Page 69 of How To Please A Princely Fae

“Oh,” I say excitedly. “I bet Piper is open. Let’s go get hot chocolate and breakfast.”

“What my mate wants, my mate gets,” he tells me, planting a huge, sloppy kiss on my lips, making me laugh even harder.

“You are not going to carry me the whole way.”

“I will.”

“No, you will not.”

“I want to. Besides, you’re warm. It’s for my comfort.”

“Well, in that case,” I say, snuggling into him. “I suppose I will tolerate it.”

“What’s going on here?” he asks a moment later, frowning.

I follow the direction of his gaze.

A crowd of people and creatures stand around on the street, talking in loud voices and pointing.

“Is that…” I start.

“That wasn’t there before,” Kieran confirms. He sets me on my feet and we both scramble through the thick snow, hand in hand, to inspect the building that’s somehow appeared where there was nothing but grass and air.

A heavy iron and glass-paned door anchors the building, and arched windows are covered in brown butcher paper on the inside.

It rises three stories, and I shield my eyes as I gaze up at it.

“Opening soon,” Kieran reads off a red banner in front of the shop.

“How did it get here?” the harpy in front of me asks in a hushed tone, directing the question at no one and everyone all at once.

A cloaked woman turns towards us, lowering her thick velvet hood as she makes eye contact with me. Familiar near-black hair spills down her shoulder, and she purses her lips.

I nod, already knowing what she’s going to say.

“They’re here. It’s only a matter of time until we’re forced to hold up our end of a bargain we never agreed to.”

Kieran squeezes my hand, and Nerissa pulls her hood back over her head, walking to the ominous front door.

I gasp as the door opens before she even touches the handle, and when she walks through it, I try to wade through the snow faster, but it’s too thick.

It’s too thick, and the door is closing.

I slam my hand against it, calling her name.

It’s locked up tight. Even my best unlocking charm fails, though I didn’t expect it to work.

Nerissa is gone.

A wolf howls mournfully in the near distance, sending a fresh chill down my spine.

“What just happened?” Kieran asks, looking as stunned as I feel.

“Nerissa’s decided to take her fate into her own hands.”

He tilts his head, giving me a questioning look, but I shake mine because I don’t have answers, not for either of us.

I blow out a cloudy breath.

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