“Are you ready to come home?”
What?
He grips my jaw, holding my head still, his thumb stroking over my chin. My breath whooshes out of my lungs. Brio is themost mysterious, the Siren that the others protect. I have the least to do with him. He’s like hearing the Grim in the distance. Dangerous, wild, and untouchable. A creature so far above me that we shouldn’t even exist in the same space.
Yet, here he is, touching me, calling me incredible.
“Monster, you are thinking too hard.”
Yes, because I shouldn’t be wanting them, I shouldn’t be forgiving them, but I’m falling back into their song, losing myself. Who am I kidding, I was lost the moment I heard it.
“What do you want from me?” I say harshly.
He’s silent, but then he lets go of my jaw. His hands disappear before they return, pulling off the material tied across my face. I cry out but don’t stop him.
A second later, something cold and hard is pressed to my face. It fits perfectly. I reach up, and he grips my fingers, gliding them across the cold mask.
“It’s stone, very rare, you can only fuse it with magic. I made it for you.”
“You hate me,” I protest.
There’s a silence. “Yes,” he says, but it sounds confused. “But you are uneasy; this is your wound, your weakness. I would make you strong and give you a shield. You don’t need one, but you should stop hiding. Lift your head up and…” he trails off.
I listen intently, needing to know what he’s going to say.
“Lift your head and sing, Mei, don’t let them crush you. Don’t let us ruin you.”
With that, he snatches me into his arms, and we fall out of the tree.
I’m too shocked to fight him.
Chapter 17
Reed
Brio leads her into the cave, pausing to speak softly to her. I watch with interest, waiting to see her shout or throw a tantrum or do whatever it is that women have always done. She will hate living in a cave.
Except this is a monster who has never seen a house, and when she walks into the cave, she visibly relaxes.
She’s not like her. I can’t even remember what she looks like or how she felt. Her scent is gone, even her name has erased itself from my memory. All I can remember is how it felt when she handed me over to the guards and told everyone she was forced. I thought I loved her, she was sophisticated and brilliant. Beautiful and so sensual.
And fake. All of it was so fake.
I was just a toy to pass her time while she used me to get the jealous attentions of her partner.
My thoughts are so stark and full of pain that I find myself backing away from her, unable to look away, but I can’t face her either.
Nothing about this situation is the same.
I kissed her.
She’d never been kissed; I could tell. The cautious way she responded, the eager yet nervous movements. I stole her first kiss from her.
My hands shake. She betrayed me. No, yes. I don’t know. I’m confused.
She killed my mate. But I feel more connection, more feeling with this monster than I ever did with that Fae. I would never trust a Fae lady again.
I scrub my hand across my face and move into the dark. The cave is easily fifteen feet high and really deep. The tides rarely, if ever, get high enough to reach it, and it’s so far out of the way that it’s not accessible to humans unless they come by boat, but it is close to the city.
