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“Yes, but the urgency has left,” Ciaran replied. “It’s almost like an awareness of where she is at this moment.”

Kes considered this for a minute, for this described exactly the feeling he had, too – an awareness of where the nymph was at this very moment. The urgency he had felt all throughout the hunt had vanished as soon as he had placed her in the cage, though he had a hard time leaving her in the cage. He would have to come up with some excuse to bring her up to stay where he could keep an eye on her. He left her next to that raving lunatic, and for some reason the man’s proximity to the nymph drove him insane.

“Well that’s all fine and dandy, but it still does not explain your near revenant treatment of the human woman. Tenderness – that’s what you were giving her, Ciaran. You, the Prince of Darkness… tender.” Kes threw his head back, laughed at his cousin, and tried to be as convincing as possible.

He hoped mocking his cousin would not draw attention to the fact he felt the need to protect the nymph. Any other time, he would have delighted in the bloody torture and slow inventive murder of any member of the Day Court he caught sneaking about. It was an understanding between courts that one was fair game if caught, unless royalty. He had immediately sent her to the cage in order to gather himself before speaking with her. He had never been so happy for the silly wager he made with his cousin before the hunt. He planned to use it as the reason for keeping her alive, to make her demands.

Ciaran glared at Kes. “I hope I do not need to tell you the importance of keeping all of this to yourself? The council will already be asking questions about the nymph living in our dungeons. The last thing I need is for them to know I have a human sleeping in my chambers. Perhaps I can convince them I have taken a human pet. We will need to get ahead of this. I am already dealing with Royad shoving his daughter down my throat in his desire to see her become queen. The last thing I need is for Leona to see the human woman as a threat and cause her harm, until I can figure out who and what she is to me.”

“I agree, especially if the human is the key. If only we could tell the council of your dealings with the Many Faced Goddess and your curse. That bitch couldn’t have been more vague with her mutterings if she tried.”

The two sat in comfortable silence as they both considered everything they’d discussed. Kes loved a good puzzle, and this was the most challenging one he had ever been presented with.

“Cousin, if you will excuse me, I shall begin unraveling the story the nymph has given. It is weak at best. I shall move her cage temporarily to my quarters while I question her in an attempt to keep anything she says from traveling throughout the palace within a breath. As soon as I begin to piece the truth together, I shall report back to you.”

Ciaran studied him, and Kes wondered if he unwittingly showed his hand to his cousin. For some reason, the idea of leaving the wicked tongued nymph in the dungeon unsettled him. He hoped his reason for moving her came across as practical and not possessive. At last Ciaran nodded and Kes took his leave to the dungeons to collect his nymph. Yeah, he was definitely feeling possessive calling her “his.”

He ported to his own quarters again, snapped his fingers and brought the nymph and her cage to his lounge.

She startled and sat up. It looked like his nymph had been taking a nap. She still looked exhausted, and she was probably hungry and thirsty by now. He passed her a meal and some herbal water through the bars, then told her to get some rest. First night was quickly approaching and they would have much to do.

She didn’t say anything but she drank all of her water quickly, and he refilled her cup, watching as she ate and drank.

He sat on a couch to keep an eye on her, at least that was what he told himself as she stared angrily at him for a bit before curling back up in the nest she had created in the cage. Kes watched her for a while trying to figure out what spell she could’ve possibly placed on him before he fell asleep.

Six

Etainawokeslowlyina bed, and for a moment thought the whole thing had been a dream.No, she knew her sheets were not made of the finest silk, nor did her bed smell of the darkest night just before the snow falls with a touch of hearth fire.

Cautiously, Etain stilled her movements and calmed her heart to listen to her surroundings. Her mother had taught her never to trust a morning when you had no recollection of the night. Listening carefully, she could hear the very distant sounds of night creatures, suggesting she must have only been out for a short period of time.

Gently, Etain opened her eyes. Without moving her body, her eyes looked around and noticed the only light was from the moon sitting high and large in the night sky. It brightly illuminated most of the room. She was in a bed that had high posts of a dark near black wood and bed linens of dark blues and blacks. From what she could tell, all the room linens were in dark blues and blacks, and the woods of the darkest variety. It was hard to tell for sure, because the moon cast strong shadows as well.

It was those shadows she was inspecting when she noticed glowing golden irises floating up in a corner shadow across the room from where she was laying. She stared at the floating eyes. The floating eyes stared back for what felt like hours, but was truly only a few seconds at best before the floating eyes stepped forward and became attached to a face, and then a body. An unnaturally tall body.

Etain blinked a few times trying to comprehend what she was seeing. This male was no human. Not only was he incredibly tall, but his skin was dark blue; a dark blue giant of some kind.

As the male stepped out from the shadow, the moon illuminated his dark blue skin and his long, dark, oil slick hair. Every time he moved, his hair would change from black to blue, or green, or purple. It was beautiful, if Etain were being honest. In fact, he was quite beautiful – in a cruel and deadly way. She knew he was not human. If the blue skin and ever changing hair were not indicators enough, the pointed ears, elongated teeth, and his bat-like wingswere a dead giveaway. Etain had never seen a creature like the one standing across the room. She determined she must be in the Fae Realm.

She realized she had been thoroughly investigating the male – truly she had been staring – and darted her eyes back up to his. The fae male smirked his lips into a toothy grin that was too wide and showed far too many teeth to be natural, but it gave him an oddly seductive, if not menacing, appeal.

Her heart rate picked up as it all began to sink in. She felt she was entirely unprepared and overwhelmed. She was on the other side of the veil in a strange room, in a strange bed, and there was an exceedingly tall, blue, winged fae male prowling towards her. She knew she must be in danger, even though she had an odd feeling of being safe with this male. All the stories her mother had told her began to play in her head, and odd feelings or not, she was in danger.

Etain moved too fast for her brain to keep up. She scooted backwards out of the bed with limbs flailing, legs tangling in the bedding, and ungracefully deposited herself onto the floor. She landed hard on her rear and groaned while trying to untangle herself enough to stand. The fae moved so fast she couldn’t be quite sure if she had blacked out or if he could really move at such an impossible speed. She had to remind herself she was now in the Fae Realm. She would need to get used to the impossible, or she would make a fool out of herself gawking all the time.

“You move with the grace of a newborn fawn, Pet,” the stranger said in a silky low voice that seemed to reach into her very core as he bent down to help her remove herself from the tangled bedding.

Her skin tingled every time his skin touched hers, and she found herself gawking at him just like the fool she knew she would be.

She looked up into his eyes and that feeling of time stopping happened again, just as it had when their eyes locked as he stood in the shadows. Time rapidly started again when he quickly pulled her to her feet causing a dizzy spell. He gently grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

“The bath and necessities are through that door,” he said, pointing to the door directly behind her. “There will be a fresh set of clothes for you on the bed when you are finished. I will come and fetch you in an hour. Do not make me wait, little one.” He said it like someone who was used to having every order followed without question.

In the next blink he was gone, and she was left reeling. She realized she hadn’t said a single word to the male.

Ciaran shook from the thrill of the encounter with his tiny little human. He had been watching her sleep for a couple hours knowing she would wake soon. He had never been captivated by the gentle rise and fall of a body breathing before, and when she turned to her side and pulled her top knee up, the curves of her body became apparent. She was small even for a human woman but her curves were generous, and Ciaran had to restrain himself from taking her as she slept. He had this intense possessive feeling when it came to her, as if she were already his. The feeling was so strong, it had taken everything in him not to bellow the word“mine.”

He had not been able to keep the thought from cycling over and over while he watched her sleep. There was no way he, Prince Ciaran of the Night Court, descendant of the Morigan herself, could possibly ever have a human mate. Humans were incredibly fragile, and Ciaran was not known for being gentle, or taking good care of breakable things.

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