letting his words settle into my skin. Everything he did was thought out---planned to the very last detail.
He slipped out of his dirty shirt, letting it fall to the floor before removing his trousers. He left his clothes in a pile, leaving
him in only his undergarments. Heat filled my cheeks, spreading down my neck and chest as he stepped behind a privacy screen
to dress. I involuntarily clenched my thighs together, squeezing my eyes shut while I tried to steady my breathing.
“Your father and mine made a deal a long time ago. One about peace and keeping with the treaty. We Shadow Fae were
forbidden to venture into your lands, and you into ours. Unless, we were invited in.” He stepped out dressed in a midnight blue
shirt and similar trousers as he wore before. “You invited me. You’d been arguing with your brother, Norok, over something
small. I was wandering the border of your lands when I heard you crying.”
“I did no such thing!” I hissed defensively.
“I was just a boy back then, as were you just a young girl. I had recently discovered my powers—where I could appear
anywhere. I didn’t mean to arrive in your lands, but when no one came to capture me, I stayed and would visit often.”
He rolled up his sleeves, drawing my attention to his strong forearms. The corded muscles flexed as his fingers worked on
folding his sleeves into place. My attention stayed fixed on those very muscles even when he moved to a table. He lifted a
bottle of wine, pouring two glasses.
He smirked, holding one out for me to take. “You asked if we could be friends. When I explained I could not come into your
woodland, you invited me.”
“I don’t remember any of this,” I said, taking the glass from his hand.
“Of course you don’t, I removed these memories from you once I became king to protect myself and my people.”
“What?” I mumbled, in shock.
My mind began to run in circles, unsure of where or when any of this was. I had a distant inkling of fighting with Norok all
the time, but it never lasted. We would always make friends a day or two later. I didn’t remember meeting a boy in the woods.
“When your uncle…” he trailed off, a small growl emitting from his throat. “After that, you begged for me to take it all
away. You didn’t want to remember anything. I took yourbadmemories away. However, when I became king, I had to take
away those of our time together.”
“H-how long have we…we know each other?” My voice broke as the realisation hit me all at once.
“Since you were six.”
“And how old are you now? How old were you when you became king?”
“I recently celebrated my twenty-eighth birthday,” he confessed, his eyes locking with mine as he sat next to me.
A relieved sigh escaped my lips. I was expecting him to tell me he was over a hundred years old. I was grateful that it was
only six years between us.
