The Prince of Prohibition (Fae of the Roaring Age, #1)

by Marilyn Marks

I shook my head. “Are you the Devil?” He leaned in. Close, so close oak and rain and gunmetal washed over me, breathing across my lips. “For you, I’ll be so much fucking worse.”

“We call it a parallel bond. For all intents and purposes, it means we are soulmates.”

“And Addie?” My eyes flicked to his. Half his body already melted into the darkness of the hall. “My favorite nights have been spent listening to you talk about your family, or your flowers, what music you danced to that week or how awful your neighbors could be. When I told you I missed you each month, that wasn’t a deception.” He nodded. “Goodnight, Miss Colton.”

“Are you in possession of a single redeeming quality?” He actually considered it, eyes on the ceiling in thought. After a laborious minute, he decided on, “I’m rich and very attractive.” My face dropped into my palms. I dragged my fingers through my hair, breathing, “I’m supposed to have sex with you.” “Oh, I just remembered one other redeeming quality.” He dropped his feet from the table. “I have a massive—”

“If something happens to me, I swear I will haunt you for the rest of my days, Jack Warren.” He released a low sigh. “You already do.”

“I know what I can be. But part of me hoped if you saw a true monster, you would think me a little less of one.”

“Are you going to blackmail me again?” I blinked. “What? No.” He frowned. “Shame. That was a turn-on.”

“Long day at the office?” “No, had to stop for hookers and blow on the way home.” He fell into the chair beside me. “How were they?” “Terrible. None of them looked like you.”

“I thought you were the good guys?” His mouth tilted up in a smirk. “Oh, we’re all quite bad. It’s more fun that way.” Well . . . that was certainly a lot more of a turn-on than it should have been.

“You are unsettlingly beautiful tonight,” Jack whispered. The low words caressed my ears, sending heat down my spine. I wondered if he could sense my unease or if I was just too poor at masking my emotions. “I believe the word you are looking for is beguiling.” He grinned. “And I would have it no other way.”

“Would you like one?” I side-eyed him. “A royal companion?” He leaned in, leaving no space between our bodies. “A tiara.” Chills erupted on my skin, thoughts skittering to unholy places. “It would seem rather gaudy for a farmer.” “But you are not that anymore, annwyl. You are mine.” I pressed my lips together. “A mistress to the Prince of Prohibition?” He bent down, ever so slightly, human eyes scouring mine. Darkness pooled between us. Unyielding need. My breath hitched, muscles taut as he placed a breathless kiss to the corner of my lips. “A princess to the Prince of Prohibition.”

Stealing a calming breath, I opened the door. Jack stood silently in his best suit, clutching a bouquet of roses. “Miss Colton.”

He licked his lips, a foreign timidness edging his eyes. “I’d like to take you out on a date.” My eyebrows furrowed. “A date?” “Yes, and this is twofold.” He shifted, avoiding my heavy stare. “I am aware the situation with the bond and our . . . later duties to it aren’t particularly romantic. But that does not mean you do not deserve at least one normal human experience, so I’d like to attempt to—” He flourished his hand in the air, a nervous smile breaking free “—woo you.”

Snorting, I shook my head. “You don’t have to do that, Jack. We already said our apologies.” “That’s the second part. Believe it or not, I like you very much, Miss Colton.” He smiled. “So before we are eternally bound by fate and magic for our immortal lives, I would like to . . . date you.” His snake eyes flashed, smoothed back by glamour in a blink. His facade had cracked. He was genuinely nervous.

Really, nothing about it was normal, but the flowers, the knock on my door, the use of our family names, the way he squirmed like a teenager asking a pretty girl to dance . . . A smile tugged my lips. The man who just created crystal from thin air was nervous I’d turn him down.

The energy around us took me higher, filled my chest until I was practically floating on the ceiling. Jack couldn’t keep up, but that was fine. He leaned down, brushing his lips across my temple and told me he was sitting down, but he wanted me to keep dancing. That he loved to watch.

Jack smoothed back my hair, tucking an unruly strand behind my ear. “I knew it.” I beamed up at him. “Knew what?” The corner of his lips tugged up, a whisper of a grin. “That you would be the best one out there.”

“What was it you said? That we may love someone and still find them a stranger.” “Seems uncharacteristically poetic for me.”

He stepped closer and all the air whooshed out of my lungs. Heat curled beneath my skin as his expression turned humorless. “What?” I asked. He shook his head, slowly. His eyes touched places that made me burn. “Nothing, just admiring the sight of you in my clothes.” My mouth dried to a crisp. “Your clothes?” “Well, Lillian took them in.” He cocked his head to the side, something uncivilized roiling in his gaze. “In a lot of places, apparently.” I was suddenly aware of how loosely the trousers fit. Pink flushed me head to toe. “There seems to be no skill Lillian doesn’t possess.” His lips turned up and he offered me an arm. Our eyes met in the mirror and he winked. “Let me know if you need help out of them.”

Ouuuuuuuuuu

“Don’t fuck this up, human.” I slammed the drum into the Thompson. “No promises, demon.” She actually smiled at that.

Jack told me I would have to save myself. He was not a hero, no knight in shining armour, but I was no damsel in distress and that was okay. Because he was mine. He was mine and our bond was ours and I told him I could do this, so I would. I would climb. I would rise. I would believe in myself for once in my fucking life. I would not die here.

“I am drunk,” I declared. “Hello, drunk,” he murmured.

“And coming from a four-hundred-year-old man, I’d say that was quite the compliment.” He smirked. “Would you like more of them?” “I would, but you’re too old for me.” A pillow smacked me in the chest. I gasped, feigning shock, but his unruly grin had me bursting into giggles.

A lazy smile fell on me. “What do you like to do?” I hiccuped, pressing the back of my hand to my mouth. “Um, well. Definitely not the movies. I’ve never actually seen one—” I gasped as he wrenched my pillow away, rolling on top of me and pinning my arms to the floor. “You have never seen a movie?” “No—what are you doing?” I burst into a fit of alcohol-induced laughs as he rubbed his nose against mine. “Addie, I am four hundred fucking years old and I see a movie once a week. What the hell have you been doing with your life?” “I don’t know—oh god, you’re crushing me.” He pushed up, no longer flattened against my chest. “We are going to see one. Right now.”

Jack’s arm held tightly around my waist, his face entirely too close as he leaned in. “You lost your hat.” I turned, watching the red and white flowers tumble halfway down the block. “Oh, shoot. I suppose I’ll be improper tonight.” “That’s my favorite way to have you.” He nuzzled into my neck, kissed my cheekbone and pushed away. His hand slipped down my arm and wrapped around my fingers.

We watched the rest of the movie in silence. By the end I was practically in his lap, but he didn’t have a single complaint. In fact, after they showed several short advertisements—commercials, Jack explained—a comedy vignette about two brothers in a toy shop, and the second movie began, I tried returning to my seat. He held me firmly in place, one arm around my waist and the other stroking my hair. Halfway through the second film I realized he wasn’t watching at all, but noting all of my reactions with a smile on his face. So I laughed extra loud at all the jokes, gasped at the dramatic scenes and swooned when the two lovers finally kissed. If movies made him happy, then I would give them my full attention. He did that for me, watching me dance at the Cotton Club, so I’d do it for him too.

“I’m glad it was you,” I whispered. He nodded. “If you want, it can always be.”

Jack softened the kiss just enough to whisper, “You were all I ever wanted.”

“He loves you, daughter. He loves you so much. It is one of the most pure and endless things I have ever felt.” A trembling breath fell out of me. I turned to Jack. “You do?” He blinked, glancing at Estheria, then me. His lips pressed in a flat line, head dipped in a subtle nod.

“Annwyl?” I swallowed. “Yes?” “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

I sighed, making my way over to Jack and fell in his lap. His arm came around me immediately. “As long as you think there’s nothing to worry about for now.” To Jack I whispered, “Do I smell bad?” He breathed deep, nuzzling his cheek against my hair. “You smell so fucking good.”

Jack’s sharp eyes fell on the druid, who held his hands in a defensive position. I sighed, turning Jack’s face back to me. “Be polite.” He growled at me. Honest to god fucking growled. “I’m being very polite.” I narrowed my eyes. On the other side of the room, Violet coughed. “You two are fucking disgusting.” My lips cracked with a smile. Jack’s didn’t. His hand drifted across my face, snatching a lock of my hair and letting it drift through his fingers. “I told you I would keep you safe.” I laid my hand over his. “I know.” “Whatever you are, I love it very much,” he whispered. Warmth unfurled in my chest. I smiled.

“You know, you once told me we do terrible things for power, courageous things for hope, desperate things in fear, but we will do anything, absolutely anything for love.”