Page 89 of Fae Farewells

“Yes, but when’s the last time you swam here?”

He furrowed his brows, shaking his head. “We didn’t swim here, Princess. We went fishing. There are predators hiding in the waterways of the fae realm. They can access this pool just as easily as we can.”

“Bigger predators than us?”

“Not today.”

“But on Tuesdays, yeah?” I sassed. “Or maybe Thursdays?”

“Smartass.”

I shot him a smirk before I dipped my head under the water, opening my eyes to watch the fish pass us by. As I turned to track them, I saw a thin current of shimming magic from my peripheral. I twisted in the direction it came from, and it vanished, but there was a small cave entrance there.

I resurfaced, waggling my brows at him. “Found it.”

“What?” He looked around. “Where?”

“I think. Don’t get excited yet,” I cautioned. “There’s a hole over there, under the water, and I saw the shimmer of magic flowing out of it.”

“That sounds like a horror movie in the making,” he muttered.

I scoffed. “Scared to follow me into another dark cave, Fae?”

“No. But I know what kind of monsters swim in these waters,” he warned.

“We’re the monsters today,” I murmured. “Let’s have a look.”

Vaughn took a deep breath before he swam toward the cave entrance. I rolled my eyes. He wasn’t human... And he could live without breath for... well, forever since we sealed our bond. It was the first few minutes that really hurt like a bitch. Especially when you were so used to breathing all the time. But habits could be broken.

He stopped at the hole, gripping the side of the rock as he peered inside. I pushed straight through without a care. If there was something big enough to eat me in this cave, I wanted to know what it was. And then I wanted to find it a new meal, so I could become friends with it.

Maybe those hookers.

Vaughn squeezed through behind me. I knew he had to be uncomfortable, because the tunnel barely had space for me to push out my elbows without bumping the walls. When we finally made it out of the passage to flat ground, his shoulders were covered in pink healing skin from where they’d been scrapped.

That wasn’t what had my attention, though.

He was a stunning creature, but I couldn’t think of a single time he’d looked more tempting than he did right then. Stark naked, steel blue skin on display with his messy wet hair... and a crown on his head.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” he asked curiously.

“You look delicious.”

“You’re not the monster I was referring to. You can’t eat me.”

“Mmm, maybe. Maybe not.” I shrugged. “I could swallow you, drink you dry.”

He snorted. “Here and now? Or do you want to follow the magic?”

“You feel it now?” I inquired, sniffing the stuffy air for anything unusual.

“Yes. There’s old fae magic here, but it’s mixed with something I don’t recognize.”

“Which way?” I demanded, holding my hands out as I bounced them. “Left or right? Not gonna lie, the right side seems a little creepy. So, naturally, I want to go that way.”

He cut his eyes at me.

I shrugged. “What? I’m just saying, if we do find a monster, it’ll be that way.”