Page 44 of My Fae Lady

“Yes, well, I can’t sleep in shirt and trousers. And if you hadn’t come over here, you never would have known.”

But now I did know, and I couldn’t wipe the knowledge from my mind. I could at least dismiss my faelight. In the darkness, I crawled to the far side of the bed, going right up until my hand hit the wall. Then I pulled off everything except my chemise and burrowed under the blankets once more. “At least this bed is huge.”

“Don’t.”

I wasn’t sure what Sylvan was ordering me not to do. While I tried to work it out, my mouth kept going, finishing my earlier thought. “Even if we roll over all night, we won’t bump into each other.”

Sylvan groaned, and I finally understood his warning. But it was too late. My words had already alerted House that just putting the room’s walls at the edges of the bed didn’t actually force us together. The bed began to shrink, the space between us vanishing, the walls contracting with it. The bed continued to get narrower right up until it was the width of Sylvan’s shoulders. I had ended up splayed atop him, as it was my side that had moved, only my chemise and a fold of blanket between us.

My hand pressed against Sylvan’s chest, my legs tangled with his, and I hardly dared to breathe.

“You face your wall,” he gritted out, “and I’ll face mine.”

He turned on his side, and I rolled off him, facing the wall, my back pressed to his, my chemise doing nothing to shield me from the heat of his body. I clenched my eyes shut and tried as hard as I could not to wonder if the fold of blanket was still between our lower bodies, or if that had shifted too.

Eventually, I slept.

Seventeen

Sylvan

⊱❀⊰

I awoke to Giselle rustling the blankets, bathed in morning sun from the window that had taken a ceiling position in the night.

“Oh, thank the light,” she mumbled as she hurried out of the bed before House could change its mind.

My room had returned to its usual width and size, and the door had reappeared, though most of the furniture remained missing. She scooped up her corset and dress and was able to cross the threshold, disappearing from view without closing the chamber door behind her.

I couldn’t agree more with her eagerness to escape. As the bed and blankets continued to change and shrink around us randomly during the night, we’d had no choice but to squeeze together, nose to nose. I’d never slept so stiffly in my life, afraid to move and accidentally prod her with the evidence of exactly how her closeness, her scent of fresh snow and winter pines, and the softness of her skin was affecting my body. The sheerness of her chemise and the untamed marvel of her long hair down her back bathed in moonlight didn’t help things one iota.

My misbehaving mind brought to memory our kiss from the night before, and I groaned into my pillow. It was a complication that I found her attractive. A complication made so much worse by her body responding to mine in that moment of undone bargain turned to passion.

House was apparently feeling less insubordinate this morning, because it procured my luggage chest for me, the one the fae brat had dragged through the forest the evening before. I opened it cautiously, checking the lock for hints of a trick, but I felt nothing sinister there or in the latches.

When I lifted the lid, a wrinkly, hissing kobold leapt out at me from between the fabrics, teeth bared and claws extended toward my throat. The creature wore my silk cravat around his head like a kerchief. I caught the being around the neck and chucked it at the wall. House maneuvered the window back into place and opened it, flinging out the trespasser.

“There is one more intruder for us to deal with,” I said, and House rumbled at me irritably. “Don’t be like that. You only think you want to keep her around because you’ve been polluted by her and her ilk. But I’ll see you set to rights.”

I dug out one of the shirts Giselle had bought for me. There were few things I enjoyed about humans, but I had to admit that they knew how to make fine clothing. The silk didn’t irritate my wounds, and it hugged my chest and draped over my stomach, allowing for fluid movement and optimum comfort. Jeremy, or possibly the kobold, had stuffed acorns into my shoes. I fed the plump nuts to House one at a time, letting it absorb the treat into its walls.

From the pocket of my trousers, which lay on the floor, I retrieved the feather boutonniere and fingered the gift Giselle had fashioned for me. I didn’t want to be separated from it, but I also didn’t want her seeing me in it either and getting the wrong idea. After I dressed, I slid it into the right pocket of my fresh trousers, out of the way.

When I left my bedroom, House dumped me directly into the dining hall. Giselle sat grumpily at the head of the table, her hair pinned up in a tidy knot. She wore a floral dressing gown secured with a thick satin belt that draped to the floor. It pleased me deeply that the chair House had put out was a massive dark mahogany piece that dwarfed her frame, nothing like the delicate ash furniture the Bartons had preferred.

But the table was made of varnished pale wood and was long enough to host a large party. I never hosted parties. House was clearly still confused.

Giselle ignored my presence, glowering at the empty plate on the table before her. A cup of tea steamed at her elbow. She twisted her fingers over the rim, stirring the tea into a tiny whirlpool with a faint bit of Seelie magic.

I crossed to the table and pushed a stray spoon toward her, into her reach.

Giselle shoved the spoon back across the wooden surface. “There are very few things I can accomplish with my own magic,” she said crossly. “Don’t take this from me.”

I selected the place setting opposite her own on the far side of the table. A seat was brought out for me, following a discontented rumble from under the floorboards. As I lowered myself into the new chair, an empty plate appeared.

“I want ham for breakfast,” I demanded. “Bacon, sausages, and gravy.”

The plate rattled at me, but no food appeared.