Page 164 of Flirting with Darkness

His eyes narrowed a fraction. “Then ask, Rose.” His grip on my waist flexed, pulling me that bit closer. “I won’t bite.”

My breasts skimmed his torso as we followed the dance’s steps. Much as the touch of him felt solid enough, brushing my nipples, sending little streaks of sensation through my nerves that feltso real, this was a dream. It was meaningless for me to ask dream-Faolán when I’d only get the truth from the real, waking man. Still, I could treat this as a practice.

“Your scars”—I tensed, fingers tightening on his hand, his shoulder, but he only dipped his head in acknowledgement—“what happened? Who did that to you?”

“Hmm.” He nodded thoughtfully.

That was all the answer I’d get. His usual low hum that was no answer at all. I had no right to expect—

“I was young, barely an adult.” He frowned, gazing out past me. “It was a village where they didn’t like…” He opened his mouth, closed it, then shook his head. “They didn’t likemy kind. Didn’t want one dirtying up their streets.” His nose wrinkled, baring his teeth for a second.

Was he talking about humans attacking him for being fae? Or was it that he worked for the Night Queen and had found himself amongst the Day King’s followers? Or was it down to his beastly side? Either way, the idea burned the back of my throat. I squeezed his tight shoulder, thumb running along his collarbone.

“Pitchforks and torches—I’m sure humans have the same thing.” His mouth curved without humour.

I’d seen the seed of that as a child. The group of kids gathered around Ari because she was different, their hands raised, fingers gripped around stones.

And when the creeping death came stalking through Briarbridge, I’d seen full-blown mobs gathered, searching for the sick, determined not to become one of them, terrified of the plague. So terrified that it stripped away their humanity and made them do the unthinkable.

It had started off as marking where the sick lived and making them stay in their homes. Just a warning, a sensible precaution.

But then as more had died, as the full horror of those black tendrils working their way through victims’ veins had truly hit, terror gripped their hearts and crushed them.

They’d gathered, an overwhelming wave and swept through town. Where they found death, they lit fires.

They burned down houses, even a whole block on the edge of town. Sometimes, it wasn’t just the dead they burned, but the sick still inside as they waited for death or the slim chance of recovery.

They were still alive enough to scream.

I slipped out of the house. I wasn’t stupid. I knew I couldn’t stand against a whole mob. But I might be able to stop them hurting Ari. Her parents had already died by this point, and she was sick. I’d delivered food to her, but that night, I ran from shadow to shadow and beat the mob to her cottage. Praying they’d forget about her, I scraped the mark off her door, blunting my new dagger.

It was worth it.

So, yes, I knew about pitchforks and torches.

Stomach a tight fist, I nodded to Faolán, who surveyed me in silence. “We do.”

“Then you understand how they chased me out of town.” His jaw clenched, and the shoulder under my hand turned so hard, I thought he would stop there, but he went on. “They wanted rid of the ‘dirty, stinking dog.’”

My heart clenched in a painful beat. The comment he’d made in the mirror. He carried their words, just like he carried the scars they’d left on his body. “They are wrong, you know.”

His gaze slid to mine, the flecked green and brown unfathomable. “Oh,Iknow that.” His mouth twisted. “Doesn’t mean there won’t be more like them.” He shrugged. “I know what people see when they look at me. I know what you saw when we met.”

I opened my mouth to apologise again, but he gave a soft growl.

“You admitted it. I don’t blame you for it. Understandable, I suppose.” He cocked his head to one side. “But I know to expect it now, and I keep up my guard. No one will catch me unawares and beat me half to death again.” His brows lowered, and his jaw ratcheted tighter still. “And although they might think it, that doesn’t mean I have tobeit.”

He fell silent, and we flowed with the music, gliding and turning. I let my feet and his sure grip on my waist and hand lead the way as I went over all he’d said—or all my imagined version of Faolán had said.

This was a dream and yet, itfelttrue.

I sought his gaze again. Even the pale verdigris and gold flecks in his eyes were there. Had I really paid so much attention to how he looked that I could conjure him this clearly? “That’s why you jumped in the bath right away, isn’t it?”

One side of his mouth rose, this time softer than his earlier bitterness. “I won’t be what they call me. My work takes me on the road sometimes, but travel dirt makes me... grouchy.”

He’d still been pretty grumpy about the tea cups this morning and that was after his bath. I arched an eyebrow.

He huffed out a short breath. “Fine,moregrouchy than usual.”

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