Page 31 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

That earns me a sidelong glance with raised eyebrows. Then another chuckle, deeper this time, as if he finds the whole thing funny. “Do I not look real to you?”

“You have elven ears.”

Now he snarls, curling his lips back, exposing twofangs. He doesn’t seem to notice what he’s doing, but I keep my gaze trained on those long, sharp teeth.

“That means I am not real?”

“In my world, yes.”

“This is notyour world,” he replies, matter-of-factly.

I ignore his remark. “Why was no one else looking at you? At that party?”

He stops so abruptly I almost bump into him. He turns to me, scanning my face—for what, I don’t know—but my heartbeatquickens involuntarily. His eyes start to gleam as if he can hear it. He probably can.

“Lyrian never told you, then. And probably never showed youhistrue self either.”

“Told me what? Showed me what?”

“About us. About the fae gap,” he says calmly, unfazed by my sharp tone.

“The fae gap?”

“Have you never wondered why he lives here, in this—” he makes a sweeping gesture with his hand, disgust limning in his features “—remarkably remote area with its particularly enticing climate? Why he chose this nowhere land to carve out his miserable existence?” I’m surprised by his bitter tone as he goes on. “Why all those creatures you hunted down were here, never more than three hundred miles away from his house?”

Creatures. Not men. Not people.Lyrian used the same term to refer to me.

And he knows. Knows I hunt them. What else does he know?

“What is this fae gap and where is it?”

He snarls again, but not angrily, or at least not at me. Then he looks down at me as if he has just realized something about me, because his face softens. “It is the only portal left to our world, to the fae world. Everyone who wants to cross to the human world or back must do it here.”

“And at the party… why didn’t—”

“Why did no one seem to notice my pointed ears?” he finishes my question. As an answer, he taps his earrings. “Magic. A spell. It camouflages my appearance to the eyes of those who are not meant to see them, glamours them. And to all unfae creatures in general. To them, I look like a normal man in a normal suit.” He smiles at that, as if the idea truly amuses him. An utterly devastating smile that makes him less scary.Unfae.

“Normal? So no one can see your ears and—”

“And?”

“Your beauty?” I add quietly, blushing against my will. I quickly look away, sensing that he can feel my embarrassment.

His widening smile tells me does. “Do you pity them?”

There’s teasing in his words now. I scowl at him. I won’t forget that he just brought that shard to my throat. That I am once again a captive thanks to him.

“Why would I?”

His tone stays too soft when he says, “Because they can’t see what you see and indulge in the sight of me.”

“Be careful or people might think you’re a little self-obsessed,” I bite out.

He laughs now, a soft and honest sound I like despite myself. “I know how handsome I am, but it never hurts to hear it.”

I decide to ignore this. “But why can I see your true form when others can’t?” Why am I meant to see it if he saidto all unfae creatures in general…

He moves so fast I don’t register it before his fingers brush against my tender skin, over the still purple swelling hidden underneath my makeup. From the gentleness of his touch, I know he can see everything there. I shiver when his fingers glide down my cheek, stopping just above my lips. An unfinished motion.

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