Page 27 of Chosen By the Fae King

My mind stuttered, my craving dulled. Nox nudged my face to look at his.

“What's wrong?”

I pushed on his chest and he rolled off me to his feet. Reluctantly, I accepted his hand when he put it out to help me up.

“Prefer the bed, do you?” he quipped, reaching for me.

I spun away. “How many of the beds in this hallway do you intend to visit?”

Lines formed between his eyebrows. “Are you jealous?”

“I'm not interested in this kind of trial. If that's what you're after, find another female.”

“I think you are interested but you're too scared to admit it.”

I crossed my arms, refusing to feel foolish. I wasn't here for Nox. I had no intention of winning anything. I needed to survive, help Sofiya survive, and get back to Greenhollow.

“In case I haven't made myself clear,” he prowled closer, backing me up to the side of the bed, “I want you. Badly.”

“Yeah, I got that message pretty clearly,” I responded, gesturing at his crotch.

He chuckled. “A message I hope was well received.”

I didn't smile. “How many names were drawn? More than twenty?”

“You know the answer to that, Aeryn.”

“Yet you expect me to believe you haven't already planned to have your way with most, if not all of them? I saw how they looked after meeting you.”

“By the gods, you are jealous,” Nox grinned.

A real grin, not the kind meant to seduce and ensnare. It threw me off balance.

Nox tilted my chin up, his touch maddeningly tender. “There is only one female I want in my bed at the moment.”

“I'm sure that changes moment by moment. Even small villages like mine are aware of your lecherous appetites.”

Disappointment flashed across his face. My heart stuttered.

“Believe what you will, hellion, but I'm not here to beg, tempting as it may be. And you're right, there are others. Twenty-four more of them, to be exact, most of whom understand that if competing in the trials was good enough for my mother, it's most definitely good enough for a peasant from Greenhollow.”

I sucked in a sharp breath, recoiling.

With that parting shot, Nox disappeared into the shadows.

My eyes burned. Damn my pride. And damn the king for his careless words. I didn't think I was too good for the throne. Quite the opposite, in fact.

A knock sounded at the door, startling me from my brooding. I straightened my clothes, patted my cheeks, and smoothed my hair before calling out, “Enter.”

The door creaked open to reveal Raina hovering on the threshold. Her gaze darted around the room as if searching for something.

“I hope I'm not disturbing you,” she said.

I waved her in. “Not at all. Please, come in.”

Raina stepped inside but didn't venture far from the door. She clasped her hands before her, gaze lowered. “I wanted to check on you and to thank you. For earlier today. You were kind to me when no one else bothered.”

“Of course.” I frowned. “No one would want to be left alone like that, not here. You don't deserve the looks you get.”

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