Page 63 of Crown of the Fae King

"Did it like to chat, like the other kind?"

"No. I don't even know if it understands speech. It just...attacks. As soon as it latched on and started sucking my blood, I sank my blade into its head. Urban got there and stabbed it with his long dagger, and the thing just...popped. Like a blowfish, all bloated with blood." She shook her head. "No. More like a water balloon, considering how it exploded. And there I was, covered in blood. At least it was my own. Or at least, I hope it was." She shuddered. “The emergency room nurses were horrified by the look of me."

I sighed loudly.

She gave me a close look. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just relieved you're...more yourself, that's all."

She forced a smile, then her head dipped. Finally, she said, "I don't think I can handle it...if I lose Urban."

"You won't have to,” Wickham said from the doorway. “He's out of the long grass, and we’ll bring him back tonight.” Then he was gone.

Tears poured down her cheeks as they had the day before, but this time she was smiling. “I guess…I guess I’ll be all right, too.” She headed to the bathroom. “Eighteenth century Highlanders are such a pain in the ass.”

Not yet ready to leave her on her own, I stretched out on the bed for a minute and drifted off while Everly had a long shower. It seemed like only minutes had passed before she was there again, wrapped in a big fluffy towel. "Dezi and Sophie have great taste."

"They do. I especially appreciate the bedding." I yawned just thinking about it, then pointed to her legs. "No more stalling. Let me see that bite."

She sat against the cushioned headboard covered in gold and pink-striped leather and flipped the edge of her towel away from her leg.

There, on the front of her thigh, were two sets of stitches about four inches apart, the blue threads looking like so many legs of a bright-colored bug. There were no red lines, no swelling. I reached for her forehead. No fever. Then I looked in her eyes, watching for her own reaction to the wound.

"The bite didn't hurt as much as I expected," she said quietly. "What really freaked me out was when one of its teeth hit my bone."

I backed to the edge of the bed and sat very still, telling myself that if Everly survived such an attack, there was a chance I could too.

At least a chance. I didn't bother figuring the odds.

"Don't worry,” she said. “We know what to look for now, and it’s not a snake. And I don't think silver is necessary. They seem susceptible to any blade. The one I put through its skull had already killed it by the time Urban got to it.”

"Maybe I just need to carry a sharp little pin..."

"No, no. We want to kill thembeforethey get a chance to balloon up.”

Urban wason his feet but groggy when Wickham delivered him home after dinner that night. We all stood by shamelessly and watched Everly clutch at him, weeping. Then, in the span of a few seconds, she turned into a mother hen and started barking orders. A few minutes later, he was tucked in bed and off to sleep whether he wanted to be or not.

"The doctor will be back in the mornin',” Wickham said, then headed for the kitchens. I followed and leaned against the doorway while he sat up to the bar and snarfed down the meal Alwyn had saved for him.

"I think I'll sleep deeply tonight," I said. "What about you? Did you sit up with Urban the whole time?"

"Nay," he said, around a mouthful. "I spent some time with my family..."

I was instantly flooded with guilt for being privy to exactly where his family was and what fun they might have had. I was also a little jealous that he had family to go to when events got overwhelming.

“Wickham?”

“Aye?”

“There’s something I’d like you to do for me.”

“Anythin’.”

“You said you could alter memories. I’d like you to alter mine.”

He put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth, and tossed his napkin aside. “Perhaps ye’d best come take a seat.” He pulled out the barstool beside him, waited for me to sit. “If ye’ve decided ye want no more part—”

“No! No, it’s not that at all. I don’t want to leave. But…it doesn’t feel right that I know where your family is, when you don’t want anyone to know…”

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