We would make beautiful fae babies, he and I.
“Iron depreciates fae magic.”
“What?” I stutter out. It’s hard but I pull my mind from the gutter to listen to what he’s actually saying.
“Iron stunts it. The cell kept us locked up and it kept our magic safely locked away as well. A glimmer of it was all we could produce.”
That is interesting. Maybe I should stop checking him out and listen a little more.
“Of course he would tell the prettyhumanall our secrets,” Darrio says in a snide voice.
That’s the second time he’s used the word ‘human’ as if it’s a slur.
With anger rising in me, my fist clenches at my side. The tightness of my jaw makes me want to scream. Then I want to hurl my small frame at his enormous back and beat my much smaller fists into his hard body. His hard, hard body.
Wait, what was I saying?
Ryder glances back to Daxdyn at the mention of magic. For a moment, I wonder if he’ll tell him to shut up. A mortal shouldn’t hear all their secrets. Even I think it’s a shitty idea for him to be telling me this.
No one says a word though.
So, I pry even further.
“What if I asked you to prove you have magic?”
With confidence, I walk as if I’m not on the edge of my seat with hope that Daxdyn will show me an amazing magic trick. Something so great my mortal mind will be in awe of his ability.
Darrio turns to me, making me stumble from his abrupt stop. A feeling tingles between us from his nearness, making me lean into him subtly. It’s like something inside him pulls at something within me. He appraises me slowly from head to toe, making me shift on my feet. A heated look is all he gives me before he quickly strikes his hand out and lightly touches his index finger to the tip of my nose.
A static sound accompanies his touch and a shock of pain strikes through the tip of my nose. Tingles spread all through my body, making me shudder.
My hand raises to my nose as I glare up at him.
Did he just boop my nose?
“That—” I pause as a smirk tilts the corner of my lips, “that was your amazing magic? That’s it? Not very impressive.”
Darrio cocks a brow at me and leans in ever so slightly closer to me. His breath fans across my jaw, taking away my sarcastic demeanor in an instant. “I’m a very controlling fae. If I wanted to burn you alive, I would have, human.”
My breath catches from the thought of his threat and I can’t decide if the wordcontrollingis terrifying or arousing. When my ridiculous thoughts finally choose living over a simple orgasm, I push past him and continue walking next to Daxdyn. Daxdyn is the safer one, I can tell.
“Who captured you? How? How did someone capture three Hopeless?” They must be idiots. Too attractive for their own good. Too blind-sided by the beauty in life to see the danger all around them.
Daxdyn watches his boots as he walks. The leaves crunch beneath our steps and it seems to captivate his tense attention.
Silence fills the night. Nature speaks loudly while the four of us keep quiet.
I suppose revealing their one weakness is an easier thing to admit than to say whatever it is Daxdyn is keeping from me.
“My mother.” Ryder stares straight ahead, his steps coming more rapidly now. The sword at my hip brushes my thigh as I force my legs to keep up with their new pace.
A broken branch on the ground catches my normally cautious steps and I stumble. Daxdyn’s warm hand wraps around my forearm. He holds the worn arm cuff on my forearm, his knuckles appearing whiter against the black fabric. A tingling calm spreads through me from his touch and I pull my arm from his reach.
“I’m sorry, what?” My feet stumble as I shift away from Daxdyn and race after Ryder and Darrio. They haven’t slowed the slightest bit.
“My father fought so hard to keep me from the dangers of this world. I guess he didn’t count on my step mother having different plans.” Once again, he shoves his hands into his pockets. “When we entered this realm again last year, she drugged the three of us and demanded we give her what she asked for.”
Why were they even in this realm?
