Page 89 of The Forbidden Fae King

We return to the meadow and find the camp is completely set up, a ring of basic canvas tents built around a fire. The scent of coffee drifts on the breeze and I follow my nose straight to it. A kettle sits on glowing embers, while Drake spreads doughy flatbread across hot rocks to bake.

“How did you get the short straw of cookingagain?” I take one of the piled mugs and help myself to the coffee.

“Can’t keep my mouth shut,” Drake grumbles.

“I already knew that. How did you piss him off this time?” I flash a quick grin, and sit by the fire, warming my frozen feet.

“Cyprien was being an arrogant fuck, and I pointed out how many years he spent with his head up his arse instead of supporting Aldrin.”

I laugh. I can’t help it.

“Consider yourself lucky.” He flicks his gaze at me. “We usually rotate. The only reason you’re never on cooking duty is because humans can’t cook for shit.”

“Harsh…but probably true. We don’t have many native spices.”

I am halfway through my coffee when Aldrin catches my eye andbeckons me to follow him by tipping his head. My stomach dips. A hundred good reasons why I should keep away from him flood my mind, but my body makes the decision for me. I drain the rest of the hot liquid, burning my mouth, then place the mug in a pile of dirty dishes, before scurrying off. I need to get close enough to him to find out what his plans are for my realm, after all.

“Hey, you can’t leave that there!” Drake calls after me.

“Sorry!” I call over my shoulder. “I’ll clean it when I get back.”

“Do you want to meet some pixies?” Aldrin’s amber eyes dance as they take me in.

I nod, hardly able to contain my excitement. “I would love to speak to them.”

Aldrin frowns as he walks beside me, so close the warmth that rolls off him sets my skin prickling. “I believe these ones only speak the old language. They are pretty isolated up here.”

“The old language?” I ask. “The one written in runes across the portals?”

“Yes.”

“I want to learn it,” I breathe.

Aldrin glances at me with surprise. “It would take years to master.”

“Surely you have a book or two in your library.” I hold my breath.

“Yeah, if you want to learn from a child’s education manual. But it won’t be easy,” he says.

He has no idea it is my dream. “I have nothing but time in my realm. Even after I marry Finan, it will be years before I become queen and take on an active role.”

Aldrin visibly flinches. I open my mouth, but I don’t know what to say. Instead, I glance over my shoulder, at Lilly and Silvan trailing behind us, to break the moment.

A sharp pain pinches the skin of my neck. A buzzing fills my ear, then another sting bites into the exposed flesh of my lower arm. “Something bit me!” I yelp, trying to swat it away.

Aldrin grabs my wrist, stilling me, and a breeze envelopes us. The smokey scent of burning pine fills my nostrils and thin tendrils of smoke are visible.

“The pixies are a feisty bunch. Territorial. They also enjoy the taste of blood. We must be close to their nest,” he says.

I raise my eyebrows at him. “And you want to talk to them?”

“More than that, I want some to join my quest. They are intelligent, and will behave…mostly.”

I place my thumb into my mouth, sucking on a third bite, and the iron tang of blood hits my tongue. Aldrin’s eyes linger on my mouth, his gaze flaring with heat.

I turn away from him before he notices the flush building across my cheeks, in time to see Silvan madly swatting at a small cloud of pixies darting at him. A laugh bubbles out of my lips and the tense man sends me a look that promises death.

There is a city of pixie mounds hidden in a valley. Each one looks like a bundle of long pipes connected at their base, ascending in height to form a peaked shape. They are constructed from grey granite, with shimmering speckles of white, black, and pink. I cannot shake the similarities with termite hills from my mind.

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