Page 73 of How To Tame A Trickster Fae

The very idea puts my hackles up. “I would never go back, not now that I’ve found?—”

“Ah-HA!” Ga’Rek shouts, causing the nearby patrons to look over at us. The chandelier overhead, lit by the same magic flowers as the street lanterns, swings slightly from the force of his voice. “I knew it. I knew it.”

“Knew what?” I school my expression into one of pure innocence, but Ga’Rek claps me on the back, causing me to cough. “The fact you’re able to work in that pastry shop without wrecking the entire kitchen is a miracle.”

He glares at me, but as always, his ire is short-lived, and his frown immediately perks back up into a smile. He sits back in his chair, stretching an arm over the back of the empty one next to him.

The table’s structural integrity doesn’t seem to be too adversely affected by him, but I glance at the legs of it, just in case.

“The damned tattoo on your arm.” He reaches out and grabs my sleeve, tugging it up.

He’s damnably fast for his size, and even though I could probably stop him, I let him.

“What in the…” Kieran leans forward, his eyes huge in his face, his wings buzzing, the cloak on his shoulders moving strangely as he grows excited. “I thought that was a myth. Who?”

“Only the most beautiful witch,” I start, but Ga’Rek’s face turns stricken and I pause, tilting my head in confusion.

“Not Willow,” Kieran rasps. “You’ve hardly ever seen her, it can’t be Willow, she cannot be your mate?—”

“Wren,” I interrupt his tirade before it begins. Both males sit back in their chairs, their faces going blank before they both smile broadly at me.

Interesting.

“So, you are attracted to Willow, are you?” I ask, giddy at a new piece of information on the young Unseelie noble.

“This isn’t about Kieran,” Ga’Rek all but roars, then raises his huge stein in the air. “A toast to Caelan and Wren. Fate has found you willing!”

Laughing, I clink my glass against his gently, hoping the brute doesn’t shatter it in his excitement.

“When?” Kieran asks, none of his usual put-upon silence present now. No, his eyes practically sparkle, his wings beating a low-level hum inside their hard protective layer. “When did the mate marks appear?”

“As soon as Wren walked into the bakery,” I say smugly. “The very first day.”

Kieran blows out a breath, then takes a long swallow from his drink, then another, and another, until there’s none left.

“I knew it,” Ga’Rek jeers, clearly thrilled on my behalf.

Kieran pushes his chair out and heads back to the bar top without a word.

We both watch him for a moment.

“He was worried for you,” Ga’Rek finally says, breaking the silence between us. “I’ve never seen him like that. Worried about someone besides himself, I mean.” He narrows his eyes at me. “I was worried too.”

Something like guilt rears its head in my chest, and I take a long drink as I grapple with the odd, discomfiting sensation.

“He thought his mother had found you. He was beside himself. Tried not to show it, you know, but his?—”

“Wings gave him away,” I finish for him. I wince as Ga’Rek nods.

“You look uncomfortable,” Ga’Rek says cheerfully, grinning broadly at me from over his stone stein.

I grumble something under my breath.

“What’s that, old friend?” Ga’Rek asks merrily.

“I said I shouldn’t have left without an explanation.” I rake hand through my hair, then retie the leather thong around the length of it.

Ga’Rek whistles low.

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