Page 26 of Immortal Sins
Flynn leans back on the hay with his hands braced beneath his head, his elbows stretched wide. “Oh, but I will. Mandatory military service awaits.”
I shuffle some hay underneath my ass and build a pillow with my discarded clothes, keeping the poncho on. “I thought your life was all feasts and prostitutes.”
“Feasts and prostitutes help you forget that your life isn’t really your own.”
The flippant logic coaxes a smile out of me, and I turn back to face him. The Fae nestles onto his side. From this angle, I can count the tiny freckles on his face.
The close quarters suddenly feel a bit claustrophobic, and I scoot away from him, putting as much space between us as possible.
He holds himself up on one elbow. “Are you afraid I’ll snuggle you if it gets cold?”
I press my lips together to calm my frazzled heartbeats. “Maybe I snore.”
A bright smile spreads on his lips, and he shifts onto his back again, one hand resting on his stomach. “I would expect nothing less from you, mortal. Nothing less.”
11
FLEABAG
Hay stuck to my palms, I wake with a start. The rhythmic breathing of the horse is gone. Adrenaline rushes through my blood, but I can’t put a finger on what woke me from the dreamless sleep.
Dry bedding crunches under my weight as I shift to my side. Darkness blinds me completely. The torrential rain from before gave way to a quiet drizzle, and the temperature has dropped significantly.
With a deep sigh, I press on my beating heart, willing it to return to a normal rhythm, until a clicking sound tickles my ears. Thetick-tick-tickreminds me of a cockroach skittering across the floor.
I shiver at the thought of Faerie insects and what they might look like.
“Flynn?” I paw at the darkness. The space beside me is empty, and my throat bobs. “Stop toying with me.”
Goosebumps prickle my neck. “Flynn!”
No answer.
I push my fire forward to pierce the night. Flynn’s body left a deep imprint in the hay, but the Fae is gone. A whiff of night air blows past my legs. A cold cackle rumbles across the metallic sheets covering the barn. It creeps closer and closer until I hear a voice in my head.
Oh my! Can it be? An earthling has come to fill my belly?
A sting in the tender flesh of my arm burns enough for me to cry out in surprise. Before I can move, a languid, insidious lull takes hold of my body. My muscles melt from the inside out. I’m paralyzed.
Eyes wide, I search for the source of the heart-wrenching clicks, each of them echoing deep in my soul like a butcher’s knife against bone. Rain trickles along the roof.
Death? Failure? What dreary future gnaws at your delicious, quickened heart? To be eaten alive, perhaps, or paralyzed?
“Show yourself,” I croak.
A greyish, human-shaped hand closes around my calf, but I can’t move—a frozen statue imbued by fear.
My belly cramps.
Ohh—I see. I see what you fear, earthling.
Long black nails scratch my skin, and a shudder of revulsion rattles me to my core. Fireballs burst from my limp hands, and I manage to blast the creature, but it barely twitches in response.
To be irrelevant. To be forgotten. You fear your own mortality. He hehehe.
The creature chucks out a high, distorted giggle, and I catch a glimpse of its terrible features. It’s got the build of a lanky teenage girl, the round cheeks of a doll, big eyes, and a hairless head.
No one escapes the skin they were born in. No one but me. Let me wear your skin, earthling. Let me taste your destiny.
