Page 36 of Beneath the Cursed Veil

“Oh. No. Thankful for it now too,” I muttered, side-eyeing Corvo. “I guess that means you have a spirit affinity.” Tracing the petals of the glass lily with admiration, I shivered as their icy nature sent a chill through me.

Vareck watched me carefully. “I do. Do you have an earth affinity?”

I cocked my head to the side. I thought it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t high-fae. My compulsion magic was strong, but the rest of me was decidedlynot. I loved my curves, but it wasn’t a feature high fae had. Ever. “No, I’m only half high-fae. What made you think so?”

He gestured to the vase. “You seem partial to the glass lily. You admire it in a way the garden caretakers do too, and their element is earth.”

I shrugged, continuing to eat. “I just like them. They’re my favorite flowers. Don’t get to see them much in the Arcane District. My mom gets them for me on my birthday, though. The one time a year she comes back to Faerie.” The king looked surprised that I had shared that with him. To be honest, I was a little surprised I shared it too. It was an intimate detail of my life, and somehow, I’d let my guard down enough to say it.

“What’s your other half?” he asked, and I looked at him in question for further explanation. “You said you were half high fae.”

“Oh, that.” I paused, tilting my head. “Redcap, maybe? I don’t know. My parents adopted me, and I don’t thinkabout it much. I’m not as hot-headed as my sister and brothers are, so maybe not.” I shrugged, using a hunk of warm bread to wipe the bowl clean when I was finished.

“You mentioned you’re good at finding stuff,” Vareck started. “Is that what you do for work?”

“You mean in addition to my side gig as kidnapper extraordinaire?” I teased, and I was pleased my joke elicited a smile from him. “I actually have a shop, although it’s more of a hobby at this point.” That much was true enough. The store was really a money pit.

“What kind of shop?”

“Antiques. I like old things. Used things. They tell a story.” It’s a shame I was the only one interested. Most people in the Arcane District weren’t. I just couldn’t bring myself to focus the contents of my store on magic items only. The idea broke my heart.

“Do you collect any?”

I teased my bottom lip between my teeth. “Vinyl records and antique jewelry.”

“How’d you get into that?”

I lifted my shoulder in a half shrug. “My mom had an old jewelry box with pieces from her parents and great grandparents. Me and my sister used to play dress up with them. When I got older, I found myself gravitating towards pieces with the same kind of character. Before I knew it, I had my own little collection growing.”

“You sound like you’re close with your family,” he said, dancing around the subject.

“The closest,” I answered, swirling the fae wine around in my goblet. “My sister is my best friend and my brothers are, well kind of overbearing, but they mean well.”

Vareck chuckled. “Most fae men are.”

An inkling of that tension from earlier started to bleedinto the atmosphere. After a large swallow of my wine, I pushed it away.

“Try the tea. It might help.” Vareck poured me a cup, and I took a sip. The silence was awkward, and he must have sensed my discomfort because he changed the subject. “Tell me more about you. Do you have any hobbies?”

I snorted. “Hard to have hobbies when you’re broke, but I do enjoy reading.” I didn’t mention my preferred material was straight up smut.

He perked up slightly, showing interest. “I have a library in the castle. We could go there sometime.”

“Is that a pickup line? ‘We could go there sometime?’” I asked, trying to stifle my laughter. “You don’t date much, do you?” His shoulders jostled as he chuckled to himself, then tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling.

“Clearly not.”

“Well, I have. That was a pickup line, and it was bad.”

Vareck’s attention snapped back to me, his features a mixture of confusion and surprise, but the way his nostrils flared and his posture tightened had me on alert. His grip on his fork turned white knuckled and my breath hitched. He couldn’t possibly be jealous, could he? My mouth went dry despite the tea. “I hadn’t thought . . . are you”—he swallowed thickly—”with someone?”

I barked a laugh, taking a sip of my drink and thinking about my recent date with Axton at hismother’s house. “Hardly.”

The king forced a smile, muttering, “Good. That’s good.”

“Is it?”

“If he’s going to woo you, then yes, it’s obviously a good thing,” Corvo said dryly.

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