It does to me, so his words sting.
“We’re going our separate ways regardless. This makes it easier,” he adds, his voice devoid of emotion.
“It would have been nice if we could end this as friends,” I tell him.
He laughs. It is short and hollow. “We’re way past that, Isla.” He drops his voice. “I heard that the shifterfae are going to invite you to stay here. Don’t do it.” He shakes his head. “I came to warn you against it.”
“I don’t need to be warned. They’re good people,” I tell him.
Sebastian takes my arm and steers me away from the main table, away from the dozens of ears that are no doubt straining to hear every word. We end up in an alcove off the main hall, partially hidden by a thick wooden support beam. The light here is muted, the air cooler. He walks me in a little deeper.
“You’ve spent one night in their court,” he says, keeping his voice low. “You’re hardly an expert on their behavior.”
“I’ve always liked animals,” I tell him. “Animals are more often than not better than people or fae. The shifterfae are very animalistic in their ways, even in their fae form. They’re straight and to the point. They don’t hide things. They don’t pretend. What you see is what you get. I don’t need more time to see it. I like them.”
His jaw twitches, so he clenches it.
“You—” he starts to say, but as if to prove me right, a male and female come tearing past us down the corridor, laughing. The male is faster. He catches the female by the strip of hide around her waist and yanks it free so that she is completely bare. She lets out a shriek of delight and runs for a few more strides. He catches her, shoving her up against the wall.
She laughs.
He lifts her, and she wraps her legs high around his waist. He drives into her, and her cry rings off the stone. Her hands rakedown his back, fingers digging into the muscle there. They are half-hidden by the shadows, but there is no question about what is happening. The male’s body moves in a hard, driving rhythm, and the female’s cries grow louder with each thrust.
I swallow. My mouth has gone dry.
Heat spreads through me, low and insistent, pooling between my thighs. My eyes slide to Sebastian before I can stop them. I think of his hands on me. The weight of him. The way he took me to heights I didn’t know existed. The way I shattered in his arms.
He is looking at me. His eyes are blazing. They drop to my chest for the briefest of moments before snapping back up to my face.
I am breathing too fast, the tunic straining against my breasts. I think my nipples are hard.
The moans grow louder. There is a slapping of flesh against flesh.
Sebastian grabs my hand. His fingers close around mine, and he pulls me away, moving down the corridor in the opposite direction, away from the couple. We don’t stop until we find a small alcove near a set of carved steps that lead deeper into the mountain. It is quiet here. The sounds from the great hall are distant, and the couple’s cries have faded, the goddess be thanked.
I pull my hand free.
Sebastian is breathing harder than the walk warranted.
“That is exactly what I mean,” I say, pointing back the way we came. “Unabashed openness about who and what they are. If the shifterfae had wanted your parents dead, they wouldn’t have hidden it. They wouldn’t have used a knife or a spear. They would have done it in their animal form. I don’t know exactly how your parents were killed, but I’m sure it wasn’t an animal attack.”
Something moves behind his eyes. Something raw and exposed that he buries almost immediately.
“My parents were cut down by a human,” he says.
The words sit between us. Heavy and terrible.
“I know and I’m so very sorry,” I whisper. After a brief pause, I go on. “Surely you understand where I’m coming from? I don’t think the shifterfae are bad. I don’t think they wronged you or your people. Perhaps I’m speaking out of turn.”
“You sound just like Kilara.” He folds his arms. “She is the Drakar standing in for her brother, who is still lost.”
“You have to admit there is truth in what she said.”
“There is truth there,” he allows. His jaw works. “But it doesn’t mean that I trust them. Or that I am fully convinced of their innocence. Because I’m not.”
Of course not.Trust isnota currency Sebastian trades in.
“I will work together with them out of necessity, but I do not trust them at all,” he continues. His voice hardens. “Don’t stay here, Isla. Don’t put your life at risk to help them. They want half-breeds at the front line of this war. Half-breeds who will die there because war means death. You saw that for yourself.”
