“First, I don’t know if he is telling the truth,” she said.
“He is. He doesn’t lie about information such as this. Cannot, I don’t think. Nor is he lying about being uncertain of my motives. He knows my plans. His kind is dedicated to the prosperity of Faerie, even if they mostly read about its past. He has done everything in his power to help me. His entire faction has, including by keeping my secrets. But he also knows I am in this court, with its degradation and twisted magic. He sees me lose more of my grip with each passing thrush.”
“Thrush?”
His eyelids fluttered. “Sorry,yearis your equivalent, though a thrush is significantly longer. The thrush happens one time each year across Faerie. It’s a time for reflection and repentance as the thrush falls from the stars. It’s a sort of…” His gaze drifted away as he thought of something similar in the human realm.
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “Here’s what I will choose: to destroy this fucking court. Then I’ll be a hero and balance Faerie, however that might happen, and save the human world. If I can work in a way to punish your gods, I’ll slide that in there as well. If you’re going to aim, aim high, right? I just need a cape.” A crooked smile worked up his handsome face. “Now, what’s this thing you have to tell me?”
His smile slipped, replaced by a red hue in his cheeks. “I haven’t… I’ve never…” He cleared his throat. “I’m…intact, we’ll say.”
Her brow pinched in confusion. “I know you don’t mean you still have balls, because I’ve felt them. That’s no secret. So intact…like…they checked me for? Like…”
“A virgin,” he said. “I’ve never had sex. You would be my first and very likely my last. You’d be my only.”
13
Daisy
Now it wasDaisy who had a crooked grin, stunned into silence. Finally, she said, “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
“Joking right now would be lying, and I have repeatedly told you I can’t lie to you anymore.”
“Okay, but…” She sat up and faced him fully. “I thought you trapped that female—Sansy, you said her name was. I thought you trapped her with sex?”
“With a kiss. Just a kiss, like you. We were young. She hadn’t been ready to fully engage. By the time she was…she wanted another. But because of the magic, she couldn’t place her lips on anyone—anywhere on them—without triggering my need to kill them. She couldn’t take another lover unless all they did was have sex. Only that. She couldn’t even accidentally brush her lips against a shoulder passionately. I owned her intimately, and she grew to hate me for it. I doomed her with nothing but an innocent kiss I didn’t fully understand. I told you, I never wanted to subject another to that. I still don’t. I just don’t know that we’ll have any other choice.”
Daisy’s heart dropped for him. He was a virgin…and was routinely subjected to the disgusting treatment of this court. Princess Elamorna wanted him sexually, and only the royals could “enjoy” him without being trapped in the pleasure, so she tried to force the issue. What an absolute troll.
Well, Princess Elamorna had set herself up to get mindfucked. Daisy specialized in that type of warfare. She had to—it was often the only non-weapon arsenal she had at her disposal. She’d gotten very good at it.
She wasn’t sure what to say to Tarian, though. She was utterly, completely at a loss about this. She had no experience in this situation, and she was woefully shallow emotionally. Her life had never allowed that part of her to flower. So she just got down to the details.
“Why don’t we have a choice?”
His crooked smile was back. Lord knew what he found hilarious this time. Her deficiency in normal human emotion, perhaps? Her somewhat robotic social skills?
He started chuckling silently. “Because Princess Elamorna will have someone verify whether you’re beholden to me. If you aren’t, she’ll taunt me by having the lowest of guards take you in front of me…” He shook his head, and she was glad he didn’t go on. She got the picture, and she had a feeling he knew all this from experience. From Sansy.
“And you thought a tattoo would be enough to throw her off my scent?” Daisy asked incredulously. She laughed, shaking her head. “That never would’ve been enough. Cool. Fine. You’ve donesomesexualthings, though, right? Because the night when the darkrend was attacking, you were exceptional.”
He sat up fully, his eyes on fire. He crossed his legs in front of him, mirroring her. The sheet fell away from his large, pierced erection and butterflies filled her stomach. He might be thevirgin, but she was suddenly more nervous than her actual first time.
“I’ve done everything a mouth can do. And most of the things fingers can do. And I cheat.” His eyes flashed. “Your thoughts direct me. You make it easy to please you.”
“You have my permission to keep cheating.” She looked into his eyes quietly for a long moment. The space between them shrank. His magnetism pulled at her until she was inching closer. The air filled with energy and electricity, sizzling like lightning.
“Now?” he whispered.
She licked her bottom lip, drawing his eyes.
“Now,” she responded quietly, inching closer still. Going slow because forherfirst time, she had wanted it slow. Slow and thoughtful. She’d needed to be built up high to counteract the pain that would come.
“Except I won’t have pain,” he murmured, watching her advance. “I have wanted your kiss from the first moment I saw you, when you looked right at my glamor, at me, and frowned. When I was on that ledge, though, a new craving took over. A carnal craving. I’ve salivated over you ever since. Dreamt of you. Wondered what it would be like—if I would ever receive the gift of the gods and touch you.”
“Fuck your gods. You’re getting a gift fromme.” Her knees brushed his, and he swallowed thickly. She knew how he felt. This seemed…more important than a first, somehow. More consuming. Uncharted waters.
“I’ll probably be shit at this,” he admitted.
