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“Not at all. I believed you’d bring Jim back.” And I did. I knew that Rys would do it because he told me he would. “You did.”
“A little worse for the wear,” Rys admits. “When Nine and I slipped into the prison, we pretended I was a vagrant prisoner, that Nine was a new Unseelie guard come to throw me in a cell. It didn’t take long for us to find where they placed your human. At least three guards were taking turns with the diamaint, trying to get him to agree to the touch. He’s strong, Leannán. Stronger than I gave him credit for. He didn’t break. He’ll survive this, though he might scar.”
I turn slightly, looking over my shoulder so that I’m meeting his eyes. “I’ve never minded any scars.”
If my goal was to make him smile, I fail. Miserably. Rys looks way too thoughtful to find any kind of humor in my flirting.
I sigh. “Okay. I guess we should talk about this.”
“Mm.”
First things first. “Can we bring him back?”
“Back where, darling?”
Darling… I want to be his ‘darling’ so bad. And I notice that he doesn’t ask me who I mean. It’s obvious.
“He hasn’t had any faerie food. He can go back to the human world. He doesn’t need to be mixed up in this.”
“I wish I could tell you that he isn’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
After a moment’s hesitation that seems super heavy for some reason, Rys drops his hands to my hips. As strong as I remember, he lifts me easily, twisting me so that I’m still sitting on him, but now I’m actually facing him.
Following his cue, I split my legs, straddling him. I put my arms on his shoulders.
It’s our pose. Our position. Whenever he was giving me permission to touch him, he would sit just like this, inviting me to climb on top of him. And though I know he can’t possibly mean for this to lead where it usually does, I take total advantage of this situation, scooting as close to him as I can while still being able to look up at his face.
I’m waiting.
It’s Rys’s turn to sigh. “Before we started out for the Unseelie Court, I went to see Oberon. You know that. I tried to convince the Summer King that I could take this trial on my own. At least, even if the Shadow and her mate had to come with me, I wanted you to stay back at my home. I thought it would be too dangerous for a human”—thankfully, Rys has the good grace not to say I told you so—“and I didn’t want to risk you. But he said no. You had to be here.”
“I wish you weren’t so unhappy about that,” I whisper.
He lifts his hand, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. Is it a coincidence that it’s one of the teal streaks that’s really begun to grow out? He used to be so entranced by the blue hair when we were in Siúcra, which… kind of makes sense now that I know about his prophecy.
“I’m not. If I could have you by my side always, I’d forever be content. But not if anything can happen to you. What if Dusk found you before we did? What if he caught you when you were lurking outside of Samradh and we were still working on freeing your human?”
I wince. “You know about that?”
“I could sense you as soon as you drew close to the prison. Nine was even more aware of Riley’s shadows. Why do you think the alarm went off when it did? Or we were chased by so many guards? Instead of sneaking Jim out, we grabbed him as soon as we could and made a run for it.”
You know, I thought it was weird how that all seemed to happen when we were there. Now I feel even worse that it was because of us. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You were worried for your human. And you should be.” Rys’s tone goes flat. “Oberon didn’t just agree that he should join this mission. He insisted on it. He said that, like you, Jim would have his part to play before we were done. It’s been fated.”
I can’t even begin to imagine why that could be. But, if Rys believes that the Summer King is right, that fate’s controlling Jim, too, then there’s no sending him right back to the Iron, is there?
I shimmy closer. As I do, I notice the hard bulge underneath me. Can’t miss it, actually.
Oh.
Oh.
My voice comes out a little breathy as I confess, “I wasn’t only worried about him. When you rode off on that horse… you were all I was
thinking about.”
