Page 427 of Flirting with Darkness

I frown at him. “I came back a day earlier than I expected, but I only had enough meals to equate to—”

“Fae food is quite different. One reason humans used to know not to eat or drink anything in our realm should they find themselves there. That coupled with perpetual darkness…”

He didn’t need to continue.

Sometimes ithadfelt like I’d been walking for days. I discounted it because I wasn’t hungry.

“We walked in silence for nearly a week before you finally spoke to me again, Liesl. You’re quite stubborn.”

A week.

A week?

“And that doesn’t include the night we spent together. I stretched time out for days worshiping at your altar.”

My eyes go wide, face reddens.

Why would you say that in front of my parents?

The king’s brow creases.Are they not sexual beings as well?

They are, but we don’t talk about it openly!

Interesting. I’ll bear that in mind.

“Okay, who’s ready for some dessert?” Mother asks, graciously pretending she hadn’t heard anything as she rings for the cook to bring out a plate of confections.

“So, you’ve courted my daughter for a month, you say?” Father’s eyes gleam with delight.

“That’s true, and if you allow me to take her as my queen, I can assure you and the rest of the Aderyn line will forever be taken care of, so long as you promise to destroy the chest in your cellar and any accouterments used for keeping me captive.”

Father stands, offering the fae king his hand to shake. “It’s as good as done. But you don’t need to pay me to do the right thing. And you certainly don’t need my permission to marry my daughter.”

11

Ithought I had beautiful things before.

Thought I was lucky to have a single fine rug in Father’s study and a few nice dresses.

But as I lie in the arms of my king, beneath a blanket of stars atop the astronomy tower of his country estate, I realize just how small I’d been thinking.

How narrow-minded I’d been.

He nuzzles my neck, and I lean into him. “Have you figured it out?” he whispers, lips brushing gently across my neck.

My brow pulls into a deep crease. “I think I’ll need some help to remember,” I say, and pull him closer.

The stubble around his mouth scratches at my skin as he smiles against me, and in a single motion he grips me around the waist and flips me over to my stomach.

I bite my lip in anticipation.

He draws his palm down my back, tracing the sigil that marks me as his. “I think it’s time you met my court.”

“Now?” I ask, delighting in his silken, magical touch. I don’t think it’s actually magic he uses to pull shivers and moans from me. But it could be.

“Not now, little bird.” He shifts his weight and kneels behind me on the bed, gripping my hips and pulling them high off the pillowy mattress. “All I can think of now is getting a second dose of your sweetness,” he says and plunges his face into my sex.

“Mmmm, you taste like honey,” he says slowly, giving my slickness a sound tongue-lashing with every syllable. “I think I might never grow tired of this.”

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