Page 7 of Faking with the Fae King

Severin flies on, seemingly effortlessly. Treetops race below in a blur of green, suddenly broken by the straight line of the palace’s outer wall. In another abrupt change, he brings us back to vertical, his wings snapping wide to cup the air and slow us.

I make another undignified noise as my startled body instinctively tangles my legs around his, even though he holds me as firmly as ever.

“I’m unused to flying with anyone.” He lands in front of the palace. Thick green moss covers the ground between it and the outer wall instead of grass. “I will attempt to gentle my course adjustments for our future trips.”

“Future trips?” I force my legs to unwind from his and slide down to standing. How am I supposed to survive being plastered to his hard body on the regular?

“I will be carrying you rather often while we’re married.” He raises one eyebrow. “Unless you can fly?”

“Nope. No flying.” Oh, god. Did I just lie? Who the hell knows? Imightbe able to fly.

I spin away from him, ready to get a better look at the palace. The towers soar overhead, and the arched silver doors of the entrance look too heavy for a person to open. It’s easily the largest building in the entire town multiple times over. “You really didn’t damage any of the forest by bringing this here?”

“I really didn’t,” he says. “You now stand in Faerie. This is a piece of Avalon, my home realm.”

“But we’re on Earth.”

“We are.” He tips his head. “And we aren’t.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Why should it? It’s magic.” He smirks and offers an elbow. “Let me show you the palace.”

With my hand tucked into the crook of his arm, we walk toward the impressive double doors, which gleam like polished silver. They’re each twenty-foot tall and embossed with a flourishing tree. Animals and various small fae peep out from the leafy branches. Severin’s shadows whip out ahead of us and open the heavy metal doors easily, and he escorts me into a grand marble foyer.

Intricate carvings decorate almost every surface, repeating the nature motif of the main doors. Within them, tiny faces full of cunning and mischief peep from behind flowers. A massive chandelier fills the vaulted space overhead, blazing with what must be a hundred candles. Twin staircases curve up each side of the room to form a wide balcony, and rooms open to all sides, each filled with the most exquisite furniture and art.

“This is stunning! It’s one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen.” Enthusiasm fills my voice. “It’s like something from a movie.”

“We can look at the rest of the rooms later, but there’s something I want you to see.” Severin steers me toward the arched opening framed by the stairs. On the other side is a room even more spectacular than the entry.

Fluted columns march down the sides of the long room, leading to a bright silver throne encrusted with emeralds the same color as Severin’s eyes. Overhead hang more of the gorgeous chandeliers, but most of the room’s light comesfrom sunlight pouring through the tall, arched windows that line both of the side walls. The stained glass in each depicts more scenes from nature that paint the marble floor in bright splashes of color.

Something seems… odd. It takes me until we’re almost all the way to the throne to figure out what’s bugging me. “Wait! How is there sunlight coming through the windows? We’re in the center of the palace. There’s no way this room could have even one exterior wall, let alone two.”

“Magic, of course.”

“Of course,” I echo, a bit dazed.

I expect Severin to sit on the throne or maybe let me sit there so I can feel how grand it will be to be married to him—Oh! Will I be aqueen?—but he pulls me past the throne to a hidden door.

It opens onto the garden I got a glimpse of from the air, and that glimpse did not do it justice.

Instead of a fussy formal garden with plants carefully corralled into uniform beds, a wonderful profusion of color welcomes me. There are more flowers than I’ve ever seen in one place, in every shape and color. Roses, tulips, irises, and lilies I know, but I can’t name most of the others. I’m not even sure we have all of them on Earth. Small trees dot the landscape, providing center points the rest of the plants surround in little islands of color. Moss-covered paths wind through the garden, inviting slow ambles.

“Do you like it?” Severin’s voice sounds a bit hesitant for the first time. This matters to him, even more than what I thought of the palace.

“It’s the most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen.” I meet hisgaze, letting him see the sincerity of my words.

He smiles, truly smiles for the first time instead of his usual smirk. It lights his handsome features, making him both better looking and more approachable.

Oh. My heart skips, and the butterflies in my tummy throw a rave, filling me with fluttery fits of excitement. I shove my unruly hands into the pockets of my jeans before I do something like grab his shoulders and lick the tattoo on his chest to see if his skin tastes as delicious as it smells.

“I made it, like I did the town green,” he quietly admits. He leads me to the back of the garden, where a tiny wooden bridge arches over a stream, the water burbling happily over the rocks. A shadow uncoils from his arm to pluck a pink flower the exact color of my blouse. It brings the bloom to his hand, and he tucks it into my hair, the heady floral scent saturating the air.

His fingers brush my ear, making me shiver and starting the butterfly party going again. I cup the flower to the side of my head. “What is it?”

“It’s a peony, one of my favorites.”

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