I stared at my palms, the act of her pulling away from me repeatedly stinging the more she did it.
“I haven’t fully been with a male, withanyone,” she confessed, the words coming out strained and jittery.
Fuck. I should not have been as elated to hear this, but here I was being just that.
How to navigate that without coming across as an absolute dick.
“So, you’re a uh—” The word “virgin” has rendered Jack Frost speechless.
Sylvie clapped her hands to her face. “Yes. I mean, I’ve done other things, but?—”
And there went the possessive, jealous rage again.
“—the one time I tried he—he only got so far before?—”
Curiosity had me leaning forward, waiting for her to finish. “What happened?”
“Itgot frostbite.” Sylvie pressed her palms harder against her cheeks. “I never dared to try again.”
The thought had me adjusting my pants. Served the asshole right, but also that poor bastard.
Delicately removing her hands from her face, I held them and flashed a grin with a bit of fang showing. “That wouldn’t happen to me, faerie. And I’d be willing to stake my cock on it.”
Sylvie pushed out a small laugh, and she rose, the sun peeking through the grey clouds above the trees framing her in a wintry halo. She still held my hands, and I remained on my knees in front of her, staring up at those icy blue wings and imagining how a crown would look atop her snowy white hair. Hair that I hadn’t noticed until nowmatchedmine. It all made too much sense to deny.
“What a queen you’ll be,” I whispered.
Sylvie’s head moved, now in full view and no longer framed by the sun. Her hands yanked from mine, and her expression was anything but pleasant. “What? You make it sound like this is a done deal. Are you so sure of yourself that you think this is in the bag?”
Here I thought I knew females only to find out they’re an absolute enigma.
“I thought it was a compliment. Is it not? You’d be royalty, have a palace, a kingdom, power?—”
Sylvie cut me off by pointing a stern finger behind me. “Please leave, Jack.”
Nanok harumphed and stood, lightly bumping his head against Sylvie’s arm.
“You’re a good boy, Nanok.” She ruffled Nanok’s neck.
Standing and rolling my shoulders, I paused long enough for Sylvie to flash me with a gaze I could only describe as confused, hurt, and still just a small glimmer of hope there.
“Alright. Have a good evening, faerie.”
Motioning for Nanok to follow, I turned on my heel to walk away as she asked. Winning her over would take more than promises of grandeur and a shared pet polar bear. It’d clearly take proof that her soul was solidly safe in my hands.
“What iswrongwith him?”I fumed, a wicker basket secured on my forearm as I perused various flowers in Flora’s shop,Flora and Fauna.
While the flora portion of the title was pretty obvious, given my pixie best friend’s name as well as it being a floral shop, the fauna came from the numerous pets she let roam free in the store during hours—a couple of cats, a small dog, a raven, a miniature pig, and a chicken. You’d think they would cause chaos and poop everywhere, but Flora had them well-trained. They brought smiles to customers, and regulars looked forward to visiting with them.
Flora stood near the cash register, arranging a wintry bouquet of white roses, blue delphinium, mini daisies, and feather willow eucalyptus. “Do you want me to support you no matter what, or is this a moment you’d like my honest opinion?”
I twirled twigs of cranberries between two fingers, holding them up to the light before adding them to my haul. Sighing, Iturned to face her, propping the basket on one hip. “I’m probably going to regret this, but be honest with me.”
Flora dusted her hands, nodded, and pressed her palms on the counter. “I think you’re blowing this out of proportion.” Her small wings fluttered erratically, a finger raising as soon as I opened my mouth to defend myself. “You asked for honesty, so hush up and listen to it, Syl.”
Holding back the urge to stomp my foot like a child not getting their way, I bit my lips together and kept quiet.
“In this situation, Jack was trying to impress a would-be mate. He was the peacock showing you his elaborately beautiful feather display.” Flora plucked a peacock feather from a vase on a table surrounded by various bird feather types and waved it at me. “Youwereimpressed, were you not?”
