Page 99 of King of Storms and Feathers

I shook my head.

The Sayeeda’s steps faltered. “Oh, I thought… Ildri had said… It doesn’t matter. I’ll leave you in peace.”

“Ari, wait. I am parched. I’ll gladly take some wine. And you, Leaf, are you thirsty?”

My smile trembling at the edges, I nodded and took my goblet from the tray. Ari’s eyes flicked to the full carafe, then briefly met mine. I understood her meaning perfectly. Do not drink the wine from the carafe. My goblet was fine, of course, and Arrow’s was already drugged.

“Sleep well,” Ari said before she turned and left us alone.

“To memories,” I said, clinking my goblet with Arrow’s. “When they return, may we conquer them with joyful hearts.”

He grinned back at me as I sipped the spiced wine. “And may you always be mine, Leaf, and before long, declare it with unbridled joy. Many times over.” Raising his cup, he drank deeply.

“I’m not sure I want to drink to that,” I teased.

“But I do.”

“Well then…” I refilled his goblet, and I lifted mine in another toast. “It would be discourteous of me to refuse.”

Laughter rumbled in his chest. “Good manners have never made you do anything you didn’t want before, but indeed, drink to our delightful future.” He tossed his head back and drained the cup, slamming it on the tray and smacking his lips together. “Delicious… but I am still parched.”

Waggling his eyebrows comically as if it was me he thirsted for, he shifted his weight on the bed, preparing to pounce on me. Before he did, I flung my leg over his thighs and straddled his lap.

“Arrow,” I whispered as I held his face and kissed him slowly. “Is it possible you’re not half the brute you pretend to be?”

A slow smile spread over his face. “What if I said I was thrice the brute and I’m willing to provide the evidence?”

“Before you do that…” I ran my palms over his muscled shoulders. “I want to ask you about something.”

The bed frame creaked as his head flopped back against it. “Storms save me from my woman’s endless questions. Tell me, will they be brief, so we can move on to more pleasurable pursuits?”

Of all the times for him to call me his woman.

Although I felt far from amused, I forced a laugh. The slur of his words and the loose movements of his powerful limbs told me the drug was beginning to work.

“Perhaps they’ll be the most fascinating questions you’ve ever been asked,” I said.

Wearing a dazed grin, he yawned and shuffled down the bed, wriggling against the mass of pillows to find a comfortable position. He tugged me close and wrapped me in his arms, his thumb stroking the edge of my collar, the collar I would soon be free of. “Can’t promise I’ll answer each one, but I am willing to hear them.”

“What’s the story with your wings? Are they an illusion or are they real?” Now that we were alone, I couldn’t resist satisfying my curiosity about them.

He laughed, his breath ruffling my hair. “Yes, they’re an illusion. The illusion is that they don’t exist.”

“So they’ve always been there?” I asked, gazing up at him.

Amusement sparkled in his slightly unfocused eyes. “Most nights, Leaf, you are kept warm in the feathered embrace of my wings.”

“That can’t be true! I would’ve had some inkling of their existence.”

“Some fae are born with wings, inherited from either parent, but mine are connected to gold reaver magic. When a Light Realm king dies, a ceremony takes place to grant the new king his wings. Of course, after my parents’ deaths, I didn’t want the damned things. The Zareen had to come to my chambers and convince me herself to accept them. Fortunately, for the health of both our kingdoms, the Zareen can be very persuasive.”

Silent, I tried to picture how those beautiful wings might have looked on past occasions. Slashing the air above his shoulders as we’d argued, or perhaps spread wide, ready for flight, as I slept soundly on the floor of the pavilion. What I wouldn’t give to go back in time and witness him soaring around it.

“Why haven’t I seen you flapping about the kingdom?”

“Excuse me? Storm kings do not flap about. Ever.”

“Oh, forgive me. I didn’t know,” I said, fighting laughter.

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