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Yeah? Well, that makes two of us.
12
The guards notice that something is different right away.
It doesn’t matter that Rys was right and nobody came by to patrol our wing last night. The next morning, when two Seelie guards come through, they immediately stop outside of our cell and, after some murmuring between the two of them, they say something to Rys in a lovely-sounding language that, from the disgusted looks on their faces, isn’t as nice as I’d like to think.
I try to convince myself that it doesn’t have anything to do with me. By the time the first patrol comes through, we’re both completely dressed and the cot is empty. They don’t know what we did in that bed or that we slept in it together.
At least, I didn’t think so. Then, after about ten other guards make their way past our cell, all of them examining me before pointedly addressing Rys in that other language, I have to admit that something’s up.
I wait until the latest gawkers leave before turning on Rys. “Okay. ‘Fess up. They know what we did, don’t they?”
Rys doesn’t deny it. In fact, he looks proud. “Yes.”
“How?” Considering he’s kept quiet no matter what taunts they throw at him, I know Rys isn’t gossiping. A belated thought pops into my head. I’m so rattled that, for a second, I forget where I am. “Are there cameras in here?’
“Cameras? In Faerie? No, my dear. And they’re not scrying, either. That’s the one good thing about the iron bars. It steals my magic, but it prevents the guards from spying. They leave that to Siúcra.”
I don’t even ask. It’s not the first time I’ve heard someone talk like Siúcra is a person and not just a prison. After being in here for so long, I’m used to it.
“Then how do they know?”
“Simple. You wear my brand on your skin.”
“What?”
“It’s like the paint on your side,” he explains, “only when you’ve been touched by a fae, it leaves a mark that only another fae can see.”
“So now I’m branded.” Lovely. “Okay. So what does that mean?”
“I can find you. I’ll always know where you are.”
That doesn’t sound so bad.
“Is that all? ‘Cause, I mean, those guys are staring at us like we belong in a sideshow. I don’t get it. Shouldn’t they have seen it yesterday morning when they let us out of the oubliette?”
“Last night’s touch was different,” Rys says evasively.
No shit. “Let me guess. And there’s something different in the way my brand looks this morning, huh?”
It takes him a few seconds before he realizes that I’m not just about to drop this. “Fine. You want me to tell you? When the other fae look at you, they see a human that I’ve claimed as mine. There. Now you know.”
My mouth drops open. Oh no he didn’t.
I thought he was kidding with that mine bullshit last night. You know. Like it was one of those things guys say in the heat of the moment. Jim never did, but I thought that was just Jim.
I should’ve remembered that the fae are different than human men. They don’t make love. They possess.
And I let him.
Rys only adds insult to injury when he goes on to say, “Don’t be concerned. Not as my mate or anything like that. Just as my—”
“Pet.”
“You’re human. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face. I blink, stunned, then shake my head. “Wow. You’re a real piece of work, aren’t you?”
