Page 134 of Kiss the Fae

“Not a chance, but he…” I give up. “I’ve got no fucking clue what Puck’s up to. I barely understood half of what that riddler said.”

I plow ahead to fill the silence, describing my encounter with his brother, including as many details as I can remember, down to the prick’s wily smirk and nonsensical remarks.

Cerulean scans the ground, thinking. “Puck wouldn’t have shown up if he weren’t placed in a vulnerable position. He came to you, hunting for information.”

My, my, my. You honestly want to know.

The satyr’s comment echoes in my mind, realization dawning. “He knows I won. Now that I’ve got the upper hand—not to mention, he found me dallying in the wild—he assumed I was helping Juniper, until he realized I wasn’t. Because if I were, I wouldn’t have pelted him with questions about my sister’s whereabouts or what he’s putting her through. I’d have known those tidbits. But why would he think…?”

“Because whatever he’s forcing her to do, she’s exceeding his expectations,” Cerulean concludes.

Sounds like Juniper. Puck had dubbed her a show-off, which is accurate. If my sister’s anything, she’s an overachiever.

Now who said anything about her needing to be smart?

I buck myself up. There’s no way I’m letting Puck’s parting gibe trump my hopes for Juniper. I’ve gotta keep faith in her, the way she’s keeping faith in me. Don’t know what the satyr’s playing at, but my sister isn’t an easy target.

Cerulean nods. “If he met with you, there might be leverage to spare, some remote tactic to benefit your sisters. However, Puck is shrewd, Elixir’s malevolent, and nature isn’t to be trifled with. Securing an advantage will take scrupulous planning.”

“I’m in,” I say. “We do this together.”

Reverence lifts his features, but something eclipses that—heartbreak masked beneath a deep layer of understanding. “So you came back to be near them.”

If I ask, he’ll let me stay here until my sisters win, until I can bring them home. But I don’t want only to stay here in this mystical and brutal land. I want so much more, because I’m just that greedy, and just that mad for this Fae.

“That’s not all.” My feet carry me across the grass until I stand before him, absorbing the turbulence of his gaze, open and raw and mine. “I came here for you.”

36

“For me,” he echoes.

I nod and duck my head. I feel so much, too much to cage in, and so my heart climbs up my throat, and it tumbles off the edge. “Because I don’t care about being mates, or not having a sensory bond, or everyone snubbing us, or dying while you’ll live forever. We have now, and I want now, because that’s real. It’s always been real since I met you in that forge, and that’s not gonna change, and being linked has nothing to do with it. And I don’t know what’ll happen with my sisters, but we can find a way to help them. And together, we can find a way to help this wild survive without sacrificing mortals. And we don’t have to be apart in order to unite our worlds, because we’ll find a way around that, too. It’s a lot to face, so we’ll be really fucking busy, but there’s a crossway somewhere, a connection between all these things—there has to be. So I need to be here, and I want to be here, and I want to make this place a home with you, because I love you. I love you so much. I love—”

A pair of strong hands snatch my waist and haul me forward. Our bodies slam together, and his mouth swoops down, sinking into mine. On a cry, I fling myself into the kiss. My mouth parts with his, splitting and welcoming the hot lash of his tongue.

Cerulean’s groan traverses across my lips. Our mouths tilt and clutch, his tongue pitching in and out, incinerating my thoughts to ash. Wetness pools between my legs. My fingers itch to rip his clothes off and feel his hips snapping between my thighs. I’m not the only one getting stirred up, but Cerulean breaks away, then clasps the sides of my face.

“I love you,” he intones. “How I love you. I’ve loved you since you brought light into that forge and reached your fingers through that cage.” He shakes his head. “But I don’t deserve this.”

“Tough shit,” I purr. “You’ve got me.”

“You came back to be with me.”

My dress grazes his shirt, my pulse a berserker in my wrists. As for my body, it’s nowhere near satiated, but now that I have a second to process… “And to make a bargain.”

Cerulean twitches, his blue lips tipping into a grin. “Hmm. We’re having a dire influence on each other. State your terms.”

“We live here in this tower, in this wildlife park. We’ll serve the animals, you’ll show me your culture, minus the orgies but definitely including the food, and I’ll tell you more about mine. And you’ll play the flute for me every night, and after we’ve fucked ourselves into exhaustion—and I do mean, exhaustion—we’ll fall asleep and wake up together.” My voice wobbles, and my eyes blur, and I keep going. “But I get to travel home as often as I want, to visit my father, to do what I’ve been doing.”

To take care of my sanctuary friends. To rescue them from trade poachers. To find a way to fix that shit, as well as this schism between my people and his kin.

His musical thumbs trace my cheeks. “Oh, my mutinous one. You of all people should know, you don’t need to make a bargain for that.”

I know I don’t, because my choice is my right. I just wanted hear him say it.

“Though if you allow it,” Cerulean adds, “I’d like to join you on those trips whenever Moth can mind the park on her own. I want to see your world through your eyes.”

I squint, parsing through his reply. “No glamour on anyone but yourself.”

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