A costume. It has to be a costume.
But I’d only closed my eyes for a second, not long enough for him to change clothes and completely alter his hairstyle and appearance.
Besides, the odd energy coming off him was undeniable. My skin was still prickling.
Was Severn Wilde not…human?
He must have seen my terrified look because he pressed his hand against my mouth at the exact moment I sucked in a gulp of air to scream.
“Willow, I told you not to scream. Now, if I take my hand off your mouth, will you be quiet? Or will I have to enchant you to be silent with another kiss?”
I nodded my obedience, and he removed his palm.
I immediately screamed.
“Fuck.” Cursing, he put his hand back. As though he was addressing a junior intern, he snapped, “You aren’t in danger. You’re perfectly safe with me.” He sighed and muttered to himself, “May the east winds save me from stubborn humans. Now, are you going to be quiet this time?”
I gave a small nod with his hand still pressed against my mouth. It had occurred to me that in a building with his name on it, it was unlikely anyone would come to my aid if I screamed anyway.
He took away his hand, waiting with an expectant look, and when I didn’t scream again, he made a small satisfied grunt and then walked back behind his desk and took a seat.
“Willow O’Dell, you are one of the few living humans to see a member of the Wilde family in true form. We call ourselves a family, though our lineage is more complicated than blood relations. We’re bound to a fae court. Once sworn, there is no leaving a court. Loyalty isn’t optional. Wilde Tower is the seat of the New Court. I am the prince regent.”
His words washed over me like I was watching something play out on a TV show; that was the only way my mind could make sense of it because what he was saying was too far-fetched to be real.
He held up a thin stack of papers. “Are you ready to sign the contract?”
I sank into the chair behind me, clutching the armrests as though I was about to float toward the ceiling. “Wait, this isreallyabout a job?”
He cocked his head as though he didn’t understand my question. “The nanny position you applied for. It’s yours. If you still want it.” With a shadow of a smirk, he motioned to his cloak and his silver hair. “Fae do not lie. Therefore, it is only fair to show you the true nature of your employer before you agree to a contract. The children are human, if you’re wondering. Henry and May. Fae children raise themselves and have no need for a nanny, but you see, I am in no position to raise these children. Human culture is foreign and incomprehensible. I need someone familiar with their world to care for them.” He paused before adding, “I promised their parents.” His thoughts seemed to travel elsewhere, to some prior time full of tense emotion and pain.
Putting aside the issue of the children for a moment, I pressed my fingertips against my temples to try to center my thoughts. “Sorry, it’s taking me a minute to understand all of this. You’re saying that you are afaerie…”
“Fae,” he clarified swiftly. “A fae prince. Faeries are silly things in stories.”
“Right. A fae…prince.” I felt ridiculous even saying it. This couldn’t be real life. Though suddenly the flyer changing into a leaf made sense, as did the bizarre language on the elevator buttons, and the painting that had seemed to move. Not to mention Severn’s transformation. My mind was having a very hard time trying to explain away those incidents. A voice whispered in my head:There is magic here, wild as it sounds.
My hand drifted upward, nails dragging through my hair. “Look, I really don’t know what to think about all of this. There’s a chance I’m dreaming it. In any case…I’m not sure I’m in the right frame of mind to sign any contracts.”
He frowned as his hand holding the contract sank. “Why not?”
“You aren’t human!” I blurted out.
He waved away what I considered to be a rather significant concern. “If you don’t want the job, I’ll finesse your memory of what you’ve seen here today so that you’ll only remember meeting Severn Wilde, the businessman.” His electric eyes pierced me like velvet-tipped arrows. “But do you really want to go back to that dingy campus apartment?”
I gasped, standing up. “You know where I live?”
“Do you truly believe I wouldn’t have my spies investigate someone I’m bringing into my house? To take care of children very dear to me?”
“Spies?”
He motioned toward the window behind him. “The city’s crows are eminently useful.”
My legs went slack. I sank back into the chair, gripping the handrails to steady myself. My brain felt foggy as it tried to make sense of everything. If I could believe my eyes, I was facing a creature who wasn’t human, who could do magic, and who wanted me to move into his penthouse.
Another smirk danced over Severn’s face. He almost seemed like he enjoyed watching me squirm in front of him.
Now that the initial dazzle of his transformation was fading, I was beginning to notice other things about him. A single braid in the tangle of his otherwise loose hair. A small scar on his chin. A photograph on his desk of him glamoured as a human, his arm around the shoulder of a dark-haired man on a beach somewhere. Could that be the friend of his who passed away? The father of Severn’s new wards?
