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“Beatrice brought me a book.” I stroked the cover again. I wasn’t prepared to open it yet, and certainly not here.
“I see . . .” He sat beside me. “Alice had this sent by courier.”
The hot pink canteen he handed me looked more practical than I would typically have thought of when thinking of Alice, but when I opened it, I recognized the scent. I’d already begun to be able to tell the owner of cocktail by the scent. My body had changed.
A server brought us both mugs of what appeared to be tea for Eli and vodka for me. It made a weird sense. Alice’s blood worked well with clear liquor; Eli’s was more suited to whisky.
I poured a generous shot from my hot pink canteen into my mug of vodka. I tossed the whole thing back and looked at him. “I am ready to claim the request at the end of our bargain.”
“It’s still December and—”
“I know.” I stared at him, and I saw the anxiety there. Did he doubt me so much that he thought I would give up what we shared? I wasn’t easy to love, but I suspected he loved me. I wasn’t going to lose that.
Carefully, I explained, “I’m already exhausted. I feel like there are disasters at every turn, and faery bargains are hard, so I want to do this while IthinkI can say it right.”
“Geneviève, please, don’t—"
“I do not forsake you,” I said. “I do not agree to enter a marriageon that date.By the terms of this bargain, I can make a request. Eli of Stonehaven, my request of you is that the courtship we have begun here continue until such time as we both agree that marriage must and should happen. To each other or you to another.”
He was smiling as he took my hand. “At this time, I understand that you will not release me from my pledge to you, but neither will you enter marriage.”
“This is my request.”
“And so the rules of courtship shall continue between us, and you have willingly entered this courtship with me,” Eli added.
“I have.”
“Your request is granted, Geneviève Crowe,” Eli whispered. “My betrothed.”
“So, mote it be.”
Somehow, it felt as if nothing and everything had changed. We were still engaged, and I was still masquerading as a viable partner, but by way of a faery bargain we had secured a modification to that betrothal that not even the king could overrule.
It wasn’t perfect, but the holiday season had turned out far better than ever I had hoped. Sure, there were more gatherings, bleeding out, and the addition of blood martinis to my diet, but all said, it wasn’t terrible.
“I’m fairly sure that courtship includes kissing,” I teased. “There’s even mistletoe over the doorway.”
“We’re nowhere near that doorway.” Eli was smiling when he leaned in to kiss me, though, and everything felt just about perfect in that moment.
Death threats,draugr, and drama with relatives were undoubtedly in our future, but for today, I’d enjoy my blood martini and mistletoe kisses.
