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"Could you help a girl out?" Ace gestured toward the dress, the skirt taking up half the couch.
"Sure." He held his hand out toward her letting it hover, but not touch, her thigh. His lashes brushed his high cheekbones as he closed his eyes and concentrated.
Ace's skin tingled as magic ran over her. The dress melted, giving way to black pants, a black sleeveless top, and even boots. She stared down at the clothes, exactly what she'd worn before except now everything actually fit her. Even the boots. She fiddled with a small hole in the shirt and glanced at the scuff on the boots.
"It's all a part of your look," Shelby reminded her with a small smile, settling his hands in his lap.
Ace chuckled and went back to staring at the flames. Fae were back in Pasia. Somewhere near them too. Would they be able to infect her with the Impelling?
Would one know if they’d been infected? In the past, if the guards took someone in who was infected that person was always frantic. That could just be because they knew what the queen had in store for them. Ace frowned as she realized she didn’t even know the symptoms of Impelling unless someone was acting incredibly out of character. That was how they knew her parents had been infected before they passed.
"Goodnight, you two," his grandma called from the corner.
"Goodnight, love you," Shelby said over his shoulder.
"Goodnight," Ace whispered, pulling her legs up onto the couch. She was careful to make sure she didn't bring herself to touch Shelby.
After a few minutes of quiet, Shelby spoke first. "You know, I was thinking about you on the walk home today."
Ace's stomach erupted with unruly butterflies. She wanted to shush them but when she looked back at Shelby she didn't want to punch him in his big square jaw near as much as yesterday. Not when there were more pleasant things they could do together now…
"You were thinking about me, huh?" She gave him her best smirk.
Shelby rolled his eyes. "I was thinking that it would be good for you to spend time with the witches. They could teach you not to be so vile. Maybe you could learn a few manners."
A hand fluttered up to hold her heart. "Are you calling me vile," she lowered her voice, "because I said the worddickthat one time?"
Shelby shushed her, looking over his shoulder toward his grandmother. Ace chuckled under her breath."As if your grandma doesn't know what a penis is!" she said, then added. "You exist."
"Can we not talk about that right now?" Shelby whispered.
Ace curled onto the arm of the couch, watching him with an evil grin. "We can't talk about penises? I thought you were hooking up with some servant girl back at the castle?"
"So what if I was?"
"I'm saying if you were you wouldn't be so bashful about a body partyouown."
"Are you saying that I wasn't?" He balanced an arm on the back of the couch.
"Were you?"
"That's not any of your business." And to his credit, he held Ace's stare.
It wasn't any of her business so Ace decided to let it go. They'd only shared a kiss and it wasn't even one that Shelby actually wanted to take part in. So she changed the subject.
"So tell me about the witches."
"The witches are just like my grandma. Amazing housekeepers, cooks, wise teachers, and great pillars of support for their husbands." Ace snorted at that but Shelby kept going. "We've been enslaved by the Fae for thousands of years, making them grimoires like we make the queens to make up for the magic they don't have. The women have gotten good at hiding their magic and we've never told anyone any different."
"So what's with the witches that are imprisoned?" He'd said something about that the other night. Something about it requiring a lot of blood to free them.
He sat so silently for a minute, still and stiff, Ace didn't think he would answer.
"We've had small towns that we kept hidden from the Fae. They were cloaked with heavy spells. I grew up in one of those towns. It was the only place we could be free." His throat bobbed as he swallowed. "The Fae were slowly finding them though, even with the spells. Probably with thehelpof warlocks they tortured.
We caught wind of rumors that the Fae were heading for our town and my mother, she was scared. The Fae took the males and often raped and killed our females. Truly horrific creatures. My father wanted to stay and fight while my mother wanted to flee.
She took me in the dead of night wanting to come here. My grandma has always lived outside of our cities. We made it but my grandma wasn't here." He looked back at her and she didn't move. "The Fae were."
