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He jerked his head up. A smile quivered his lips, as if he’d just thought about it too.
“Yes, it’s safe.”
“Please.” I held my breath.
He raised his hand to his hood, then pulled it back a little, just up to the middle of his forehead.
His eyes met mine in the mirror, and my heart all but stopped.
They weren’t black like the abyss or white-bright like the stars. They were gold, but their depth and shine could be easily compared to the stars. A slim vertical pupil cut the iris in the center. He had no eyelashes or eyebrows, but the tan color of his skin thickened to green-black along his brow ridges, with the barely discernible diamond pattern like on his hands.
Black color edged his eyelids, too, extending past the corner of the eye like winged eyeliner. It looked at once elegant and masculine. So beautiful, it made me think of the ancient Egyptian paintings.
His skin appeared to glow along his sharp cheekbones, on the straight ridge of his nose, and on the proud rise of his strong chin.
I recalled the glow that had surrounded Zeph, the siren, when he was still in Madame’s water tank. Or the faint shimmer that had emitted from Lero, the werewolf, as he was shifting from his beast form. The magic of the fae made them look ethereally beautiful.
“Your eyes are the same color as your hair,” he said softly, and I realized Kyllen had been studying me, too.
I tried to look at myself through his eyes. There was nothing magical in my weary expression. My skin seemed dull in comparison. Instead of a shimmer, I had dark circles under my eyes.
“Yes,” I released a breath. “Not much variation there.”
“It’s beautiful. So…unusual.” He slid a hand down the side of my face, then leaned to kiss my temple.
A thick curl dropped from under his hood. It hung in front of his face, reaching past his chin. Then it unfurled, stretching down to his chest.
I gaped at it, my eyes open wide, as the diamond-shaped tip of “the curl” lifted. I inhaled a shaky breath, met with a pair of golden, beady eyes staring at me in the mirror.
A snake!
Tan-colored on its belly, it had the dark-green mesh pattern on its back, with a golden shimmer along its spine. It slinked its split tongue out from its mouth, turning toward my exposed neck.
I stiffened, raising a shoulder to shield my neck.
“Sorry.” Kyllen caught my horrified expression in the mirror. “I tend to lose control around you.”
The snake promptly disappeared under his hood, as if someone yanked it back by its tail.
“Was that—”
“One of my senties. Did it scare you? Shock you? Repulse you, maybe?” he asked carefully. “Not all fae like gorgonian appearance.”
I got along well with the bird-snakes from Nerifir at the menagerie. They were three to four feet long, covered in feathers, and could fly. Earth snakes, however, were not my favorite animals. I once ended up spending several nights sleeping on top of a cargo trailer because the bracks had caught a rattlesnake in one of the tents.
But this wasn’t a snake, was it? It was a part of Kyllen…somehow.
I swallowed hard and managed a smile. “It surprised me. That’s all.”
Reaching back, I cradled his cheek in my hand. His eyelids dropped. A tender smile played on his lips as he leaned into my touch.
“Can I see it again, please?” I let go of his face, spreading my fingers wider. “You can touch me with it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. If it’s a part of you, it won’t harm me.” I truly believed that.
“As long as you don’t look straight at it,” he reminded me.
