Page 50 of How To Please A Princely Fae

I grin at her, though, and she winks at me, eyeing Kieran’s touch on my lower back.

“We want to help,” Kieran tells her, matching her imperious tone.

Violet clears her throat, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the tension. “I think anyone who wants to be here should be here.” Her voice is firm, despite the uncertainty on her face.

“I agree,” Wren says, and Piper nods as they both look at me.

In fact, everyone is now looking at me. At me, and at Kieran, who wraps his arm fully around my waist. I don’t think I like the attention as much as I imagined I might.

Chirp rocks slightly on his perch on my coat before taking off and settling high on a wreath above the fireplace mantel.

No one’s ever looked to me as the deciding vote before. Not that I can remember, and if so, never on something as important as this.

Which is the crux of the question, really.

“Of course they should stay,” I answer decisively, surprising myself. “They live here. What happens next impacts us all.”

“So you think the rest of the villagers should have a say?” Ruby asks, wringing her hands. “We could call a town meeting?—”

“No,” Piper answers, echoing my own thoughts. “We might be well-liked here, but we all know too well what could happenif witchcraft is to blame for our current predicament. We handle this as a coven, since we shoulder the burden.”

“Wild magic doesn’t differentiate between magic users and regular folk,” Nerissa adds drily. “The burden will be everyone’s.”

“So you think we should invite the whole town?” I ask her, flummoxed.

“No.” She snorts in derision. “They’re just as likely to pick two of us and throw us into the woods for the gods with pitchforks.”

“You don’t believe that,” Ruby tells her testily.

Violet hugs herself, her face pale.

“You’re scaring her,” I admonish Nerissa.

“They might, though,” Nerissa says glumly, picking at a dried speck on her leather pants.

“It’s what they did to me.” Violet’s voice is pitched so low I almost miss it, but the room falls silent at her quiet words as if she shouted them.

“We won’t let that happen,” Ruby says crisply, standing up straighter.

“Neither will they,” Violet says.

At that, I startle.

“They?” I ask.

Kieran’s fingers dig into my waist.

“You are communicating with them, aren’t you?” Piper’s voice is hushed, and Ga’Rek pulls her against his chest.

Caelan, who’s been unusually somber, watches her carefully, Wren at arm’s length in the chair beside his.

Violet’s throat bobs. “The wild magic isn’t their magic. They want to protect us.” Her voice is all but a hushed whisper. “They’re bound to this place.” Her eyes take on a far-off look, staring at something none of us can see.

The hair prickles on the back of my neck, and I press into Kieran’s side.

I’ve seen plenty of magic in my life, so much that it’s commonplace, ordinary.

What Violet is doing is anything but ordinary.

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