#2: I wasn’t waiting three months for the decision from “on high.” Their High King only had until the New Year to decide.
#3: No matter how things turned out, afterwards, they had to let me check on Naomi to make sure she was alright and take me to her if she wasn’t.
Tadhg had crooked his head at a reluctant angle at the last two. But in the end, he assented with a regal nod that reminded me he was a king. Even if he didn’t look like one in jeans and a plaid shirt worn over a black t-shirt.
“Should we start your training now?” he asked. “Seal the pact with a kiss?”
I jolted at the offer. Then surprised myself when I answered without hesitation, “Yes, please!”
The Mountain King’s eyes darkened, and once again, his hand stole under my chin, tipping my face up to him.
“Do you, Sadie Ellis, agree to be our Potential—to let us court and prepare you for the High King’s yea or nay in good faith?”
This wasn’t any kind of ceremony. We were standing on a lawn with the Shadow King as our only witness.
Yet there was a weirdly solemn feeling in my chest as I answered, “Yes.” And I got so lost in Tadhg’s intent gaze, I almost forgot to add, “As long as you agree to all three of my conditions.”
“We do,” the Mountain King vowed, his gaze as solemn as I felt. “You have our word on this.”
Then he curled a hand around my neck and kissed me. A soft, exploring press to my mouth that felt like a careful sip and lingered like the last notes of a song.
Even after he pulled away.
My first kiss. I’d thought it would feel like being dropped back into the frying pan to get scrambled.
But no… it felt like the last slat on a roof being raised, something final clicking into place.
Maybe Tadhg had felt the click, too. “Ah Jaysus, yer lips taste as good as ye smell.”
He rubbed a thumb over my cheek, his gaze tender. “Something tells me your Mountain King’s about to get addicted to this mouth. Won’t be long till he’s absolutely ruined for anything else.”
Addiction. Ruin. Those were very bad things.
But Tadhg made them sound like good things.
Like very bad good things he wanted to do. Withme.
“Aw, feck, Strawberry, don’t look at me like that.” Tadhg’s voice took on an accent I hadn’t heard before. Thicker than the one he’d used to explain everything to me, and rougher, too. “I’ve done an admirable job of resisting ye up until now. Don’t break me before ye’ve had time to rest up for what’s to come.”
I had no idea how I was looking at him, but I liked this. I liked feeling wanted. Like someone a male had to resist.
“Alright, naughty Strawberry, enough of that.” The Mountain King let out a low groan before clasping my shoulders and turning me around. “Cian’s turn.”
To my surprise, the Shadow King was already holding up a sign:
Agree to be our Potential w/ 3 conditions attached?
?YES
?NO
He’d drawn a checkbox in front of both of the possible answers, and he handed me the fat marker.
No more frying pan. The sizzling had been replaced by fizzy bubbles of delight.
I suppressed the urge to giggle as I put an X in front of the YES option, wondering if the Shadow King would also seal the deal with a?—
The marker fell out of my hands when Cian crashed into me. No longer an ethereal moon but a ravenous animal. Drinking, not sipping. Taking my lips in huge gulps as his tongue delved between them, tangling with mine.
