1
Daisy
Tarian turned,Daisy’s hand still tucked into his. The animals waited within the barn-shanty, and Tarian’sFallenwere over picking through the wreckage from the darkrend. They’d had to stall while Daisy and Tarian hashed out their deal.
The creatures waited placidly, their great maws grinding dried grasses. Each stood about six feet high at the shoulder, with powerful legs ending in three hooked claws at the front and one toward the back. Thick horns ran along their heads and out to the sides, with big manes of coarse hair and something like a beard off their chins. Their wings were tucked into their sides, furry along the ridges but feathery on the actual wing part. Their tails were a combination of fur and feathers as well, most of them swishing periodically.
“What are they?” Daisy asked as Tarian gently tugged her around the first, giving it a wide berth.
“They are stormbacks. They inhabit the mountain regions and don’t have much time for my kind. They often find us too dimwitted.” He laughed. “At least, that’s what they’ll tell you.”
“That’s what…they’lltellyou?”
He pulled her to the largest of them at the back, its shaggy mane streaked with gray and black. The fur on its body was a fuzzy gray-white. The creature was as scary as it was beautiful. She wanted to pet it as much as she wanted to avoid it.
“Yes. They can communicate mentally. They don’t often use words. They are more inclined to use imagery and feelings. When they lower themselves to communicate with fae, that is. They can understand words just fine, though, so let’s keep the running dialogue to a minimum. What you’ve thought is great, but if you insult them, they won’t allow you to ride.”
The great beast let out a deep huff before stamping its foot.We are not so prickly as that, child.
“Beg to differ.” Tarian let go of her hand and put his arm in front of her. “Stratow, this is the human I spoke of. She’s a captive who doesn’t know how to shield her thoughts. She has a right to be surly and needs our forgiveness for her horrible bluntness.”
Daisy tried desperately to keep from saying a sarcastic remark. She was fine pissing off Tarian and hisFallen, but this was one beast she was inclined to mind her manners around.
The creature huffed again.She has more sense than you ever did.
Tarian grinned and winked at Daisy. “These creatures don’t enjoy fae, and enjoy giving rides like common mules even less. I was such a pest, though, that we ended up making a deal. After he tried to kill me, of course. I fulfilled my end of the deal, he did his, and then…well, what can I say? I’m likable.”
“About as likable as sand in your ass crack, yeah,” she grumbled. “A constant nuisance and really hard to get rid of.”
The creature made a sound like a low growl, and Daisy stepped back and threw up her hands.
“Hey, look, to each their own,” she said quickly. “I’m sure his personality…rubs off on you eventually. You know, in a non-abrasive sort of way.”
The beast’s growling continued, and Daisy started to sweat. She licked her lips and glanced back. The other beasts pushed in closer, blocking an easy exit. The claws on their feet glistened. Daisy felt her knife pulse within her shirt.
“That’s the sound of his amusement, not a growl,” Tarian said, grabbing her hand and tugging her around him. At the back of the shanty, there were two large doors. He dropped her hand to open them. “I figured I’d let you sweat because of those comments.” He gave her a smirk. “You like mypersonalityjust fine.”
He motioned her toward him as theFallencame around the corner. Their appearances were uniform—the lower part of their heads were shaved with long hair on top, half done in a knot or bun. They all wore pocketed skirts, almost like kilts, outlined with fur. Leather bracers encircled their wrists, and the females wore tight, fur-lined tops in a strip across their breasts. The males only had various leather straps crossing their bare torsos, with a lot of ink on display. They all looked fierce, as well as sexy, male and female alike.
“Thankyou!” Niall put up his fists in victory. “She called me sexy. Goodbye, ugliness, hello, sex god.”
“She thinks ouroutfitsare sexy, dummy,” a female said. She had hard gray eyes and a button nose, with wheat-colored hair and knockout curves. The lady was a stunner.
“Let him have that one,” said Lennox, the one who looked like a Viking of old, with his flowing, wavy hair, reddish beard tied under his chin with leather and tassels, and his thick frame. “It’s about as good as she’s going to give him.”
Half of them burst out laughing as the stormbacks walked out of the barn, their heads bobbing with each step. Stratowglanced over the gathered fae, snorting through his nostrils as he passed.
They detest the flatlands,Tarian told her, the thought something like a faint murmur.They also get annoyed this close to the fringe. They have a keen sense of the purity of magic and are having a hard time tolerating how out of balance things have become.
Purity?she asked.
He turned to her, his large hand coming around to brace along the curve of her hip. He splayed his fingers, gently squeezing in something akin to possession, as though he couldn’t help himself.
Warmth emanated from his presence and touch, sizzling along her body. She was thankful his gaze was directed behind her, affording her the space to breathe in his delicious proximity, bathe in his sensual heat, and bask in the buzz between them that licked along her nerve endings. It had to be her ability to heighten his magic, though it felt so horribly divine.
He looked down at her, his eyelids hooded.I have to pour magic into the crystal chalice to activate its—yourproperties. It’s complicated and taxing, and trust me, I’m not doing it right now. This buzz isn’t magic. It’s chemistry, little dove. Our chemistry.
Call it whatever you want, but the gods created it.
