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The corner of my mouth curved up in a smile. I already pitied the man who tried to take a single thing from Eadaoin. Even if it was just the bread roll off her plate.
“It is a long, lonely, bitter life to be cut off from love, sex, friends, companionship, family. All those things would be lost if we became a society like yours.” She squeezed my arm. “All those things are lost in your society.”
I was quiet for a spell. “I agree with you completely, Eadaoin. It just amazes me... that Alisdair does too.”
Thump.
I spun around, brows crumpling.
Thump.
“What was that?”
“What?” Eadaoin asked.
“Didn’t you hear that?” I took a step. “It sounded like a thump or a thud or something.”
“I’ve been hearing lots of thumps and thuds on the other side of these doors.”
I tipped my head. “Very true.” Crossing to a window, I gazed out over the ice and snow. “Anyway, back to what you were saying. Does that mean you don’t want the curse on Lumenfell to be broken?” I said it out loud, and was thankful I did. As long as I could speak of the beast curse, it hadn’t taken me. “You don’t want to rejoin the Elvan nation, and be a summer fae again?”
She blew out a breath. “If it means having my magic bound, my title stripped, and my future ripped away so that I can become aforcedsexual companion—fuck no.”
I snorted a laugh.
“But.”
“But?” I asked.
“But... if we could keep our land and our freedom, then I think I would like”—she touched her face—“to be beautiful again.”
“Oh, Eadaoin, you are beautiful.”
She flushed red under her fur. “Thank you, Lady Ana.”
A wandering hand grasped my backside.
“Not that beautiful!” I swatted her away. “Behave yourself, you saucy minx.”
She burst out giggling, which set me off too.
We continued our walk, lapsing into conversation like old friends. Eadaoin told me of her childhood growing up in Lumenfell. Or I should say, what became of her childhood after the village that used to exist a few miles away was consumed by the curse.
I told her of the childhood that wasn’t mine—the words falling easily without me having to strain to recall. It was getting easier and easier for me to access Emiana’s memories. What did that mean for me? When would it get harder for me to access my own? And would I even realize when it did?
“Oh,” Eadaoin cried out, running ahead in the sandstone hallway. “I can’t forget. This is the commander’s barracks. If you’re ever searching for Foalan, you’ll find him here or in the training yard.” She tapped her ear. “Although, he is a wolf, so yell loud enough, and he’ll find you.”
“Good to know, thank you.”
Eadaoin tipped her head. “He’s in right now. Let’s say hello.”
“Oh, no, we can do that some other—”
She threw open the door, revealing the activities on the other side before I had a chance to close my eyes. I guessed the activities on the other side, and I still wasn’t prepared.
Foalan was lashed to the bed with so many ropes, I didn’t know where he ended and the hemp began. Two naked bird faeriken stood over his ass, whipping it with riding crops.
Foalan saw me and smiled through the gag. “Hmm. Hmh phff nnm—”
