“So are you.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Bet you can’t touch silver without it burning.”
I clench my jaw. I’m not fae. I’m just cursed to see them. “Why do your animals kill humans?”
“They’re hungry, they actually prefer to kill the fae born in this world. Women like you. Because you have some magic in your blood, even though you’ve never been to faery.”
He is nothing like what a fairy should be. He’s too wild, too muscular, and he’s definitely too dangerous. Following him might not have been one of my smartest ideas, but when I’d seen him, I hadn’t been able to resist the lure.
I’ve never been able to resist the men who are bad for me. It’s an addiction, one I don’t fight nearly hard enough. I should’ve pulled the trigger. Maybe that would’ve scared our captor off, and with his quarry dead, he’d have left me alone.
But what if I am fae? While he’s right about the silver, he could be lying about my eyes.
“Do you have a name? Or is it too powerful to share?”
He gives a low laugh. “You’ve read too many tales. Cillian. My name holds no power over me, so I am more than happy to share.” He does a mock bow and I want to kick him in the face for teasing me. “You?”
“Flick.” No one calls me Felicity except on official paperwork. This seems like an off the book situation where the normal rules don’t apply.
“Very well Flick, a truce so we can figure out how we get out of here.”
“And then what?”
“I guess you can try to kill me if you still think I’m a monster. I probably won’t fight back, but…” he shrugs. “Maybe survival instinct will kick in at the last second.”
“Why wouldn’t you fight?”
He considers me for several too long seconds. I don’t like being on the ground while he stands, even though he’s not looming over me. I scramble up. While there’s nowhere for me to flee, I ready myself to fight. I relax my knees and loosely curl my fingers. He stops one yard away as if he sensed the chance in my posture.
The rope is coiled like a snake between us. He’s wrong. We aren’t totally without weapons. But even if I kill him, I’ll be bound to a corpse.
He grins, teeth flashing white in the starlight. “There’s more than one reason, but I don’t think you’d like anyone of them.”
“In the interest of the truce, I’d like to know how suicidal the person I’m risking my life with is.”
“I don’t want to die. But surrendering to fate is a different matter.” He glances up at the sky. The light cuts over his skin, making it ashen. In daylight it was bronze; he was vibrant and alive. Now he could be a creature made of night come to haunt my dreams. “I was kicked out of faery, being sent here was my chance at redemption. But I’m not sure I want to go back to a place that doesn’t want me. Will I be forgiven, or will I be shunned?”
“So you’re a coward?”
He laughs. “No. But I’ve been here for nearly sixty years, I like parts of it. If I wasn’t hunting, I might like it more.”
“Now I know you’re lying.” He’s not a day over thirty. “You aren’t over sixty.”
“I’m far older. But even if I want to return, I can’t.” He touches his neck. “My way home was taken along with my weapons.”
“Your way home?”
He rolls his eyes. “Magic portal necklace.”
“Oh.” I remember him wearing one. Given the way the night is going, I’ll believe it is magic.
“And failure to return with a woman means banishment.”
“What? Back up. You kidnap women?”
“I’ve kidnapped no one. The fae need women, as all babies born in faery are male.”
