand steadying her elbow.
Carys looked as if he had proposed marriage and built her a castle.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” she breathed.
Erin stared at her.
“You are embarrassing both of us.”
Carys adjusted her uniform with shaky dignity.
Magnus glanced between them, clearly amused.
“So, you girls came for a swim?”
“Oh, right!” Carys said, remembering she had a purpose.
She thrust the towel into Magnus’ hands.
“I have to see to moving the princess’s things.”
“You absolutely do not have to do that this exact second.” Erin argued.
Carys had already begun retreating with speed.
“I will come back!” she called.
“No, you won’t,” Erin muttered.
Traitor.
A silence settled after she left.
Erin suddenly felt conscious of everything, specifically Magnus standing a few feet away in nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips.
“She’s…” Magnus looked toward the direction Carys had escaped through.
“Interesting.”
“Ignore her,” Erin said quickly.
“She thinks spending time together will change things between us. Plus, she has an unhealthy crush on you.”
“Unhealthy, hm?”
Erin folded her arms.
“What would you call it then?”
“Funny.”
Erin’s gaze accidentally dropped to his chest, where a bead of water slid slowly down the hard line of his torso.
She dragged her eyes back to his face.
She was noticing him now with such violent enthusiasm, as if it were trying to make up for years of willful blindness.
Every inch of him seemed designed to ruin her concentration.
The lean strength of his arms.
The flat planes of his stomach.
The confidence in the way he stood.
Magnus glanced toward the pool.
“Well,” he said, “since Carys has handed her responsibilities over to me, I might as well see to it that you are properly taken care of while she is gone.”
Erin’s pulse kicked.
“You do not need to see to anything,” she replied.
“On the contrary, you are a guest in Blood City. Your comfort is my responsibility.” He stepped closer.
Erin held her ground.
His gaze lowered briefly to her mouth.
“Would you like me to leave?”
Yes would have been safe.
Instead, she heard herself say, “I didn’t say that.”
“Then swim,” he said softly.
Magnus lifted the towel Carys had abandoned and draped it over one lounge chair.
The motion drew her attention back to his body.
“I’ll wait here…In case you need anything.”
“You don’t have to Magnus. I don’t want to make things even more difficult,” Erin said.
“This should be about severing the bond not helping it along. We need to keep our distance.”
Magnus smiled.
Distance.
Wonderful suggestion.
Brilliant.
Talking about distance as if the mate bond cared about geography.
“Nonsense,” he said.
“Go on. I’ll wait here.”
Her brows lifted.
“Whatever you say…”