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No one had heard of my sister or of a beast fae male abducting a wood fae. To my surprise, the dark fae I’d met on my few trips were kind and courteous, if a little wary.
So I wasn’t nervous about entering The Black Boar, even in the company of a shadow fae who were rarely, if ever, seen in these parts. He was the first of his kind I’d ever encountered. I wondered if they were all as magnificent as him.
He ushered me inside and to a booth in the corner, facing the window. In the rest of the tavern, there was only a wraith fae couple—both two-horned and dressed in well-made, homespun clothes. The male watched us with a curious expression but returned to his meal when Vallon pointedly glared at him.
After we settled into opposite seats, the table between us, I gave him an exasperated look.
“What?” he snapped.
“You don’t have to stare at him so angrily. He has done nothing to you.”
“That’s correct. And now he knows to stay out of my way.”
“Why would he bother you at all?”
He exhaled heavily and leaned forward, speaking low. “Because my kind aren’t liked by the other dark fae, much less any Lumerians we come across.”
“Why don’t they like you?”
“Because we keep to ourselves and defend our mountains at all costs. It’s created several altercations in the past. And a war or two.”
“Oh, just a war or two, that’s not so bad.”
His glacial expression didn’t crack at my teasing sarcasm.
“Why are you protecting the mountains?” I asked him.
“We’ve always protected the mountains.” His voice had dropped deeper.
“That’s not an answer,” I snapped back.
Our gazes held. His jaw was clamped tight as he refused to tell me what he was hiding.
Finally, I broke the tension-laced silence. “If you’re so concerned about being attacked, why not change your appearance? Maybe back to that handsome Issosian guard you mimicked last night?”
His expression hardened further, and when he leaned across the table, his clawed fingers clasped in a forced relaxed posture, his voice had darkened to a dangerous level. “You found him handsome, did you?”
“Of course, I did.”
But not nearly as handsome as you.
“Is that what you’re attracted to?” He sneered. “Soft-faced golden boys?”
I blinked at him, speechless, for I was positively sure his anger was jealousy.
I’d always been the biddable, good daughter. Always trying to make up for the deficiencies of my birth, hoping that if I were good enough, Papa might finally love me. That someone might love me beyond Tessa.
But something had changed yesterday. When Papa had gambled me away like I was nothing more than a piece of property he was readily willing to lose, a crack opened up inside of me. Rather than fall into the deep abyss, it opened wide a new door, a new world. One where I didn’t need to be the good daughter anymore.
Then this stranger had appeared and whisked me away from all that I knew, changed me into strange clothes, and in telling me the truth, gave me back not only my mother, but my father. They had loved each other, and they had loved me.
The Murgha sitting across from the fuming shadow fae was not the meek girl I had been before. A tendril of heat andexcitement threaded through my belly at the angry dark fae staring at me as if he truly wanted to eat me alive.
I should be shaking with fear, but the shiver that skated down my spine had nothing at all to do with fear. It was thick, sweet desire. And I wanted more of it. So I did the only thing I could do. I teased him.
“The Issosian you transformed into was undeniably attractive. Do you know him? Is he someone you might introduce me to?”
“He is no one. Someone I met in my travels. And you willnevermeet him.”
