Page 183 of Flirting with Darkness

I stroked hair from her face; it was usually soft, but this was even softer and smoother, like a sheet of silk. “Are you all right? Has he hurt you?”

She licked her lips, the frown deepening, then exchanged a glance with the fae lord. Checking what she could say in front of her captor?

My veins sizzled. What the hells had he done to her in the space of a couple of weeks? I would end him.

A frown mirroring hers creased his handsome face as he met her gaze. “Something’s off,” he muttered, so softly I wasn’t sure I was supposed to hear.

She dipped her chin in a single nod, then blinked up at me as if only just aware that I’d spoken. “Am I—?” She scoffed. “Of course he hasn’t hurt me. And… you’re asking ifI’mall right? Wild Hunt take you for even asking that, Rose Miller: you’re the one who’s been missing for six months!”

I laughed.

She didn’t.

Neither did the fae lord nor Faolán. My husband swore and his dark eyebrows smashed together. When he glanced at me, his expression asked whether my friend usually spoke as if she had a screw loose.

But other than the anxiety that dogged her, Ari wasn’t one for flights of fancy or anything worse than white lies.

Which left one possibility.

“Six months? I don’t…” I shook my head. “I left to find you the day afterhe”—I speared the fae lord with a glance—“took you. And I’ve only been in Elfhame a couple of weeks.”

Ari shared another look with him, and his lips drew flat before he spoke. “Time must move differently in here. The place reeks of magic.”

“I went back to Briarbridge to see you.” Ari looked up at me, dark eyes large. “I wanted you to know I was safe. But when I got there, you were gone.”

He nodded. “And that was months after the Tithe.”

My chest tightened because Ari’s watery gaze confirmed it. And if I’d been gone months… “Ma and Pa? The littles? Are they…?” But my throat closed around the words.

Ari’s smile trembled. “They’re doing well, but they’re scared for you. They thought…” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed and shook her head. “The older ones are helping with the littles. They’re all mucking in with the chores.” She raised her eyebrows as if she knew.

Which of course she did. She knew me better than anyone. She knew it was guilt constricting my chest. She knew I should be back there helping, not living in this strange luxury in the middle of Elfhame.

Her jaw went hard—an utterly alien look on her. “As soon as Bastian said he’d found you, I made him open the door to bring us here.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You made…?”

The fae lord who’d taken her crossed his arms, eyebrows drawing low and darkening his whole expression. He muttered something I didn’t catch.

“Don’t mind Ly.” Ari huffed something that was half sigh, half chuckle. “He’s furious that he now owes the Serpent a favour.”

A low rumble emanated from Faolán, and when I glanced back at him, his brows were tight together in an even darker glower than the one Ly wore.

It made my fingers itch to smooth his face, to ease the tension working his jaw side to side. But I didn’t want to release Ari, so instead I cocked my head at her. “The Serpent?”

“He means Bastian.” Faolán’s voice grated through the air.

“My beloved wife tipped our hand.” Ly narrowed his eyes. “And when that man sees a hand, he can’t help but bite it.” One eyebrow arched, he looked at Faolán.

Blinking, Ari turned from Ly to Faolán’s fisted hands.

“I wouldn’t believe everything you hear, Lysander,” he growled.

Lysander gave a dismissive snort and shrugged one shoulder. “So now I owe the Queen’s Right Hand, which…” Shaking his head, he exhaled, and the tightness of his expression faded. “But I’m pleased to finally meet you, Rose.” With a smile that warmed his eyes, he inclined his head. “My wife has told me so much about you—around her frantic fears, that is.” He gave her an indulgent look and the smile she returned was…

It was a punch to my gut, because it was utterly radiant. She was good at pleasing her captor. Did he get angry if she didn’t play the part?

“Wait,” I breathed. “Did he say ‘wife’? He made you marry him? We can get you a divorce—it just needs both sides to agree. Faolán told me. We’ll make him—”

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