Getting up, she went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Her eyes were indeed a reddish-pink. Magenta. She hated them. But they’d do. And now she could memorize what color her skin was supposed to be in full light.
Raziel appeared in the reflection as he stepped up behind her, a black bathrobe in his hands. “Seemed to be the least I could do.” He frowned at her reflection, wrinkling his nose. “Shed this face. I find it offensive, now that I know what you truly look like.”
How oddly flattering. “Someone might come in and see me.”
“The door is three-inch-thick steel with four deadbolts. Ivan can’t get in, and not even Mael could bust it down. No. We won’t be disturbed.” His look of disgust deepened. “Drop the illusion.”
It was a command, but it lacked any sort of weight. Seeing Monica’s face on her seemed to truly bother him. Letting out a breath, she dropped the glamor. Once more fully naked and herself—though with legs, as her tail would be far too inconvenient—she watched his reflection in the mirror.
He draped the bathrobe over her shoulders. She tucked her arms through the sleeves and tied it around her waist, not bothering to thank him. He was the reason she was nude, after all.
“Come with me, Nadi.” He took her hand, and led her to the bed. She resisted. “No, no. I am done with that for now.”
“Then, what are you after?”
“Just come here, will you?” He kicked off his shoes, already in just a white button-down and his pants. He scooted farther onto the bed. “I want to talk. And…I want to see the real you, again.”
“This is the real me.” She climbed onto the bed, and sat on the covers, a few feet away.
“The rest of you.” Reaching out, his hand trailed over her legs. “All of you.”
“Why?” She arched an eyebrow at him.
“I haven’t seen anything like you before.” There was an almost troubled, confused look in his eyes. “And I find I want us to speak without all these lies between us…for once.”
Glancing away briefly, she shut her eyes. Fine. He’d already seen what she looked like. She might as well let him have what he wanted. She let the rest of her glamor fall. She hated having to take her real form on dry land—it felt awkward and unnatural. She wasn’t meant for it, after all. But it’d have to do. She lether tail drape over the cover, reaching all the way across the enormous bed and over the edge and onto the floor. “There.”
His gaze trailed over her body, drinking in the sight. It was clear he was holding back from what he wanted to do—which was touch. Laughing, she lay down onto her stomach. “You’re a fucking idiot.Nowyou’re gentle?”
“This seems different.” He reached out and ran a hand over her scales with a quiethuh.“Does it hurt you to shift?”
“No, thankfully. Unless I’m restrained when I do it. Handcuffs, ropes—something that makes me go from smaller to larger, that kind of thing.” She shouldn’t be giving away all of her secrets, but she’d never had anyone be honestly curious. Even her employers generally kept asafer-not-to-knowmindset.
His fingers wandered to her fins, toying with the delicate, almost torn-lace material of them. “If I were to handcuff you, and you were to take Ivan’s form—you would be injured by that, for example.”
“Exactly. I could do it, but I’d be liable to break the bones of my wrist in the process. Worth it to escape, but not without cost.” Folding her arms, she laid her cheek down on them. She suddenly felt tired from the whole day’s ordeal. And his hand gently roaming over her tail was strangely calming.
“You never answered my question from before, Nadi. When was the last time you made love wearing your own face?” He shifted closer to her, his hand still running along her tail.
Taking in a breath, she held it, and let it out in a rush. What was the point in hiding anymore? “Since before you killed my family. I was a young woman. Barely little more than a girl. It doesn’t really count.”
“No, I suppose it doesn’t.” He lay down next to her, stroking her hair back and away from her face, watching her curiously with a frown etched into his perfect features.
It felt so odd to have him touch her. Not sexually—not in aneedyway. But like she was something special. Something to be…cherished.
“Were there other fae in your family like you? Like this?”
“No. But that wasn’t uncommon. I had a cousin who had the legs of a goat. Only one in our clan like that.” She rolled onto her back, mostly just to get a little more distance between them. She felt too warm. “We were all unique in our own way. Some fae would leave their clans in search of others like themselves.”
“Did you ever feel that pull?”
“Yeah.”
“And why didn’t you go?”
When she didn’t answer immediately, he let out a small, quiet laugh. “Ah. Your revenge. Me.”
“Yeah. You.”
