“Either the tenth or the eleventh of January. My mother and father could never agree.”
Strange. “Any brothers or sisters?”
His lips flatten, and he sets down his fork, abandoning what remains of the pie. For some silly reason, thinking he’s not going to finish the dessert feels like a personal slight.
I truly am losing my mind.
“Unseelie are only allowed one child.”
Now that he mentions it, I do remember the book saying something like that. I also remember there being terrible inaccurate drawings of the Unseelie covered in hair.
The only hair Maddox has seems to be on his head.
There were other drawings as well. Drawings I should not be thinking about in this moment.
“Is there anything you would like to know about me?” This isn’t an interview; the questions really should go both ways.
Then again, maybe he’s not interested in me or my life.
Do they have books about us as well? Any misconceptions?Drawings?
“I already know you are turning twenty-five on the twenty-fourth of August. You have no brothers or sisters, and you have a cousin named Kerris Dawn and one named Theo. Your fathercounts coins, and your mother pretends to die each time she sees me.”
Well, that is considerably more than I know about him.
“That is one thing I can ask about,” he says. “Why does she do that?”
I’m not even sure anymore. She’s not fooling anyone with her awful acting skills. “You can be quite intimidating. With your sharp teeth and your . . . largeness.” The first time I caught a glimpse of them at the well, I nearly fainted myself.
“Yet another reason not to pursue a Seelie fae, do you not agree?”
I don’t know anymore. The teeth are disconcerting, especially at first. But after you realize none of the Unseelie are interested in eating Seelie for supper, they aren’t quite as terrifying.
Kerris certainly doesn’t seem to mind being mated to one. She even let Everett mark her with his teeth—something that is apparently customary in Unseelie unions. Mating bonds, they call them.
Maddox doesn’t appear to have any marks.
At least not yet.
“Will you bite her?”
His eyes widen beneath his furrowed brow. “Your mother?”
“No! Your mate.” Imagine Maddox biting Cordelia Quill. That might actually kill her.
He reaches for the sugar shaker, turning the fluted crystal over in his hands. “There is no guarantee that she will agree to be my mate.”
I don’t see why she wouldn’t. His company is downright pleasant when he’s not toting around smelly goats. And maybe it wasn’t the wine that made me confess to Kerris that I found him handsome.
Maddox Finch is uniquely attractive, with his strong nose and square chin and extremely pointed ears. I might even like the black rings that climb his lobes and the bone necklace around his neck. Lends an air of danger to the whole ensemble.
Not that my opinion matters.
Blowing out a breath, he sets the shaker back where it belongs. “We have been taught that it is an honor to mark one’s mate. Although not all allow this. Some believe the practice vulgar.”
“Really?” I think there’s something strangely erotic about the idea. The permanence of it all. Rings can be removed, but a mating scar? That would be with you forever.
“Some are not enamored with their partners and only mate to bring new life into this world, as is their duty to our clan.”
