Page 93 of A Court of Hearts and Hunger
“If those candies help you and you want to take them, I’m glad he can provide them.” I slide off the table. “But I happen to like you just as you are.”
Ygraine smiles, sweet and feral. “Go. And be careful tonight—the Queen will be looking for another heart to claim.”
28
Riordan told Caer to feed me, and he takes the task quite literally. He’s sitting in a huge pillowy chair, holding me on his lap and feeding me bites of delicious porridge from a blue-and-white bowl. The porridge is swirled with cream and pink sugar, dotted with plump purple berries.
“I can feed myself,” I tell him.
“Nonsense.” He brings another spoonful to my lips. “Open up, mousie.”
I obey, flushing, because I can’t remember anyone ever caring what I ate, or whether I ate at all. I’ve gone without meals more than once when there simply wasn’t enough to go around. And if I’m honest, even the filmy blue outfit Caer gave me was nicer and softer than the coarse, patched clothing I used to wear back home.
I’m not wearing the blue outfit anymore, though. After escorting me upstairs with surprising respect considering I was naked, Caer wrapped me in a voluminous pink dressing gown embroidered with flowers, belted at the waist. I have never felt so comfortable or well-cared for in my life. It’s wonderful, and confusing.
Soft music unspools through the room, released from a stone Caer calls a “melody capture.” He told me it was a rare artifact, spelled with a mixture of siren blood and other things he can’t remember. “If you activate it while musicians are playing, you can capture their music and play it back later,” he said. “It can hold a thousand songs.”
It’s been a while since he set it going, and I’ve loved every song that has flowed out of it. What a marvel, living with beautiful music freely available all the time!
Caer presents me with another bite of porridge. “That was brilliant, how you handled Riordan,” he murmurs.
“Would you really have fought him for me?”
He feeds me another bite, then says quietly, “I hope so. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a bit of a coward.”
“You run from things that make you uncomfortable or sad. I’ve often wished I could do the same, in my old life. I jumped down a rabbit hole, remember?” I sigh, leaning against his shoulder. Cuddling with him like this feels strangely right. As if he was made to hold me, and I was made to fit against his body.
His furry tail writhes around my bare ankle. “Are you sorry you jumped in?”
I hesitate. “Yes.”
His body stiffens, and he looks away, a pout shaping his mouth. As if he hoped for a different answer.
“You two haven’t given me much reason to be glad I’m here,” I point out. “And you still might kill me, if Riordan finds some curse-breaking spell that requires my virginal body parts. It’s stupid, really, that him licking me doesn’t affect my virginal status, but actual copulation would. Why is that? And who decided—”
Caer’s head whips around. “Helickedyou?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“That fucking bastard. And here I thought we couldn’t have any fun with you. I was being so good, while he—” The Cat hisses, and I feel the fur of his tail billowing up with his rage. “He made you come? How many times?”
A hot flush surges up my neck, into my face. “Many times. But only to help me sleep, so he could collect my dreams.”
“It’s not fair that he gets a taste, and I don’t.” Caer sets the bowl and spoon on a nearby table and slides his fingers into my robe. The swift glide of his hand over my breast makes me gasp. Pleasure ripples through my clit, and my core flares with heat.
“I kissed a Seelie artist at Court today,” Caer confesses, his fingers coaxing my nipple into a hard bud. “But I was thinking of you. If we can get out of this mess without killing you, I’d like to fuck you, Alice. You understand what that means?”
“It means—your thing, inside me.”
“My cock,” Caer says, his eyes sparkling. “Say it, mousie.”
“Your cock,” I answer firmly, though my cheeks flame.
“You’ve seen male parts before, yes?”
“My little brothers and my father, and occasionally one of the hired farmhands while they were pissing outside.”
“Those don’t count.” He lifts me, slides off the chair, and plants me in his spot. “Want to see mine? It’s a bit different than a human’s.”
