Page 196 of Flirting with Darkness

And the grunts that came from me as I struggled, not in control of my body—they were all in a man’s voice. This wasn’t my body, but a man’s.

I tried to call for Faolán, but I couldn’t even do that.

It seemed I was just along for the ride.

As the wolf snapped and growled, blasting hot breath on my face, I took in the flickering candlelight overhead and the way it reflected in the walls over and over again.

I wasin the painting.

The man must’ve had the same idea as me, because he… I…wegrabbed a handful of the wolf’s fur and scrabbled at our belt until we found the smooth leather of a hilt.

Quickly. Quickly.Inwardly I winced as those teeth got closer and closer.

Our grip on the wolf’s fur. It was slipping. The beast would have our throat soon. We needed to land a blow.

Blade easing out, fingers aching with how tightly they gripped that slipping fur, we let out a bellow. Our hand arced and plunged our knife into the wolf’s chest.

Hot, hot blood washed over our hand and arm, and the wolf let out a shuddering sound that raised the hairs on the back of our neck.

It twisted, turned, cracked, its weight collapsing on top of us, so we could barely draw breath. It wheezed, eyes rolling. When they turned back to me, they weren’t a wolf’s eyes, but soft, chocolate brown, almost human. We gasped, body tensing.

Why? What did he see in those eyes?

We didn’t see anything else for a long while, lost in the depths of those eyes and the accusation in them.

At last they blinked and so could we.

And that was when I saw more that just those eyes and took in the body on top of me. Not a wolf’s but a woman’s.

Shallow, panting breaths. Pointed ears. And those soft brown eyes screwed shut.

“Elaina?” Our voice trembled as we shook our head. “No. No, it can’t be.”

But she looked up at us and… and…

“It is you.” But it wasn’t only her.

Just as I was myself and this man, this was ElainaandFaolán.

And I’d just stabbed them.

“My love.” I touched their hair, flecked black and brown and sat up, pulling them close. “I… I didn’t realise.”

I wanted to press my hand over the wound on their side that still seeped out hot, red blood, but the man whose eyes I was seeing through didn’t do that.

Elaina-Faolán shook their head with a tremulous smile. “I’m sorry.” Crimson smeared their teeth and lips.

It wracked through me, that look of pain, that spilled blood—the fact Faolán had to be experiencing this pain.

“Couldn’t control… myself.” They winced, eyes screwing shut as an agonised grunt came from deep inside. “It burns.”

We blinked at the knife lying on the floor, blood pooling around it.

Darker than steel. Colder.

It was iron.

That was why we didn’t bother to stem the bleeding. It was too late, too much. They were fae and the iron so deep in their body was enough.

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