“I see,” Leana said, which wasn’t an answer at all.
A boy with turquoise skin and a mass of silver hair appeared with pie and forks and smiles. He didn’t hang around; just popped in, shy as the dawn, delivered the plates, kissed Leana on the cheek, and disappeared before Bo could so much as blink.
“He yours?” Bo asked, glancing at the kitchen door.
“Yes. My House frequently takes in foundlings. Human and fae alike.” Leana settled in the large seat at the head of the table, glancing from Bo to Ever. The knife in her voice was sheathed again. “As for the topic at hand, good. Given the circumstances, I feared you were led to believe I had some very peculiar expectations.”
Bo, his face full of pie, arched his eyebrows. He nudged Ever’s unresponsive foot gently under the table as he swallowed, half apology, half heads up before the dumb human spoke again. Something was fucking with his kelpie, and Bo didn’t know what else todo.
Ever wasn’t fuckingtalking.
“Declan said it was away from outside eyes and magic,” Bo admitted after another mouthful of (fucking delicious) pie. “I figured that meant it couldn’t be part of the trial.”
“It wasn’tgoingto be,” she said. Bo’s heartbeat skipped, then raced. Ever froze, his cup halfway to his lips. “But I can hardly put either of you through another trial afterthatparticular display.”
Bo pushed his foot harder to Ever’s, and Ever finally pressed back. He kept the pressure up even when Bo opened his fucking mouth, ‘thatparticular display’ rankling, and said, “We fucked, so no more trial?”
There went his lack of swearing out of respect.
“My dear,” Leana said, confusion writ between her pretty brows. “I have anorchardnewly sprouted on my ancestral lands. Lands passed to me by my grandparents, and theirs before them, since the first Houses were formed. It will notleave.I had to barter with Faerie itself to create the door long enough for you to exit, and it barred a few of my boys entirely when I sent them to fetch you.”
Ever hissed at her puzzled words. Or gasped. Some pained, helpless inhale.
Despair, harshly bitten back. Panic. Protectiveness. Anger and self-loathing.
Bo’s gaze snapped toward him, eyes wide with alarm.
“Faerie,” Ever said, calm as gravestones, “has taken a special interest in Bo. It acknowledged him as a Summer King. I had believed the old magics to be a metaphor, and midsummer is well past. It wasn’t my intention to impinge on your sovereignty.”
The mug in Ever’s hand shattered. Ever flinched like someone’d hit him and stared down at the mess of tea and shards, unblinking, the table and his feelings so fuckingmessy.
Bo was on his feet before he was even aware of it. By the time he’d rounded the table, most the tea and the shards were gone. It left Ever staring at his empty hands, Bo hovering awkwardly near him.
“Youdidn’t do anything,” Bo said fiercely, gripping Ever’s shoulder. Holly leaves appeared again, a glossy half-crown in Ever’s dark hair. Bo didn’t need to see himself to know the sudden rustle about his own ears was from oak leaves. “It’sFaerie. Like you said. And I’m not the only one it acknowledged.”
Bo prodded gently at Ever’s crown in demonstration, a thorn poking him for his trouble. He scowled, but it hadn’t broken the skin. Hadn’t even left a mark. Ever glanced up at him, shivering and still. Somehow, both at the same time.
“What Faerie acknowledged,” Leana interjected, offering Ever a cloth that the kelpie balled up in a tight grip, “is your bond, among other things. It takes more than a play at ritual to mark Faerie as you did, especially when not midsummer or Yule. I didn’t mean to alarm you, dear. I thought you knew.”
Ever twisted the cloth in both hands, just under the table. He only stopped when Bo squeezed his shoulder, looking up with dark, hopeless eyes.
“My oath that I didn’t,” Ever said, at last. He shook his head, a thread of helplessness filtering through the bond. “I had no reason to believe our … actions would have such weight. Bo isn’t my first bond. Faerie never showed an interest with the last. Nor have I heard of it happening with others.”
Leana listened in silence, her expression politely attentive. She poured a cup of cider for herself and another cup of tea for Ever. It smelled like sugar and citrus. Fucking creepy, in Bo’s humble, unbiased opinion. She didn’t so much as glance at the crowns they wore nor at Bo’s hand when he stroked Ever’s shoulder with his thumb.
“If I may be so bold, your former bond doesn’t strike me as the sort to invoke the old ways as you must have.” A touch of reproach there, but only a little. “The new generation considers them ‘untoward.’ Something unseemly created only to appease a certain type of fae. Few willingly spill their own blood, or that of their bond, as I’m sure you can understand.”
“And God forbid there be an interpretation that includes sex instead of blood?” Bo asked dryly, leaning against Ever’s unmoving shoulder. He met Leana’s glance with a flat look of his own and was rewarded with a smile, the one without dimples or crow’s feet. “But I’m a human.”
“You’re a kelpie's bond.” Leana shook her head, all graceful softness. A gentle dismissal of silly children. “Humans have always held a role in Faerie, whatever the modern sorts might claim.”
“Bo is blameless in this,” Ever said, louder now. “I might have cause to know the import of the old magics. But he could not.”
“Fuck that,” Bo snapped. No way Ever was going to claim Bo’d not played his part. It’d been afantasticpart.
An orange blossom no larger than Bo’s thumbnail unfurled from the rim of Leana’s teacup, shimmering and crystalline. Leana looked down at it and smiled.
“There is no blame in this. You don’t live as long as I have without knowing what must be saved and what must be culled,” Leana said, glancing up at the two of them. She lifted her hands, palm up and fingers spread. “I’m honor bound to acknowledge your bond as valid, even if Faerie hadn’t claimed you in my kitchen.”
