Page 19 of The Lord of the Labyrinth

The Twilight Court was no mere palace. It was a vast city built upon the pale stones of an ancient mountain whose roots reached the firmament of creation. Its spires glittered like diamonds in the sunlight. At night, as the majesty of the moon moved overhead, the crystals that grew from the stones everywhere turned the palace into a beacon of soft, alluring light.

Roan wondered if Kate would appreciate the beauty of his world and fall in love with the twilight hours and the passing of midnight just as he had when he’d been a young boy. Sunlight was powerful and fierce, it was true, but the moon—ah, the moon—she was the mover of tides, the secret keeper, the mirror of the sun’s light, softening it for the eyes of Fae and mortal alike.

He’d been given a choice on his one hundredth birthday, just as Eudora had, to join the Seelie Morning Court, but they had both loved this place more.

Roan would convince Kate to see the wonder of his home. He would start by showing her the pleasure she would have for the rest of her life with him.

That single kiss he’d taken still lingered upon his lips. Her sweet taste, the touch of her soft skin beneath his fingers, the warmth of her eyes, and the rapid beat of that racing mortal heart had been intoxicating. He wasn’t certain how he’d managed to stop from going further. But something about not rushing this conquest of her made each encounter all the more intense. How would it feel to explore her, to kiss every inch of her body and learn the secrets of her soul as he stole kisses from her lips?

He returned to the west wing of the palace and whispered the spell to unlock the door to his chambers. When he entered, his blood heated in anticipation, expecting to find the mortal naked in his bed.

But his bed was empty.

“Kate?” he growled into the silence. He strode toward the bathing room and jerked the door open. It too was empty.

Where was she?

He cursed softly and saw the chest of drawers had been left open. When he searched through his shirts, he noticed one of his spare daggers was missing.

So, his little mortal had escaped, and she had taken a weapon. This was not good. By the look of the empty tray on his bed, she had eaten, so at least something had gone right. She’d consumed food from the Fae realm, which would give her strength and would heal her wounds for a day or so. More importantly, it bound her to his land for a time. She would be safe—well, safe enough—until he was able to recapture her.

However, there was still the matter ofhowshe had escaped...

“Babbitt!” he snarled.

The brownie appeared in the blink of an eye. “My lord?”

“Where is Kate?”

“Um...” The brownie glanced around, eyes wide. “She’s not here?”

“Did you let the mortal woman leave?” His blue eyes turned gold as the wild form within him stirred with rage.

“No, my lord!” Babbitt replied without hesitation. “She asked to be set free, and I told her you wished for her to remain here. I was very clear about that. She was most understanding.”

Roan closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Andthenwhat did she do?”

“Well, she asked me for rope.” The brownie smiled. “So I gave her one. A very long one.” Babbitt, the little fool looked all too pleased with herself.

“Rope.” He uttered the word with a dark scowl. “You gave her rope?”

“Yes, my lord. You said to see to her every need but not to let her leave your chambers.”

When a faint breeze tickled his skin, he spun to face the balcony. The doors hadn’t been fully closed.

“And you unlocked the balcony doors?” he added.

“Well, yes, my lord. The balcony is part of your chambers, and it’s not like the mortal can fly away, can she? And we’re far too high up for her to jump, so you’d need to have an awful lot of ohhhhh dear... I might have made an error in judgment, my lord. Please don’t be angry…”

Roan’s eyes narrowed as he flung the doors open. A stout rope was tied around the stone railing and dropped down out of sight. Roan peered over the edge, terrified that he would see the mortal woman’s body smashed on the rocks below.

Instead, he glimpsed a feminine figure about twenty feet from the ground, slowly working her way down the rope. He didn’t want to admit to being impressed, but he was. He climbed onto the railing and then leapt into the air, changing into his wild form. As an owl, he flew down in a slow spiral to the ground beneath the rope and then transformed into his normal self. He crossed his arms and stared up at Kate’s bottom as she continued to scoot down the rope inch by inch, unaware that she had been discovered. He could hear her mutterings as her voice bounced off the rocks around her.

“Stupid idea...Ouch... What the hell was I thinking? I mean, I reach the bottom, great. Then what? Catch a bus back to Earth?”

When her boots reached the top of his head, he cleared his throat. She looked down at him and then shrieked, losing her grip on the rope. Roan caught her easily in the cradle of his arms. She was warm, and the sweet, faint scent of her sweat teased his nose. Her arms wrapped around his neck, purely on instinct, but he couldn’t resist squeezing her just a little tighter to him.

“Dammit,” Kate muttered. Her lovely brown eyes, the color of the tree trunks of his forests in the summer, stilled that racing madness in his head as he looked back down at her. She didn’t take her arms away from his neck, and he felt that was a small victory.

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