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It was unfamiliar, yet a deeper part of me, the one I kept silenced and locked away, yearned for that. Yearned to be cared for.
After years of being my mother’s caretaker, I’d grown used to shouldering heavy burdens and taking care of myself. I didn’t know how to process these strange, abhorrent feelings. There was no place for them. These trials demanded my attention—coiled around my neck, suffocating me with each passing day. However, it was getting harder and harder to resist the temptation that was Talon and not find solace in those rough hands.
Something clattered against the window, once, twice, breaking my train of thought.
I straightened in my chair. It was well past midnight—what could that be at this time of night? Surely it couldn’t be an animal. Curiosity, not fear, had me setting the stick of charcoal down and craning my neck toward the window.
It almost sounded like pebbles.
Three repetitive taps followed, and I jumped to my feet, needing to satiate my interest.
I cupped my hands against the dark glass, my chest swirling with anticipation when I spotted Talon on the courtyard below holding a large brown bag in his hand. He flicked his chin up, using his index to motion for me to meet him outside.
My brows furrowed, wondering what he was doing out this late or why he wanted me to come outside. Training, perhaps? No, not at this hour. Not when there was a trial tomorrow. Surely, there had to be a good reason.
I hopped away from the window and changed into my training attire, tossing my sleep shirt on the bed. Using my hair as a curtain to conceal my face, I tiptoed down the corridor, shying away from the candelabra’s light to avoid being seen. Not that anyone else was awake. Even the castle yawned, its foundation creaking and moaning like it was deep in slumber.
Guilt mixed with excitement as I took the maids’ staircase to the grand room, slipping out the servant’s door into the glowing courtyard.
My mother’s life was in jeopardy. My life was in jeopardy, and I had the audacity to bubble with eagerness to see the same fae I wanted to strangle just days ago? Not only was it implausible, but the Iron Accords forbade it. Not that I wanted to be with him.
I did, however, want to run my hands through his hair to see if it was as soft as I remembered it on my cheek. And I did want to lean a little closer to scent him at an impossibly intimate proximity.
I groaned. This would be so much easier if Talon smelled like molded cheese. I envied Breana—maybe.
“Took you long enough.” Talon extended the bag to me, teakwood and something I couldn’t put my finger on rolled off him, blending into the balmy night air. “This was getting cold.”
“What is it?” The inflection in my tone was hard to miss as I opened the paper bag and shuffled through the contents. “Oh, it smells amazing.” There was a breaded chicken thigh, seasoned diced potatoes, and a slice of apple pie. My mouth watered, and I frowned, realizing how painfully starved I was for actual food.
Talon chuckled. It was an unusual sight, shy almost, and my skin burned from his gaze as he strolled backward toward the lake. “I was at The White Oak tonight having a few drinks when I got to thinking. That garbage the king feeds you isn’t enough to sustain you. Not with the training I have you do. So…” He pointed to the bag.
‘The White Oak. The woodland nymphs will be there.’
I didn’t know why, but knowing Talon thought of me while surrounded by other beautiful, ethereal beings warmed my cheeks.
“Believe it or not, I’m not a completely barbaric son of a bitch.” He flopped onto the grass, resting his forearms on his knees, and I took the spot beside him.
Cloves!
That unfamiliar scent I couldn’t put my finger on. It was cloves.
He’d been drinking. His face was flushed, his shoulders relaxed. I’d never seen him so casual.
“I’ve been around a while. My mother and sister would have my ass if they knew I wasn’t being hospitable.” He leaned back on his hands; the knotted muscles in his arms rippled under his uniform.
Talon’s sudden transparency surprised me. I knew it was because of the ale, but if I were being honest, I enjoyed seeing this side of him. A regular person—fae—in his element, soaking up the moonlight. His sharp features cut through the shadows like a knife.
If I was being honest, I hadn’t given his personal life much thought. It was hard to think anyone, myself included, had lives and interests that stretched beyond this castle. Beyond the trials. Being trapped here made it easy to be self-absorbed in my misery. But the consequences of thinking about them, those we left behind, became too much of a distraction to indulge in.
Talon didn’t seem like the type to have a sister, though. The thought of them putting him in his place had me forcing back a smile as I took a bite out of the chicken thigh. “How long’s a while?”
Talon pondered it, as if he was doing the math in his head. “Well, I’m twenty-three?—”
I released a spat of air. “That’s not a long time.”
“Right, but a year for us is equivalent to five for you. I think that’d put me about a hundred and fifteen in human years?”
I humphed my surprise, imagining what he’d seen and experienced in that amount of time. “Oh damn, you’re ancient then!”
