Not wanting to leave Tabby alone for too long, I quickly brushed my teeth and fixed up my hair. I was wearing my shirt and underwear still, so I pulled on the jeans I’d left in here earlier, and when I returned to the room, Len was also back.
He’d brought a table with him this time and it was set with a large array of food dishes. He gestured toward one of the two chairs, and I moved slower, working to keep my composure. He held my chair out for me, and as I sat Len helped me scoot forward.
When he was sitting opposite me, I didn’t even glance at the food.
My entire focus was on the fae prince.
On the questions burning inside me.
“So… the bathroom products, the food, and all this talk of family,” I said bluntly. “Are you seducing me?“
Because it’s fucking working.
He flashed me that breathtaking smile, his silvery skin and hair standing out against the darker backdrop of his clothing. “Why? Are you seduced?”
There he went again, reading my mind. He needed to be taught a lesson. “Not even remotely,” I shot back, the biggest liar in the room.
His expression didn’t falter. If anything, his smile grew. “Guess I’ll have to try harder, then.”
Holy beast of the shifter gods.
I was fucked. So completely and totally fucked.
23
SAMANTHA
Needing a distraction, I finally checked out the food. The scents wafting from the dishes were mouthwatering, and I had no idea where to start. Reaching out, I grabbed a glass of what looked like water, hoping to fix up my dry mouth situation first.
“It has a slight lemon flavor,” Len warned me, and I didn’t bother to tell him lemon water was my favorite. The first sip burst across my tongue, light and with a citrus hit. It was so thirst-quenching that I found myself gulping down the entire glass.
As I placed it back on the table, a small, slightly hysterical laugh escaped. “Will I be trapped here now? I’m consuming food in Faerie.” He’d said I wouldn’t be affected, but maybe I wasn’t as strong as he believed.
Len lifted a small jug to refill my water. “Would it be terrible if you remained in Faerie?” he asked.
“No,” I admitted, claiming my glass once more. “But I’m not okay with losing my free will. If I choose to stay forever, then that’s a different story, but I won’t be forced.”
He nodded as if he understood. “As I said in the library, you’re too strong of mind to be taken in by the glittery trappings of this world. Mera was strong enough to resist as well, but at the time, Shadow used whatever means he had to scare her into compliance.”
A snort escaped me. “Poor Shadow. He had no idea what he was getting himself into.”
Len joined my laughter. “He would have it no other way. If you’d met him before his Sunshine, you would understand how truly blessed he is now. Blessed and very aware of it.”
That thought sat nicely with me. I wanted nothing more than for my friends to have a true,adoring, slightly-scared-of-them mate. “Mera feels the same,” I said, knowing that for sure. “She fought through the most powerful memory block to find Shadow again. It’s a worry that we haven’t been able to do the same.”
“It’s a very different situation,” he replied immediately. “Mera and Shadow had already formed a bond. A true bond. No magic can compete with that. We were glamoured before a bond could form, and until the spell is broken, there’s no knowing our true status.”
“We weren’t called together after you found me during your mate walk,” I reminded him.
His expression didn’t change. “Two magics have interfered here, and I will figure out the why and how. It doesn’t mean there’s not a bond, it just means it’s being strangled by Faerie glamour.”
“What about the fact that I’m not fae?” A second reminder. Even if I had a sliver of fae in me somewhere, it wasn’t like his pure blood. “No fae has ever bonded with a shifter.”
“I don’t care.”
It took me a beat to truly comprehend this, and when I did my insecurities reared their ugly head. “You might not today, but there’s probably a reason you’re only compatible with your own kind. Outside of being with me because we have a child together, did you think about the fact that I’m going to die in a hundred to two hundred years? A mere blip in your life.”
The room grew darker and colder as his energy swirled. “Samantha…”
