The cottage was so old it didn’t even have an indoor bathroom. A small outbuilding had been erected just three feet from the back door – a modern replica of the wattle-and-daub construction with hanging baskets of flowers dangling from the eaves. I could see the edge of a basin through the half-open door.
It looked safe.No fairies.I stepped out and pushed the bathroom door open all the way. I closed the door and turned away from the mirror to the toilet.
“Well, isn’t this cozy?” A deep voice growled against my ear.
My heart leapt in my chest. I spun around, my hand flying to the knife in my pocket. Hot fingers encircled my wrist, pinning my hand.
Blake’s lips pulled back into a self-satisfied smirk. “We meet again, Princess.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MAEVE
My heart hammered against my chest. Blake placed his back against the door so that I couldn’t escape the bathroom without getting through him. His bulk and hard muscles suggested that was unlikely.
With his other hand, he reached into my pocket and pulled out the knife.
“Nice blade.” He twisted it this way and that. He dropped my hand, but I didn’t bother to reach for Flynn’s coin or Rowan’s twig. Something told me they wouldn’t do any good.
“How can you touch that?” I demanded. “It’s made of bronze.”
“Please.” Blake’s crystalline eyes sparkled as he twirled the blade on his finger. “Don’t patronize me. I know you’ve figured it out by now.”
“You’re not fae.”
“The witches said you were clever.”
I gulped as Blake placed the knife against my throat. The cool blade slid over my skin. My whole body narrowed to a point as the world stilled, the only thing existing that cold metal and Blake’s shimmering eyes.
“Please…” I begged.
“It’s all out in the open,” Blake said, his voice casual, as if he was discussing the weather. “You know my secret, and after everything we’ve shared, I know all sorts of things about you. I know how you like to be kissed along your neck, right against this blade?—”
Bake took the blade away, and I let out a breath, only to suck it back again as he pressed his lips against my neck.
Against my terror, my own body betrayed me, brimming with hot desire at the soft touch of his fiery lips. It felt exactly the same as my dreams.
Lust ripped through my body, and that familiar ache throbbed between my legs.
What the hell is happening to me?
Blake kissed a trail up the side of my neck, his lips brushing my earlobe, sending delicious shivers through me. “I know how you writhe when that blond Viking runs his tongue along your inner thigh, and how you love the dreadlocked one to suck your nipple so hard you?—”
“Stop,” I choked out.
Surprisingly, Blake stepped back. The air between us sizzled with tension. I gripped the toilet roll holder to stop myself leaping against Blake, like a magnet seeking its opposite.
My chest heaved.
What the hell is going on?
Blake looked a little flummoxed himself, as much as a human pretending to be a fae could look flummoxed. His smirk faltered a little, and he scratched the back of his head. A black curl fell over his eye. “Your wish is my command.”
“If that’s the case, give back Connor.”
“That’s out of my control, I’m afraid. If it’s any consolation, Jane’s son is being well looked after.”
“He’s damn well not. He’s in the hands of the fae, and you’re planning to do something evil with him.”
