Page 2 of Bound and Beguiled

If anything, she was more beautiful than Katarina had claimed.

The Fae woman dropped a kiss on the top of my cousin’s head, looking down at her with such open adoration that my breath caught in my throat. Katarina’s face, as she leaned against her, sure of her welcome, was utterly radiant. I blinked back a fresh wave of tears. Happy ones, this time, even if they carried a hint of loneliness.

“I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you,” I said, holding out my hand.

She clasped it firmly. “Same. Although I wish it were happier circumstances.” Her fingers squeezed mine once, then she moved smoothly to grab the duffel that held all my worldly belongings, lifting it with no sign of strain. Sunlight highlighted her curved cheek and the smooth muscle of her arm as she adjusted the bag’s strap over her shoulder. She flashed a grin at Katarina’s appreciative sigh.

My singular foray into romance had been a catastrophic failure, and I’d made peace with my partnerless fate. But as Katarina nudged me towards her flower shop of a house, our arms firmly entwined and with her lover keeping pace beside us, a little nip of something very like envy stung me.

I shook it off, nudging her with a hip. “I think there’s even more flowers than the last time I visited. You sure you’re not part pixie?”

“There’s maybe two more plants,” Katarina said, rolling her eyes.

“I like the flowers,” Sid murmured, her voice a velvety purr. “They’re great for privacy.”

Katarina bit her lip, a flush blooming over her cheeks.

My enjoyment at the sight of my confident cousin squirming like a teenager was cut short by a cramp that gripped my lower back with paralyzing claws. I strained to hide the pain, grateful for the enchantments worked into my underwear as heat rushed between my legs. The last thing this day needed was me walking into the house looking like a vampire had been sick on my crotch.

The front door swung open ahead of us and a man stalked onto the porch, head tilted and eyes scanning the street. He was casually dressed—our outfits were almost identical—but his t-shirt stretched over an almost ludicrously perfect chest. By the oath, I could count each of his ab muscles. I kept my eyes resolutely above his waist. His sweats didn’t hang on him in comfortable shapelessness like mine did, and the quick glance I snuck made me a little concerned for my cousin’s internal organs.

“Mouse, meet Fenn,” Katarina introduced, before stretching to accept a kiss from her other lover. “Fenn, my cousin Tereza.”

“A pleasure,” he rumbled, a shaft of sunlight glinting gold in his shaggy hair as he tipped his head, inviting us to precede him into the house.

I squeezed past, arm tightly linked with Katarina’s. When we stepped into the bright, plant-strewn room that was the center of her home, I raised my eyebrows and mouthed, “Wow!”

“You have no idea!” she whispered back, giving a smug shimmy.

“Braggart,” I laughed, settling gingerly onto the couch she pushed me towards. Sid and I exchanged a smile as she disappeared upstairs with my bag.

“You need a drink,” Katarina announced.

“I need a distillery,” I countered, tucking my feet beneath me and hugging a pillow. “But I’ll settle for a beer.”

Fenn brushed a hand over her hip as she passed, then dropped into the chair across from me. “Mouse?” he asked, eyebrow raised.

“Ah, yeah. Childhood nickname.” I ran a hand down the length of my ashy blonde braid, lifting the end to show him. “Somebody described me as having ‘mousey’ blond hair, and as quiet and shy as I was as a kid, that’s all it took.”

His lips quivered. “Mouse. . .and Kat?”

I sighed. “The jokes growing up were endless and terrible.”

“One of the many reasons I prefer my full name,” Katarina agreed, curling up next to me. She handed me a frosty bottle, then clinked her stemless wine glass against it before taking a long sip.

“What, nothing for your partners?” I asked, surprised.

“Oh, we’re not staying,” Sid cut in, taking the chair beside Fenn’s. She leaned forward, elbows propped on her spread knees. “You need to rest and not worry about entertaining us. Fenn and I just wanted to introduce ourselves.”

“And we need to talk about Franklin,” Fenn growled, lip curling. His stare lightened to gold, and I sat, frozen, feeling as small as my namesake. How did Katarina handle all that intensity without wetting herself?!

I bit back a hysterical giggle. Going by her boasting, she did “wet” herself. Often.

“Do you want me to kill him?”

“What?!” I stared at Fenn, slack jawed.

“Your ex,” he replied, patiently. “Be happy to. Rather do it before he becomes more of a problem.”

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