“Yes.”He held her gaze.“Now I go back and finish what Lenorae’s family started.”
She really wanted to ask more, but figured both that he likely still couldn’t say much and that she probably didn’t want to know.The last thing she wanted to hear about was the perfect Lenorae who somehow got herself affianced tothePrince of Amethyst.Knowing that Azul’s father was king at least explained the family pressure to wed as they decreed.Though the information changed her assessment of who Lenorae and her family were.They had to be Cinnabar or Ruby fae, or affiliated with those realms, to have put the geas on Azul.She tried one more question.“Why was the wedding in a human realm?”
He considered, seeming to be trying out different answers to see what would come out of his mouth intact.“It was a politically tricky situation,” he finally said, then shrugged to indicate the vast array of things he couldn’t say.
Yeah.She figured.“All right then.No more questions.How long till nightfall?”
He glanced at the sky beyond the lavishly gilded ceiling.“About six hours.”
“That long?I thought I was stuck in that Moonstone jail a lot longer than that.They picked me up right before dawn.”
“You were jailed for several days.That’s in part why you were so weak.”
“Several…” She couldn’t finish, rubbing a hand over her face.Anything could’ve happened to Dy in that time.“This is really bad.”
“Not as bad as you dying there and not getting back at all,” he replied gently, no longer restraining her, but rubbing her back lightly.It felt really good.Too good.“And remember that time in the fae realms moves differently than in the human realms.I wondered before if you factored that into your calculations for returning with your cargo on time.”
“No,” she admitted.“No one seems to have worked out the math on it.”
“There is no math—at least, not of the kind humans use.The oscillations of time and space that set the fae realms apart from the human ones aren’t based on the same laws of physics.It changes all the time, depending on various factors that don’t follow a pattern.”
“Oh, that explains everything,” she commented sourly.“Otto said the timing would work and he was invested—literally—in us bringing back his cargo on time.What is the astra anyway?”
“You don’t know?”he asked cagily, his expression shuttered, and Cha was put in mind of how he’d reacted to the Moonstone fae speaking about the thing.
“I said I didn’t know what it was, didn’t I?”
“Yes, butyouare capable of lying, Arantxa darling.”
“Hey, I haven’t lied to you.”Much.She tried to think of any outstanding lies she’d committed with him.
“Uh huh.”He chucked her on the chin.“Let’s finish the healing.Why don’t you bathe first, then you can have a nap until it’s time to go.”
“Hey, not all of us naturally smell like berries.”
“No, you don’t smell like berries.”He leaned in, inhaled deeply, and hummed.“You smell like Arantxa Evermore, the most interesting and enticing woman I’ve ever met.”
She drew back to squint at him.“What is this about?”
“I’d think a woman who’s had as many lovers as you would recognize a seduction.Are my techniques so lacking?”
Okay, that she really hadn’t expected.She had to work to keep her jaw from falling open.“You want to seduce me?”she nearly squeaked.
He frowned.“You had made your intentions clear.Have you changed your mind?”
“What about the whole bad omen, bad timing thing?”
“Itwasbad timing,” he answered with implacable logic, “as the subsequent attack by Cinnabar imps unequivocally proved.”
Well, he had a point there.“And the timing is good now?”
“We have hours to kill,” he answered on a purr.
Who was she kidding?She was totally up for this.One upside of stewing in your regrets in a fae jail cell is you emerged with your priorities rearranged and crystal clear.
“I have not changed my mind.”She grinned.“You might recall that I really wanted to find out about the wing thing.”
He leaned in, brushed her ear with his lips, then bit gently—sending lightning straight to her groin.Apparently at least that part of her hadn’t suffered lasting damage and still felt great and ready to party.“I do vividly recall,” he murmured into her ear.“And I fully intend to wrap you up in my wings, just the two of us in a sensual cocoon of naked fun.”
