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I turned my hand, laced my fingers with Rogue’s despite the queasy fear that undermined my thoughts. “I have a proposition then.”
Rogue’s lips tightened into a thin line.
As I knew he would, Falcon pounced. “What deal do you offer me?”
Rogue continued to study me, shifted so his thumb stroked my palm, sending warm shivers through me. Somehow soothing, stimulating and threatening all at once. Down the table someone chastised Darling for sitting in their plate of food. He hissed in reply and the someone yelped, no doubt at a clawed paw-swipe.
“A twofer.”
Falcon’s eyes blazed with yellow lust. I could hear his thoughts spinning with glee. Rogue had gone still. Waiting. It was a form of trust, I supposed, that he didn’t stop me immediately for committing him to an unknown plan. Or the confidence that he could prevent that, with the least effort.
Keeping my thoughts as still and clear as possible, I crafted my phrasing.
“In exchange for my freedom, for a number of occasions, the exact number and duration to be determined in this negotiation, Rogue and I will work together to solve the problem posed for the specific battle. We shall arrive for those occasions and leave after they are complete.” Had I forgotten anything? Darling trotted up the table, urgently reminding me about his military career. “Oh, and Darling will also return, to participate in those select battles.”
Falcon looked suspicious. Rogue was downright steamed.
Only Darling seemed pleased with me, happily flopping himself into the empty soup bowl, which he overlapped so much that his head landed in Rogue’s plate, offering me his belly for rubbing.
Navy Man, Puck and Lady Strawberry proclaimed it an excellent deal and urged Falcon to accept it. Falcon chewed on a thick nail, frowning.
He wasn’t sure of the catch, I realized. I’d thrown a wrench into their careful choreography, altering whatever backroom deal they’d set up, and now Falcon suspected a trap. For his part, Rogue simply continued to stroke my palm with a sensual threat.
Well, hell. I’d tried to talk to him before it came to this. I widened my eyes and shrugged a little. A kind of apology, what-could-I-do sort of look.
“The deal is acceptable,” Falcon said, slowly, sounding it out, and the table broke into cheering and, in one case, a jig. “We shall establish—”
“A moment.” Rogue’s icy voice silenced the room. Even Darling stopped purring and opened one sleepy eye to keep it on the man holding my hand in an increasingly fierce grip. Would he disagree? Falcon already knew I’d introduced something new. Though he likely thought Rogue had coached me to do it. “I have something to add that I believe Lady Sorceress Gwynn neglected to mention.”
My blood ran cold at the look on his face. I’d pissed him off before, but not so much since our new level of intimacy. I suppose he hadn’t expected me to dig in on this point, with the humans.
“I will perform all magics. Not Lady Gwynn.”
I felt the frown knit my forehead. Why was that a big deal? On the surface it seemed just fine, but I hated feeling that I’d missed something here. Rogue released my hand and raised his to my earring, brushing my breast on the way up, making me catch my breath. The little clawed tendrils of the earring responded to the movement, sending another arousing tremor through me. Clouding my mind with desire.
“Agreed, my Gwynn?” Rogue purred, and the anger still seethed beneath the words, black and hot. “We decide together, but I perform the magic.”
I nodded, tearing my gaze from his compelling eyes.
The others dived into the negotiations with renewed vigor, listing potential battles, debating the relative glory to be gained from each, and all seemed genuinely thrilled to speculate on what Lord Rogue might bring, in the way of spectacular magic.
As for me, I’d gotten what I’d hoped for—the opportunity to protect the humans from being treated as disposable toys. And he’d agreed to help me with both of my quests. I hoped it wasn’t just cynicism in me that warned me that I’d just gotten exactly what I wished for.
Which never boded well.
Chapter 6
In Which I Am Magically Transformed into aConcubine
‡
Dragon’s blood appears to have anti-magical properties, to the point that at high concentrations it becomes repellent or toxic to magical beings. Humans, however, appear to beimmune.
~Big Book of Fairyland, “Objects with MagicalProperties”
The feast didindeed drag on for hours. That was one of the downsides of hanging around immortal fae types—they didn’t get tired, and what they find fun could be on a whole other level of excruciatingly boring. There were so many more interesting things I could be doing with my time than listening to the Mad Hatter crowd spin stories of potential battles and retell previous ones with utter disregard for what actually happened.
It says something about me that I took comfort in Rogue’s similarly seething restlessness. He had himself on a tight leash, speaking little and only occasionally fixing me with a molten blue gaze that revealed only that his anger hadn’t subsided. My neck started to feel stiff and sore from holding up the elaborate hairstyle, and a headache threatened at the base of my skull.
