Page 55 of A Deal with the Shadow King

Mara sniffs the fish on her plate suspiciously. “What’s with her? She looked like she was going to be sick.”

“Her friend just died—” I start, but I don’t have it in me to explain common decency to a woman that keeps putting her foot in her mouth and doesn’t seem to care.

Mara isn’t even listening, pushing aside her plate in favor of her wine. From the inattentive way she holds her glass, I figure she’s already drunk.

Her tongue darts out of her mouth, and she licks her lips. “I bet the Shadow King isn’t as handsome as the legends say. His knights on the other hand…” Her gaze is glued to the triplet’s table.

The three Fae are playing a card game with a couple of hunters on the opposite side of the room. They gamble for money and trinkets, and Two curses under his breath as Three pulls all the winnings towards him with a provocative grin.

“You cheated,” Two growls.

Three’s chest vibrates with laughter, and he angles his palms to the sky. Prove it.

One sits back in his chair, distancing himself from his brothers. The weight of his gaze tightens my skin, and I arch a brow that asks, “Did he cheat or not?”

One bites his bottom lip not to smile and gives me a small, almost imperceptible nod.

“How old do you think they are?” Mara slurs in my ear.

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about it. “Late twenties?” I answer, keeping the truth for myself. I’ve seen One’s eyes. They were not the eyes of a twenty-something man.

The redhead raps her long, black-painted nails on the table. “Three never eats, did you notice? I heard it’s because he does…other things to sustain himself.”

The way One stares at me from the other side of the room sparks a fiery storm in my chest.

“Other things?” I ask absentmindedly.

“Fiona said he’s cursed and can only eat when he fucks, otherwise food tastes like dirt to him.”

What the?—

Mara eyes me sideways. “You must be the no-sex-before-marriage type. Sucks for you.”

I grit my teeth, uncomfortable with the way she leers at Three. “Sex before marriage is unthinkable in Demeter.”

She raises both brows in disbelief. “For women, you mean.”

“Well…yes,” I concede.

“It used to be the same in my world, really, but we’ve gotten past that bullshit.” She lowers her voice like she’s about to confess something scandalous. “I also heard that the knights aren’t even allowed to marry.”

My heart skips a beat, and I consider Mara with renewed interest. Judging by One’s reaction yesterday, I knew I’d struck a chord with my jab, but I didn’t think he was forced to live as a bachelor.

“What do you mean?”

Her tongue rests at the tip of her canine as she pauses for effect. “Rumor has it that, as long as the Shadow King remains single, the triplets can’t take a wife of their own.”

“The Shadow King never married?” I ask, surprised.

She raises a brow as though I just called her a liar. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“All my research points to the fact that Fae royals love to marry. It strengthens their magic, so most queens and kings have to marry to keep their crowns. They keep witnesses around for the consummation part, and the Winter King even turned his nuptials into some sort of competitive pageantry.”

“Wow, you’ve really got your nose stuck in a book, Old World. No…Oh! I’ve got it!” Mara slaps my upper arm, her eyes wide from the liquor, stuck in the inebriated phase where all your ideas are gold and you love yourself more than ever. She slaps it three times. “I bet they’re doing it.”

“Doing what?”

“Sex.”

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