Page 53 of How To Please A Princely Fae

No one speaks, or moves, and I hardly dare breathe.

“What if we don’t—” Nerissa starts, but the horned god holds up a hand, crusted with several bone-and-wood rings.

“You will. The right ones will be drawn to us. Our magic is as wild as that which threatens, and like calls to like.” He dips his head, his antlers threatening to scrape the iron candelabra hanging from the ceiling. “You will see more of us soon, witches.”

They disappear slowly, fading into nothingness.

The silence they leave in their wake lasts a long moment—and then everyone’s talking at once.

Chapter 15

KIERAN

Mine.

They recognize Willow as mine, as they very well should.

Triumph floods me, only stopped short by the fact my witch is still tense and trembling with anxiety.

For her friends. For her town.

Guilt dulls my sense of victory and I tuck her closer to me, burying my nose in her rosemary-and-mint-scented hair. “We will help your friends.”

“They don’t need help, they need a clever seamstress,” Caelan announces, and I realize I spoke too loudly.

Everyone stares at Caelan, even his dog, who’s still warming himself by the fire.

“For their wedding garments, obviously,” he flicks a hand through the air, and a growl of dismay rattles in my chest.

“If they do not wish to wed, then we will not force them. I will not be part of having any of their free will taken away.”

“It’s just two—” Caelan starts.

“Enough,” Wren tells him, her eyes narrowing to furious slits. “These are my friends you’re talking about?—”

“You and Willow and Piper seem happy enough. I haven’t given you any reason to complain.” He clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “How do you know these elemental creatures will be any different? They’re moving to town, aren’t they? None of you have to, you know, be abducted against your will and moved to what I’m sure are palatial, magical residences?—”

“That’s not the point,” Nerissa snaps, looking fiery and wild.

Much too harsh for my tastes, that one. No, I prefer my soft and lovely Willow… to everything, perhaps.

“The point is that none of us want to be forced into what appears to be an eternal bond,” Nerissa finishes, and her wolf familiar sits up on massive paws and stares, unblinking, at her.

“I’ll do it,” Violet says, her voice quiet but strong. Determined. “I don’t have a place here, not like the rest of you.” The words rush out of her, into the stunned silence she’s created.

“Violet—” Nerissa starts, but Violet holds up her hand.

Willow’s face pales. “You don’t need to do that?—”

“Absolutely not?—”

“Why would you want to?—”

The witches explode at once, then pause to glance around at each other.

Ruby stands, pacing the length of the hearth, which means she has to step over the deer lying in the way as Boner tracks her progress with sad hound eyes.

Willow’s lips are pressed in a thin line, and Piper looks ready to pounce if anyone else so much as utters that they’re considering the offer of marriage.

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