“Tell me.”
“I was …” Her throat moves as she swallows again. I asked Serath whatEldráfnmeans.”
I lean forward. “And what did Serath tell you?” My voice is soft, silky. Her face pales further.
“She … she told me what it means. What you are. I was trying to make sense of it.”
My head tilts. “Andwhatam I,Moirthalen?”
She stares up at me. The smart thing right now would be to look away. To be silent.
She doesn’t do the smart thing.
“You’re … the Hell-Thorn. The lord of the Wild Hunt.”
My lip curls at the title the humans gave me. The Wild Hunt is nothing to do with the Nightwild Guard, but they don’t know that.
“The … the stories I grew up hearing … the war songs, and legends … they were about you.”
I don’t say anything.
“You were in a cage and no one knew. The Hell-Thorn of the Wild Hunt was in a collar in a cage. And women chose you for?—”
Her teeth snap together, cheeks turning red.
“For what?”
“Youknow what.”
“Say it.”
Her teeth bite into her lip so hard, I’m surprised it isn’t bleeding.
“I said,say it.”
“While women chose you for their beds. The most feared warrior in fae history, and they used you. And no one knew. How is that possible? How did you hide? How did no one know who you were?”
I rise from my chair, and she scrambles to her feet, backing up until she hits the edge of the sleeping platform. Fear spikes through the bond.
“You want to know how I hid?” My voice comes out soft and low. “How I survived three hundred years without anyone figuring out what they had in their cages?”
Her pulse is racing, I can see it fluttering like a trapped bird at the base of her throat.
“They didn’t recognize me because I didn’t let them.” I stop in front of her, close enough to touch. “I became what they wanted. What they needed. The dangerous creature who made them feel alive.”
My hand comes up, fingers brushing along her jaw.
“And they came back for more, again and again. They chose me over every other fae in those cages.” My thumb traces her lower lip. Her mouth parts. My other hand finds her waist, and slides around to the small of her back. “Do you want to know why?”
She doesn’t answer. Her breath is coming faster, her body rigid under my palm.
“Because I made them forget.” I lean closer, my mouth near her ear. “I made them forget everything except what I could make them feel.”
Her breath catches.
I should stop. I should step back and put distance between us. I should remember all the reasons this is a terrible idea.
I don’t stop. I kiss her.
