Page 28

“And?” I ask, caught off guard by the sudden shift in conversation.

“I’ve heard about you and your preferences in bed partners.” She wrinkles her nose. “Avaline once told me you rejected one of her friends by saying non-fae lovers are beneath you.”

“And?” I repeat, sharper this time.

“If my kind is so far beneath you, why would I help yours?” she asks. “Why haven’t you sought out fae who are attuned to nature?”

“Because there isn’t anyone with your particular set of skills.” Her brows lift at that, but I hastily add, “And just so we’re clear, I’ve bedded all kinds of female creatures, little witch. Preferring fae doesn’t make me prejudiced, so don’t take it personally that I won’t want to fuck you.”

“I’ve been without a lover for centuries, boy-king.” My jaw clenches at this new pet name, and her eyes alight at knowing she’s pressed one of my polished buttons. “If I ever decide to fuck again, it won’t be someone with a reputation as grating as yours. No matter how pretty you are.”

“So you think I’m pretty?”

“I found Death pretty too, and I still wanted to flee from her clutches.”

I suck my teeth as she plucks an apple from the bowl in the center of the table and brings it to her lips. There’s a traitorous tingling in my balls as I watch her bite into it and moan.

“What sort of apple is this?” she asks. “It’s so crisp and sweet.”

“A glimmerleaf. They’re native to the Fae Isles.”

A staff member hastens into the room with a fresh meal, and Gwyn brightens at the sight. She snatches up a bun drizzled in caramel and devours it in two generous bites, humming her approval the entire time.

My cock twitches.

“You know…” I clear my throat. “I would’ve thought someone who has been isolated for centuries would be far more timid around others. But even before you mentioned our power imbalance, you didn’t seem hesitant to voice your thoughts or feelings.”

Her tongue darts out to lick some caramel from the corner of her mouth, and I have to readjust the way I’m sitting in my godsdamned chair because for some unholy reason, her pleasure in fae foods is turning me on.

The back of my neck sizzles, spurring forth a lick of pain.

“The docile part of me,” she says, popping a piece of melon in her mouth, “died a very long time ago.”

“When you abandoned your coven?”

All the joy the food has brought her vanishes in an instant.

“It’s past dawn.” She pushes away from the table. “If the blight’s spread is as far as you claim, we’d best get moving.”

Chapter 9

GWYN

When you abandoned your coven?

His question turned the food I had been devouring to ash.

I did not abandon my coven.

They abandoned me the moment they took my life.

And they abandoned me again when they forced me to resurrect that poor girl over and over and⁠—

I stop the thought immediately, refusing to give that spiral even a breath of space. If I go down that path in my long, long memory, it will take hold and never let go.

No. I keep that one buried for a reason.

I cannot think of her, of what we did to her.