Page 83 of Lady of the Nightmares

“It’s a brothel full of Fae. They’ll allseeme,” I emphasized “see,” trying to make him understand what I meant.

He evidently did not, looking at me as if I were some raving lunatic. “Of course they’ll see you. That’s the fucking point.”

“No,” I moaned. “You don’t understand. The Fae alwaysseeme—it’s like some sort of magnet. I can’t go in there.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “You have certainly turned up to enough events with Fae before now where this wasn’t a problem.”

“I—I don’t know why,” I stumbled over my words. “You’re right, it hasn’t been as bad lately, but I do not wish to test it inthere.”

“Convenient that this would become a problem now, but not over the last few weeks…”

My frustration rose—more at myself for anything for not having thought of this while we were planning. “You’re saying you don’t believe me?”

He paused, considering, and then frowned, his expression turning darker and more jaded than I’d seen in days. “No, I believe you.” He sounded like he wanted to laugh. “There is certainly something about you that’s…unusual. I’m just wondering what dampened the scent before now.”

“Scent?” I asked, slightly disgusted.

“Unimportant right now. You have no idea why it would be better or worse? Whom it affects or…” He broke off, seeming as frustrated as I felt.

“If there was anything I could do to stop it, I would,” I said almost defensively. “It’s always been like this. Almost my entire life, Fae were—”

“Drawn to you,” he finished.

“I suppose. I wonder why it doesn’t affect you,” I wondered out loud. “Do you think you’ve managed to hate me so much that you’re immune? I didn’t know that was possible.”

He froze, eyes widening slightly, and coughed before he was able to speak. “Unimportant right now. Do you trust me?”

“No,” I blurted out reflexively.

He laughed hollowly, shaking his head again. “Fine. Do you at least trust that I won’t hurt you?”

“Yes.” The corners of my mouth turned up. “I’m sure you’d want to draw it out more. This alley would make for a terrible torture room.”

“Good. Then don’t scream.”

I had no time to ask what he meant by that before he took a step forward, closing the rest of the distance between us. For one wild second, as he loomed over me, pressing my back harder into the wall, I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he ducked his head and pressed his mouth to the place where my neck met my shoulder.

He ran his tongue up my throat to my ear, tasting my skin and sending tingles all over my body. My pulse quickened, and heat descended over me, pulsing in the depths of my core and making me wish to press my legs together. His earlier words ran through my mind:“You’ll not only beg me to fuck you, you’ll say thank you, lord, when I’m done.”

No—fuck, I should not go there. He was only trying to get under my skin, and I couldn’t let him.

“Wh—what are you doing?” I gasped as he moved to the other side, laving his tongue over my other collarbone.

“You smell like magic, rebel. It’s…unusual.”

“So what, will this mute it?” I asked a bit breathlessly.

“Maybe.” He pulled back, and his expression was carefully neutral. “I’m not sure that’s possible, but this may help. It should be a sort of deterrent.”

“What should I say if anyone approaches me?”

He looked down at me, his silver eyes meeting mine with an intensity that stole my breath for a moment. “Tell them that you’re mine.”

* * *

The first thingI realized upon entering the Side Saddle was that it was far larger inside than it had appeared from the street. The second was that the atmosphere made the fairy orgies at the obsidian palace look tame by comparison.

The front room was packed nearly to bursting with patrons, drinking, dancing, and chatting with the numerous scantily dressed men and women who stood on tables or lay on couches around the perimeter of the room. Toward the back of the room stood a well-stocked bar and a lively four-piece band in the corner, led by a well-endowed faun playing a lute.

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