Page 27 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

“I thought of it.”

Edvear waits for me to elaborate, but I do not. I head back to the house. My mind lingers on the young woman, and perhaps it is my Nothril blood that makes me oddly excited about unraveling her secrets. No matter what angle I view this situation from, I cannot come up with a way she would be an effective threat against me. All that remains is an intriguing puzzle justbeggingto be solved.

A young woman masquerading as a boy?

I smile, and it isdefinitelymy Nothril blood that makes me immediately think of dozens of ways to toy with her and her insistence upon this disguise.

Maybe my time in the human lands won’t be so terrible after all.

Chapter 9

Kat

IbreathehardasI shut the door to the outhouse. The stench is repugnant, but I don’t care. I just need a quiet, dark corner for half a minute to let out a chorus of silent screams. My cheek still stings, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the sting of my pride and frustration.

I need to give up my intention to continue undereating. I can’t do basic things like fend off someone angry at me.

But more than that—bigger than all that—is the gut-filling horror of my new situation.

Prince Rahk. Prince Rahk. Prince Rahk.

Of the cursed Nothril Court.

“Oh dear saints,” I gasp, clutching the sides of my head. “Oh dear saints. I’m going to get myself killed.”

Memory assaults me of what it was like to be cornered by him in his room, fearing that he would take one of his great swords and slice me open. I think of the frightened woman I left behind. A woman who might be dead now, if my mask wasn’t enough to throw the Nothril Court off the scent of the other servants.

Prince Rahk of the Nothril Court.

Ofallthe fae in Faerieland, he is the single worst person who could have come to Harbright. The single worst person for me to be living in the same house with—even one as grand as this one.

If he knew it was me who stole hisollea, he’d kill me.

If he knew I was freeing human slaves from Faerieland, he’d kill me.

If he knew I was lying to him about my gender, age, social status—everything—he’d kill me.

Brutally. Torturously.

Blast this all.

These servants here haveno ideawho their master is. They do not know that he is a notorious killer. They have not seen the coldness of his dead gaze—not like what I saw in Faerieland.

And now that I’ve begun this job, I cannot leave. There is no other place for me to work without getting a reference, which I cannot earn within the short time I intend to stay here. Beyond that, there is no other place for me to go. Not without leaving town and crippling my ability to run raids.

I have to do this.

The only way out is through.

“You’ve just got to be clever about this,” I tell myself between panicked gasps for air. “You learned how to survive in the Long Lost Wood. You learned how to stalk fae courts and rescue humans. You can do this.”

I have many things to my advantage,I tell myself, to make up for all the ways I’m egregiously disadvantaged. We’re on human ground. He’s not home.I’min my homeland. I know the ways of the human world. He doesn’t know who I am. He didn’t pick up my scent at the Nothril Court. I’m good at staying beneath notice when I want to. I’ll work hard. I’lleatand get back my strength. I won’t give him a single reason to doubt me. I’ll be the best attendant he’s ever had.

“You robbed a fae prince blind and got away with it,” I tell myself.You’ve got this.

Squaring my shoulders, I push open the outhouse door and face what comes next.

Over the quick but satisfying meal that the cook, Mrs. Finch, sets out for me, I learn that the low fae with the horns is named Edvear, and he is the steward. According to Mrs. Banks, I will now answer exclusively to him. She tells me to go report for duty to him. I wander the hallways of the manor looking for him, and I hide my wince when I find him speaking to Prince Rahk in a room that appears to be a study.

---