2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

CHAPTER
33
We were given a suite of connecting rooms, all centered on a large, lavish lounge that was
open to the sea and city below. My bedroom was appointed in seafoam and softest blue
with pops of gold—like the gilded clamshell atop my pale wood dresser. I had just set it
down when the white door behind me clicked open and Rhys slid in.
He leaned against the door once he shut it, the top of his black tunic unbuttoned to
reveal the upper whorls of the tattoo spanning his chest.
“The problem, I’ve realized, will be that I like Tarquin,” he said by way of greeting. “I
even like Cresseida. Varian, I could live without, but I bet a few weeks with Cassian and
Azriel, and he’d be thick as thieves with them and I’d have to learn to like him. Or he’d be
wrapped around Amren’s finger, and I’d have to leave him alone entirely or risk her
wrath.”
“And?” I took up a spot against the dresser, where clothes that I had not packed but
were clearly of Night Court origin had been already waiting for me.
The space of the room—the large bed, the windows, the sunlight—filled the silence
between us.
“And,” Rhys said, “I want you to find a way to do what you have to do without making
enemies of them.”
“So you’re telling me don’t get caught.”
A nod. Then, “Do you like that Tarquin can’t stop looking at you? I can’t tell if it’s
because he wants you, or because he knows you have his power and wants to see how
much.”
“Can’t it be both?”
“Of course. But having a High Lord lusting after you is a dangerous game.”
“First you taunt me with Cassian, now Tarquin? Can’t you find other ways to annoy
me?”
Rhys prowled closer, and I steadied myself for his scent, his warmth, the impact of his
power. He braced a hand on either side of me, gripping the dresser. I refused to shrink
away. “You have one task here, Feyre. One task that no one can know about. So do
anything you have to in order to accomplish it. But get that book. And do not get caught.”
I wasn’t some simpering fool. I knew the risks. And that tone, that look he always gave
me … “Anything?” His brows rose. I breathed, “If I fucked him for it, what would you
do?”