Page 14 of Dark Sun (Wicked Lovely 6)

Katherine stepped away, out of reach, closer to safety.

He bowed his head slightly, not breaking eye contact, as if he had actually lifted her hand in his. “I am Urian.”

ChapterSeven

Urian

If guilt were a part of his make-up, Urian would feel guilty for watching the girl squirm. She was so obviously not merely mortal that he couldn’t help wanting to ask her why she pretended to be one of them. He’d never pretended—not even as a child. His mother, more mortal than not, had not asked it of him.

He remembered her lessons with a burst of pride. “You must never pretend to be less than you are, Uri.”

Of course, his mother had also waited in vain for his father to remember them, to stop hiding, to return to her. She’d died of a broken heart. That might not have been the term the physicians used, but it was the cause all the same.

Urian wasn’t prone to suchmortalemotions, though. Not guilt. Not longing. And certainly not love of anyone other than his mother and sister. He was the only faery outside the courtsandFaerie itself who had the strength of a royal—and this half-mortal creature standing before him was nothing more than a pawn waiting to be used.

“Grab her a drink.” Urian ordered. “And a chair.”

He didn’t look away from her to see if they obeyed. They would. He might not use his innate addictive nature on the lot of them, but all faeries were alluring to humans. These people were mortals, fun when the need struck him and disposable when that was for the best.

Uri, admittedly, chose to associate with humans who were interesting in some way—artists or those beautiful of voice or form. It was a flaw in his kind, unfortunately. Faeries were drawn to the unusual or striking much the way some birds were lured by shiny trinkets.

And as agancanagh,Urian was innately drawn toward attractive mortals who shined like gems. Unlike his monster of a father, though, Urian didn’t set out to enslave and destroy them. He’d never be the one who destroyed someone he claimed to love—even if that lack of destruction was simply because he’d chosen not to love.

He wasn’t quite sure what to do with a halfling, though. Urian might not be keen on laws, but there were those lines he was aware he ought not cross. The High Queen’s rules topped that list, and she had opinions on halflings. Strong ones.

“Are you shaking?” he asked the halfling, who was now looking toward the mortals in a way he could only describe as protective.

“I don’t need a chairora drink.” Katherine folded her arms. Louder she said, “No, thank you. I’m leaving.”

“I mean them no harm,” he murmured. “Gina and the others. They are my friends.”

“Right.” Katherine gave him a disdainful look. “I always order my friends around.”

“Do you have friends?” he asked before he could quell the impulse. “Lovers?”

As he waited, Urian suddenly found every plot and plan in his life uninteresting. She, however, was enchanting.

“A, None of your business. And B, even if I do, I’m not auditioning for new ones.” She held his gaze in a way that was rare for him. Most people—fey and human—found him intimidating. She seemed to be undaunted.

Unexpectedly, Urian laughed at the temper in her before saying, “Pity. I give a great audition.”

“At what cost tothem?” She gestured at the others, who were openly staring. “Do they die for want of you?”

Urian startled. She obviously knew enough to recognize him for what he was. Most humans or half-humans lumped the humanoid fey in one category. How had this one so easily recognized him asgancanagh? Or was she suggesting that all fey left humans faery-struck?

“Perhaps you want to rescue them? Offer yourself in trade? Or advise me on a bedding schedule?” he suggested. “Tell me, pretty, what you suggest . . .”

Katherine, human though she might claim to be, glowed slightly the more she argued with him. Some hidden part of her was waking, and he wasn’t about to tell her anything that made that glow vanish.

Instead, he asked, “Which ones look weakest? I wouldn’t want any of them to wither for want of my attention.”

“Monster.” Her eyes flashed like lightning-lit obsidian.

Dark Court through and through, Urian thought with a relief he hadn’t expected. He wanted her in a way that was sudden and all-consuming.

“For craving touch?” he asked. “Are you going to try tolieand tell me that you are above such things?”

“I don’t use my friends likethat,” she retorted.

---