Page 28 of A Court of Sugar and Spice
“I thought you might. You like everyone far too quickly.”
“Not the Nutcracker.” She glares at his red-coated back.
“Did something happen between you while I was gone?” I ask. “You disliked and distrusted him before, but you seem to almost hate him now.”
“Nothing happened,” she says, too quickly.
Before I can press her for the truth, my stomach growls. Loudly. So loudly that both of the Fae glance back at us.
“Hungry, are we?” asks the winged faerie. “It’s a long walk—you’ll need sustenance to make it there, I think. I’d offer myself as a snack, but I think you’d prefer this.” He bounds into the air, plucking two pink fruits from a willow tree like the one I saw by the stream.
He tosses one of the fruits to each of us. The skin is a crystallized pink, as if it’s been coated in sugar, but it’s not a hard coating. I bite through it easily, into the pulp beneath. Sweet juices burst over my tongue, lighting up my tastebuds.
“God, what is this?” Louisa hums through her own mouthful. “I’ve never had anything so delicious.”
The Fae males exchange a look I can’t quite interpret, and the sharp-toothed Faerie licks his pink lips. “There are far more delicious things in this realm, I assure you. These are sugarplums. My favorite fruit.”
“He used to eat them so often as a boy that he was nicknamed ‘Sugarplum’ among the court ladies,” the Prince adds, with a sly twist of his mouth.
“And thensomeonepersuaded all the youths of the court to call me that as well.” The winged faerie flicks his cousin’s shoulder. “I decided to embrace the name. And when I became fully grown, it took on a different meaning.” He winks at me.
I can’t imagine what he means by that, nor do I care to surmise. All I want is to keep eating this incredible fruit forever. But something from an old tale enters my mind—a warning about not consuming any food offered by the Fae.
With my mouth full, I pause on the path. “What will this fruit do to me?”
“Nothing terrible, sweetness,” the winged faerie assures me. “It will only ease your hunger a little and make you feel a bit happier, like a glass of good wine.”
“Oh. Then may I have another?”
He laughs and jumps into the air again, plucking another fruit from a different tree.
The Prince keeps walking, while Louisa trails reluctantly behind him, but the Sugarplum Faerie lands on the path in front of me, blocking my way with his body like he did earlier. A whiff of his fragrance—peppermint, chocolate, and snowfall—teases my nose. In the dusky depths of the forest behind him, fireflies light up—but they’re not the yellow ones from home—these are blue, purple, red, and green.
His eyes shine buttery yellow in the gloom as he hands me the second fruit. “Take a bite.”
The flavor that explodes in my mouth is different this time, but just as delicious.
He chuckles at my astonished expression. “A different flavor every time. Can I tell you a secret? It’s rather naughty.”
I want to say no, but he did save my life—twice if we’re counting the mole-rat situation. “Very well.”
“Nowadays, people call me Sugarplum because I have the same delightful quality as these fruits. I’m deliciously flavored, and I taste different every time.”
“You—you mean your personality?”
“No.” His lashes lower, hooding his eyes. “I’m not talking about my personality. I’m talking about my cum.”
Warmth spreads through my sex, and it’s all I can do not to press my legs together to soothe the tingling there.
“All Faeries taste divine in that way, especially to humans,” he says, walking on. “But my particular gift is unique.”
Dazed, I manage to walk beside him, trying not to picture him naked and flushed and coming hard—trying not to imagine myself catching the sweetly flavored release on my tongue.
I swallow reflexively, and then, to distract myself, I blurt out the question I’ve been wanting to ask. “Why does my godfather hate the Fae?”
“Some of us are worth hating. Perhaps he encountered a few of those and thought to paint us all with the same brush. But I don’t know his specific reasons, sugar. You would have to ask him.”
“I’ll probably never get the chance now. He left us behind and closed the portal we used to get here. So my sister and I are stuck in Faerie.”
