Page 24 of The Cursed Kingdom

Samuel nods. “Yes, so I will ask again: What are you looking for in there, little human?”

I shake my head, refusing to answer. This knowledge does not change my plan. Delysum grows in the forest, and I need to collect it.

“Are the shifters friendly?” I take the risk of asking.

Samuel shrugs. “To humans, maybe.”

“But not to faeries?”

“Not in the slightest.” He lets out a short, cruel laugh. “Dirty fucking animals trespassed into our lands and claimed them as their own, and it’s like they expect us to thank them for it.”

Well, that’s a strong opinion.

I wish I had my phone so I could take a photo of the map. This will be impossible to remember.

“What’s the portal of the gods?” I ask. “You said the princes will be heading there.”

A large river cuts down the center of the map, separating the shifter deadlands from the faerie lands and Redstall Forest. Callonton and Farbay are relatively close to it, and I chew at my bottom lip as Samuel points to a spot near the tail, well into the Redstall Forest.

“Here,” he says, “is the portal of the gods.”

“Why are they heading there?”

Samuel hesitates. “It’s a lot to explain. Let’s order our food first. Do you know what you want?”

I’m unfamiliar with the food on the menu, and I don’t bother trying to pronounce it as I point to the first item listed. Samuel peers over to see, and with a curt nod, he taps the floating center of the table twice and speaks our orders out loud. He also asks for two glasses of water.

I stare, shocked, as the floating section rises into the air and is replaced with a new one holding two tall glasses of water.

“Have they been listening the whole time?”

Samuel shakes his head. “No.”

That’s a relief. The fewer people who know about me and my mission to enter the Redstall Forest, the better. I grab one of the glasses of water and gulp it down.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask.

Samuel purses his lips and sips his water, avoiding eye contact.

“I wish to find my mate.” He blows out a long breath. “Magic is the life of our world. We intrinsically know how to manipulate it, but there are limits to what we can do. Those limits vary from faerie to faerie. I have a low tolerance for magic, and the other faeries can sense it.”

Okay?Samuel being a weak faerie outcast doesn’t explain why he’s helping me.

“Women don’t want to risk being my mate, so I’m not often given permission to touch them,” he continues. “I suspect my mate will be a woman with a low magic tolerance. Maybe even one without, like a human.”

Oh. Well, that’s sad.

“Aren’t mates supposed to be super special?” I ask.

That’s how it’s always perceived in my books.

“They are,” Samuel admits. “But the mate bond isn’t triggered until skin-to-skin contact is made, and many feel that being mateless and settling for a partner with status is better than being trapped with a mate who can’t provide.”

Things grow quiet between Samuel and me, and I fight back an audible moan as the center of the table lifts and another with food emerges. They’re both in bowls, and one looks to be a stir fry while the other is a soup.

Samuel takes the soup, and I snatch up the stir fry. I don’t know when my next meal will come, and I need to fill up while I can. My body needs these calories.

I’m also happy to have a distraction from our conversation on Samuel’s failed love life.

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