Page 150 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

Never mind that she doesn’t look old enough to be a grandmother—though I’ve heard her race ages quite gracefully over a number of hundreds of years—but to set her sights on my male?

Unacceptable.

“Yes, he is a very fine male. But he is mine. You can’t have him,” I tell her, barely in control of myself.

“You’ve heard the lady. I am spoken for,” Mine drawls as he throws his arm over my shoulder. “I do like it when you’re jealous,” he whispers in my ear. “Don’t stop.”

I take a deep breath and seek to calm myself so I don’t clobber him over the head—mine or not mine.

“This is a delicate situation. Shut up.”

He feigns a gasp.

“I am at my lady’s mercy,” he adds with a smile.

Can’t he take a hint? This isn’t a game.

“See, I could never be parted from her. I am a rather weak human who is in need of his protector. My darling Minnie has deigned to take me under her wing and I have sworn her my loyalty,” he informs the faery, and I can’t for the life of me tell if he’s joking or not.

But then his tone suddenly changes, as does the atmosphere around us. “Forever,” he adds, punctuating each syllable in a dark voice.

The faery takes a step back, her eyes slightly widening. She quickly averts her gaze from Mine, almost as if she didn’t dare look him straight in the eye.

Good male. I pat him on the shoulder. At least he knows who he belongs to. But that still doesn’t solve our current quandary.

“What else would you accept?” I ask.

“As I have mentioned. I require a groom for my granddaughter,” she says. “I will bargain for that or nothing else.”

Mine moves closer to me. The heat from his body permeates my own as he aligns himself right behind me. His chin comes to rest on my shoulder as he regards the faery with a laid-back expression.

“What does she mean by nothing else?” he whispers. “Does that mean we can be on our way now?”

I shake my head.

“It means she will not let us leave until we agree on a bargain. And trust me, she has time,” I add drily. “Time that we do not have with how fast things were evolving on the base.”

“All right. Got it. So we must close the bargain then.”

My muscles tense. I slowly turn my head around, my nose almost bumping into his.

“You are not going to her,” I tell him. “You are courting me, or have you forgotten that little detail?”

Even if he were not courting me, I would not have relinquished him. I found him first. He belongs to me.

“Me? I would never.” He feigns a horrified expression. “Don’t you worry, tiny darling, you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“Then what do you propose we do?” I narrow my eyes at him.

The faery is watching the exchange with great interest.

“I will accept your first male born,” she interjects.

“No.”

“Never.”

Both Mine and I burst out at the same time, and the faery lets out a soft chuckle.

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