Page 16 of How to Keep a Fae

She grins and flips another page without even looking at the book.

“Well, that’s the only way to mate an omega, biting them during their heat. Sounds hot, doesn’t it? I admit, I enjoyed the warrior talking about rutting a fertile omega as he was taking me.” She makes like she is fanning herself. “You know I loveyou well, Adaline. How sweet and innocent you appear, yet how saucy you are underneath. Hiding those scandalous books in your nest… stealing your favored warriors’ clothes…. Making them vie for scraps of your attention… likely bringing them to blows.”

“I do no such thing!” I say aghast. I glance at Denna, relieved to find her inspecting an omega’s needlework. “Well, the coming to blows part, anyway. I don’t think they even know about each other. And even if they did, what is there to know?”

“You think they don’t talk?” She arches one golden eyebrow.

“Why would they?”

“We talk,” she points out. “Maybe they know all about each other… maybe they compare notes on what you like well.”

A little worm of unhappiness settles in the pit of my belly. “I don’t like the thought of them comparing notes.”

“Do they do anything similar? Maybe one of them has found a way to make you come extra hard and has told the other about it.”

“No, nothing,” I say indignantly. “They have very different ways.” But she has sowed a seed of doubt. And there is the fact that they both call me their queen. But more likely, that is just the nonsense males say when they are high on our blood. It doesn’t mean anything.

“I’m quite convinced they don’t know about each other,” I add. “And anyway, nothing can come of it. It would be complicated enough if I were in love with one warrior.”

I begin to stitch.

She flips another page in her book.

“I grew attached to a warrior once,” she says.

My head snaps up and my eyes search hers.

“They moved him to another patrol in a differentpart of the undercroft. It happens sometimes. I still think about him at low moments when the world is too quiet.”

My lips quiver, and a watery pressure settles behind my eyes. My heart breaks anew for Dede—for us all.

“Would you mate him, that warrior you loved? If you could?”

“Yes,” she says without hesitation. “I made a fuss once when a mean feeder boasted about how she had been with him. I ripped a chunk of her pretty hair out and gave her a black eye.”

I gasp.

She shrugs. “I regret nothing save it cost me stolen moments with the warrior I loved. I still dream about him. I still pray for the day when he might change patrols again, and our paths cross. Goddess, what I’d give for his hands on me just one more time. I don’t know how it might happen, but if you ever get a chance. Do whatever it takes. Make them claim you. Consequences be damned.”

Her face smoothes out. She smiles, bringing the playful fae back. “Don’t tell anybody what I told you. My reputation is on the line.”

“I won’t,” I say quickly. “You’re my best friend.”

She smirks. “As you are mine… only don’t tell the others that, either. I get a lot of gifts from omegas eager for my counsel.”

Denna is now scolding two young fae feeders for their poor needlework. She is not a complete witch—she has a story of her own.

I also see Dede, my best friend, in a new light. I see the woman beneath the facade she presents. “I’m glad you trusted me,” I say. “It makes me love you even more. How you pick yourself up even though life did not deal you the cards you wished… Do you believe in the Goddess?”

“Maybe,” she says. “The life of a fae feeder is long. There is still time.” She nods in the direction of our house mistress. “The warrior I bedded, the one with all the good gossip, and who I hope to see again for he was a skilled lover too, mentioned something about Denna’s past.”

I frown. “He did?”

“Apparently the old warrior master, Cecil, had sharp words with a warrior who called her a bitch. Said he should treat Denna with more respect. That she was once mated, and that warrior died. Which was why she became a house mistress and never fed a warrior again. No matter which way you turn, life is not without risks. It’s why she deals so harshly if she finds anyone favoring one warrior over another.”

Mated?My mind goes blank for an extended period of time and my heart slams around behind my ribs.

“Hey?” Dede says. “You’ve gone really pale.”

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