Page 81 of Bride of the Fae Prince

“Hear, hear!” call half a dozen women, bright smiles on their faces.

It’s not a lie.

I cannot help the way my body goes stiff. Or the way my mind returns to the mosaic on the ceiling above me, of the fae hunting humans and using them as their footstools.

Ash’s voice rumbles through his chest into my back. “To wedded love, and the joy it brings.”

Glasses clink around us, but Ash merely leans back in his chair and takes a sip. Then he tilts his head toward mine, and his thumb gives my ribcage a subtle stroke. “Care for a sip, love?”

I shake my head. My stomach is much too unsettled to brave something new.

“That is a lovely dress, Princess Stella,” a bright voice says directly across from us.

I look up, startled, to find an unexpectedly kind pair of silver eyes fixed on mine. The woman has a radiant pair of electric blue wings, which only brings out the shimmering streaks in her silver hair. A delicate circlet crown drips a diamond between her brows.

“You have been some time from Valehaven, Princess Oleria,” Ash says from behind me, removing any obligation for me to reply. Is that a note of curiosity in his tone? “I am surprised you have come.”

“My father doesn’t like it when I am gone, but he could hardly refuse the High King’s particular invitation,” she replies.

“He probably should have,” Ash says darkly with a chuckle.

Oleria glances at me, as if searching for an explanation to this comment, but I’m no less confused than she is. A servant slips in to my left, and I turn to look as he sets down a new goblet, this one much smaller than Ash’s. It bears the same golden liquid.

“For the pet,” says Listhra with a magnanimous smile, as though bestowing a gift.

They truly don’t think of me as Ash’s wife, do they? I’m his passing fancy, a mere heartbeat in his life. One to tire of.

Well, I’m tired ofthem. “I may be his pet,” I say, “but at least helikesme.”

For the first time, the fae woman’s golden eyes snap to mine. Startled disgust overtakes her beautiful features.

Ash sets down his goblet with a roar of laughter. His arm cinches around me, bringing me closer to him in a way that isn’t to protect me, but to banish every last shred of distance between us. His voice is low, meant mostly for me—and yet every fae in that room can hear exactly what he says. “It is true, indeed: I like her better with each passing moment.” To my surprise, he picks up the smaller goblet, holds it up to the light so it sparkles, and adds, “How lovely of you, Listhra.”

Then he downs the entire glass in one gulp.

Listhra gasps, her face turning ashen before her glamour quickly masks it. “Prince Trenian! You shouldn’t drink that!”

He sets the goblet down with a clink, leaning forward suddenly as his hand splays tightly over my waist, his gaze fixed on the princess. “Why?” he demands, eyes glinting and mouth twisting dangerously. “What might be in Stella’s goblet that wouldn’t be in mine?”

She plasters a demure smile on her face. “You should be careful. Not many are happy you’ve taken a human wife.”

“Ah. So you think I ought to be worried about poison?”

Poison?

“It wouldn’t do to be careless,” she replies, turning her attention back to her goblet as she lifts it to her lips and takes a delicate sip. “Without you, the High King’s throne will fall.”

“What a shame that would be.”

He leans back against the chair, and a tiny part of me is relieved to not be the one thing between him and this conniving woman. I relax slightly against him, trying to measure my breath to calm my raging heart.

Ash brings his mouth to my neck, just below my ear, making me shiver. “If I were you, I’d jump up and run behind my chair. Otherwise, your dress might get soiled.”

My dress? Soiled?

When I don’t move, he gives a little snort. “Perhaps I should be clearer. Get out of my lap, Stella, before I throw up on you.”

My eyes widen, and I barely have time to scramble to my feet and get out of the way before Ash scoots his chair back, bends double, and vomits all over the floor. I cover my mouth and nose with my sleeve as screams erupt around the table.

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