I arch an eyebrow and slowly look over my shoulder at him. “Seriously?”
“He was going to touch you.” The glacial rage in his eyes has mine widening.
“Right, because that’s the mature response.”
Halden sucks in a breath, then another. “Quite. All. Right.”
“It wasn’t a response, it was… It simply was.” Xaden crouches behind me as Halden pushes himself to sit upright. “Let’s get three things straight, Your Highness. First, I have remarkable hearing thanks to the shadows at your very feet. Second, I don’t control Violet. Never have. Never will. But third, and most importantly—” He lowers his voice. “She really, honestly hasn’t thought about you. At least not since the second she set eyes on me.”