Page 52 of How To Please A Princely Fae

Kieran’s wings vibrate behind him as he tucks me further into his body.

“They won’t take you. You’re mine. We belong to each other.”

Two forms materialize in front of the hearth, and Velvet the deer scurries behind the safety of Piper and Ga’Rek.

Max, Ruby’s cat familiar, hisses as the shapes become more solid, taking form as the fire casts long, haunting shadows all around them.

“Only two,” I say on an exhale. Of course. The third took the poor duchess.

“Two is enough,” Kieran says roughly.

He’s so protective, his hands possessive and hot on me, and I should resist it, but I like it too much to pull away.

I like the idea of being his too much.

I like him most of all.

Slowly, the shadows congeal, and two forms of ancient magic stand before our coven, in Ruby’s bookstore.

“Odd place for two gods to show up,” Nerissa says in a low voice. “Thought you two might feel more at home in the ancient myths section instead of where our romance book club meets.”

Both males turn to her, and something like a smile shifts across the vicious features of the horned one. His antlers nearly scrape the ceiling, lichen-covered and ancient. His eyes are the most vivid green I’ve ever seen outside a plant, and Nerissa’s wolf growls low in his throat as he contemplates my coven sister.

“We wish no harm on Wild Oak Woods.”

“Our new sister sent advice,” the other elder being intones, his face shifting from skeletal in one second to normal, if otherworldly handsome, in the next.

“You mean the duchess,” Violet says, and there’s fire under the phrase.

He inclines his head, a hint of a smile playing along his face. “Just so.”

The fire pops, and I jump at the sound.

“The duchess, the bride of our brother, tells us that our methods are…” He clears his throat, mostly male-looking now, though something preternatural and dark looks out of his eyes. “Outdated.”

“I think her exact words were brutish, boorish, and barbaric,” the horned god adds, looking…

I squint, trying to paw past Kieran’s iron grip on me to get a better look.

He looks… amused. He lifts an eyebrow, staring down the huge wolf at Nerissa’s side. “The alliteration was also hers.”

“She’s not wrong,” Wren says.

“I think it’s stylish,” Caelan says slyly. “Demanding a bride from a coven of powerful women in return for protection of their beloved town? It’s a classic. How can you improve on it?”

No one answers. Wren buries her face in her hands, and I’m not sure if she’s laughing or disappointed in Caelan.

“Boner says there is no room for improvement.” The dog perks up at his name. “What Boner says is truth?—"

A huge sigh escapes the horned god. “Enough, trickster.”

The other god sets a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We cannot be bound, or summoned, not as you were. We are elementals, and we wish no harm or suffering upon any of you, but for our magic to work, we must abide by the rules, which means we must take brides from your coven.” His gaze slips to my face, and Kieran snarls—snarls!—at his interest.

I tuck myself more firmly against him.

“It seems as though one more of you has been claimed,” he muses.

“We do not have time to court you as you and our new sister deserve,” the horned god continues, finally tearing his eyes away from Nerissa. “But we all prefer our witches willing. We have come to tell you we will be a part of your town now. So that it will be no hardship for those of you who are in want of a powerful male to find us on your own.”

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