Page 423 of Flirting with Darkness

For a moment, I can’t find words. I’m locked, staring at the kingly fae before me.

The moment passes when I recallwhyI assumed he wanted to execute me. “You said—”

“I said you had to pay for your crimes.”

“And how was I meant to take that?”

He comes closer and kneels before me, taking both my hands in his. “Any other way than the way you did, Liesl.”

I meet his dark gaze. There’s no glint of humor, no streak of the cruelty that I once saw. Only sadness shines in the depths of his dark eyes. “I thought you understood what we were doing, little bird.”

I shake my head. “How—why? What were we doing?”

His shoulders rise slowly as he takes in a long, quiet breath and squeezes my hands. “Courtship, Liesl Aderyn, Daughter of the Keeper.”

My cheeks burn with heat, so many kinds of heat. Embarrassment, desire, anger…

“What do you mean, courtship? How the hell is dragging me through woods that try to kill me akin to courtship in your strange world?”

The king smiles softly. “You must prove your worth. In all things.”

I stare at him a long while, allowing the pieces to settle into place.

“You said that about the woman trapped in the netting.”

“Yes, though her situation was different. You should know, after you made me send you here, I did check on her.”

“And?”

“She’d already freed herself by the time I returned.”

I purse my lips at him. “Freed herself or she’d already been eaten by thesluaghor—”

“There was no evidence of that. No blood. No skin.”

My stomach roils at the image.

“The netting was cut clean through. Either she found a blade or someone set her free. But the same is true for anyone who comes to our land, welcome or not. If the woods don’t kill you, then you’re permitted to stay.”

I scoff at him. “How does not dying in your haunted forest equate to courtship in your mind?”

“Firstly, dear Liesl, my woods aren’t haunted. It’s merely home to all the creatures who have a vested interest in keeping the realm safe.”

Fine. I’ll grant him that.

“And as for your question, I’ll ask you this: how does courtship work in your realm? Is it not by sharing time and experiences with one another until each party ends up giving in to their baser desires?”

“We do that.”

He stares at me pointedly.

“It’s different here. It’s more…”

“More what?”

“It’s more… I don’t know exactly what the difference is. But how can we have courted when I didn’t know that’s what we were doing?”

“Do you object to it?”

---