Page 21 of Faking with the Fae King

“The shadow fae are dangerous. They waged war against the rest of Faerie while under the control of the Dark God.” She puts on her super serious, I-don’t-take-any-shit expression. “His people wiped out all the orcs in Avalon, including Wranth’s parents.”

Oh, god. My stomach twists. I knew Naomi’s husband was an orphan but not why. And this guy I agreed to marry is one of these shadow fae! Might have been a bit hasty. But that’s me—I see something and stampede toward it.

“Severin did that?” I ask.

“Not him personally. He would have been a baby.”

“You say you met him. Did he hurt anyone?” I’m not sure I can accept it if he did.

“No. Not really. He actually ended up helping us defeat the Dark God.” She lets out a huff. “But that’s not the point. The point is you can’t trust him. Shadow fae are manipulative and excellent liars.”

I swallow. At least he didn’t hurt anyone. “Maybe he’s not all bad. He put a protective bubble of magic around the town to keep us safe. Only witches and people accepting of magic will see any of the wacky stuff going on here. And heeven says he’ll get new businesses and customers for us!”

“That sounds great and all, but there’s no way he’s doing all of this out of the goodness of his heart.”

“No, you’re right.” I take a big swig of coffee to give myself an extra moment to prepare, then blurt, “He needs a wife.”

“A what?” she shrieks.

I give her a sheepish grin.

“And this ‘wife’ is you?” Naomi points at me.

“Yep.”

“Argh!” She throws up her hands. “I love you like a sister, Hannah, but for god’s sake, you have to get over this self-sacrificing stuff.”

“Hey.” Hurt threads through me. “That’s not fair!”

“Isn’t it?” she says. “You’ve already given years to this town, and now you’re going to marry a stranger? It’s too much!”

“It’s a fake marriage! And it’s totally worth it. I’ve wanted to be mayor since I was a little kid. I worked for it all through high school and college. It’s not just a job for me—it’s who I am. And I want to be good at it. I want to help this town and everyone who calls it home.”

“Is that your dream or your father’s?” Naomi’s eyes search my face, and she grips my hand to tell me she knows she’s asking a difficult question.

“No. It’s got nothing to do with Dad.” As a senator, he’s happy I went into politics. But he’s always trying to push me to run for higher-level positions, saying more power means helping more people. My job as mayor is definitely not what he wants.

“It’s my dream because of Nan,” I say. Once Dad got elected to higher office, my parents lived in the capital for parts of each year. I stayed with my grandmother during those times to remain in the same school, and I loved it. Nan was the best. She passed a couple of years ago, peacefully sitting in the sun in her back garden, but her spirit lives on. “Ferndale Falls is not just where I live. Being here feels like all the warmth and love of one of Nan’s hugs. It’s all the happy memories I have wrapped up in one place. My grandmother loved this town.”

“Super loved it.” Naomi gives a soft smile. “I think her famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were half the reason anyone went to the town meetings when we were little.”

A huff of amusement escapes me at the memory. “They sure didn’t hurt. I wish I could make them as well as her. Maybe more people would come to the meetings.”

“Stop.” She wiggles my hand. “You’re already running yourself ragged for Ferndale Falls. And now you’re talking about marrying a shadow fae!”

“Fakemarrying! It’s totally different!”

“You do know I run a bookstore, right?” She narrows her eyes and lets go of my hand to wave hers around. “I’ve got an entire section of marriage-of-convenience romance books, and you know what almost every single one of them has in it? The couple falls in love.”

“You said almost,” I say. “What happens in the other books? They become besties and agree to both shag the pool boy?”

“Hardly.” She starts counting things with her fingers. “She either gets stolen away by an enemy and falls in lovewith him, or she gets rescued by her childhood sweetheart and falls in love with him, or she falls in love with one of the staff and runs away with him.”

“Ha! Iknewthere was a pool boy.” I point at her. “But seriously, those are books, and this is real life. I can fake marry him for a year and a day without falling in love. It’ll be totally worth it! Ferndale Falls will prosper againandbe protected from anyone who can’t handle all the magic and fae.”

“It sounds too good to be true.” Naomi shakes her head. “You know what they say about Faerie bargains—it’s always the human who gets screwed.”

“He’s getting something out of it, too. Severin doesn’t want to marry a fae. Politics or something.” I wave a hand. “The marriage also means his palace can stay here on Earth. Hereallylikes our forest. Did you see how pretty the town green is now? That was him.”

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