Page 3 of The Lord of Whispers

“I see you’vemetmy newest House liaison,” Lord Vitruvian said, his eyebrows slightly raised.

At Lord Vitruvian’s words, I realized that Luke was still holding me. His arms were wrapped around me, his hands resting on my hips, and parts of my smaller, softer body were pressed to the front of his tall, hard body.

Luke looked down at me, standing well over a head taller than me, and gave me an impish grin. Then he released his shield around us at the same time as he released my body from his. Without Luke shielding me, some of the white marble dust that still hung in the air began to settle onto my shoulders. His fingers trailed over my narrow shoulders and down my arms, wiping off the powder before it could collect there. A light shiver skittered down my spine, despite the remaining warmth of the spring evening.

Luke’s light-blue eyes locked with mine as he flashed me his perfect white teeth. Even standing next to the high lord, who in himself was a masterpiece of a man, Luke demanded my attention. He was a high fae lord, standing at least 6’ 4”, with bulging biceps and impeccable style. Where Lord Vitruvian’s attire was elegant and timeless, Luke’s was the picture of the current Court style, from his camel-brown leather shoes to his skinny, dark blue tie.

“Well,” Luke said with a chuckle, holding his hand out to me, “welcome to the High Court, Alarie.”

It seemed silly to shake the hand of the man who had held me in his arms moments before. But I matched his chuckle with a nervous laugh of my own and took his hand, anyway. I noticed Luke’s dark coat was beginning to collect the dust that fell around us.

“Um, I think you have a little something,” I said to Luke, running a finger across the top of his suit coat and pulling it away coated in the white, powdery dust.

“Damn,” he barked. “Damn, damn, damn. I’m going to have to go back by the house and change before tonight,” he lamented, stripping off his fitted jacket and giving me a view of the suspenders he wore. They strained over his bulky shoulders.

Seeing Luke’s muscular arms and shoulders bulging underneath his white button-down, I wondered how he had fit into the suit coat to begin with. It was difficult to believe something as ordinary as a coat could conceal something as extraordinary as Luke’s physique. He casually popped out his cufflinks, holding the little silver pieces between lips, and began to roll up the sleeves of his white button-down.

“Looks like my dinner will have to wait,” the high lord announced.

My attention snapped from Luke to High Lord Vitruvian.

“Grey’s going to want to hear about this,” the high lord continued.

Grey.KingGreyson Heroux—the King of Valencia—I thought, awestruck.

“You two should head to the manor and get started on the dinner Jena prepared for us,” Lord Vitruvian suggested.

Without waiting for a response from Luke, the high lord turned to me.

“My lady,” he offered with a polite, small nod of his head.

And then he was gone.

I stared at what should have been the back of High Lord Vitruvian. But he was so quick that all I saw when I looked in the direction he disappeared was an empty stone-paved path.

High fae tended to be tall, quick, and agile, where lesser fae tended to fall on the spectrum of stocky with brute force and strength, but I was, nonetheless, surprised by the high lord’s speed. And by the looks of Lord Vitruvian and Luke’s muscular figures, I wasn’t so sure there would be much of a difference between the high fae lords and their lesser fae counterparts when it came to strength either.

An image of Cass, my best friend from back home, sprung to the forefront of my mind, sparking an immediate comparison of Cass’s lesser fae hulking mass to that of Lord Vitruvian’s lean body. Luke was somewhere in the middle, bulkier than the high lord but still lean in comparison to Cass. Then again, everyone was lean when compared to Cass. I inwardly admitted thatCass was undoubtedly stronger than either of the high fae lords but reasoned that he was stronger than pretty much everyone.

“My lady,” Luke said, offering me his arm, matching Lord Vitruvian’s formal tone, a charming smile splayed across his face.

“Alarie’s fine,” I countered, placing my hand in the crook of his arm.

I was going to have to get used to being called a lady now that I was at the High Court, but it felt like Luke and I were already past that bit of formality.

“I don’t know about you, butIcould eat,” Luke said enthusiastically.

I eyed his hulking mass once more. I imagined that it would take quite a lot of food to keep that amount of muscle fed. He began to lead me down a path through the first of many gardens at the center of the High Court.

“I wouldn’t mind a walk around first,” I suggested, noticing the many paths that broke off from the center garden we stood in.

I was hungry, but it was also my first time at the High Court. I was interested to see what else, other than explosions and dashingly handsome lords, the High Court had to offer.

Luke looked down pointedly at the four-inch nude pumps I wore on my small feet.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Really,” I assured him, in response to the skeptical look on his handsome face.

I almost always wore heels instead of flats due to my shorter stature, which I came by naturally because lesser fae were almost always shorter than high fae. Luke acquiesced, beginning his tour along the route to the Vitruvian manor. We walked along the path surrounded by tall, green, well-groomed hedges interspersed with statues, fountains, and steel gates covered in ivy.

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