Page 32 of A Dance with the Fae (Mistress of Magic #1)

‘Can’t you feel it? It’s got colder. And there’s this loud knocking, like, pretty much going on all day and all night now.’ Rav hugged his arms around his chest and shivered. ‘If this goes on, I’m going to have to move. I can’t live here with it like this.’

Faye walked slowly around the circumference of the living room, which was still sparsely furnished.

In her mind’s eye she had a sudden vision of what it could be like – golden shafts of sun slanting through the floor-to-ceiling windows, through diaphanous gauzy curtains that floated on the breeze coming in from the sea outside; soft chairs in neutral pink and silver velvet; elegant, simple furniture, with tall, rose gold lamps in the corners, ready to be lit in the evening when the windows would be thrown open to watch the moon rise over the waves.

Above the modern fireplace, in which artificial logs were burning behind a glass screen, she imagined a seven-pointed star, made of opals.

She ran her hand over the leather sofa and caught sight of the opal ring on her thumb.

The rose gold lamps were like the precious gold that sang on her skin.

Her vision for this room was a kind of homage to faerie, she realised, or, perhaps, a move to bring the house in sympathy with the energy it rested upon and within.

Faye could not feel the cold of which Rav spoke; in fact, as she closed her eyes and saw the room as it should be, she was filled with a warm joy.

‘It feels fine to me.’ She made her way to the fireplace and stood in front of it, gauging the temperature. ‘In fact, I’m actually a bit hot over here.’ She took her jacket off and unwrapped her scarf.

Rav looked at her with an odd expression. ‘Faye. It’s freezing in here. Put your coat back on.’

‘No! Really. I’ll be too warm.’ She shook her hair over her shoulders.

‘But this house is built on a faerie road. We may have to do more to mollify the Good Folk.’ She wasn’t surprised that the phenomenon continued to happen, especially after what Finn had told her about the breakdown of the relationship between humans and faeries.

Rav was probably lucky that his house sat on land belonging to Murias; if it belonged to one of the two kingdoms that wanted to wipe out humanity, he might not still be alive.

‘There! That sound! You couldn’t hear that?’ He pointed to the long glass hallway and stared at her expectantly.

Beautiful singing was drifting through the house now; Faye’s whole body responded to it with joy.

It flowed through the room, a song made of delicate crystal and faint, tinkling bells.

Faye followed the lone female voice out to the hallway with a pull of longing in her heart.

She walked as if she was in a dream, her arms held in front of her, eyes half-closed.

She knew that she was being called by this beautiful song, back across the sea, to the castle of Murias and Finn Beatha’s arms, and she felt the enchantment gather its strength again.

She had to fight it, because she could feel Finn, under her skin, drawing her back to him.

She could feel herself forgetting all the bad things he’d done, replaced with a longing to be back in his bed.

‘Ugh. Like someone dropping a pile of saucepans or something.’ Rav followed her out to the hall; immediately, the music stopped and Faye felt her connection to faerie severed, savage and sudden. ‘Didn’t you hear it?’

‘Oh, it’s gone. It was so beautiful.’

‘Beautiful? It’s a fucking racket!’ Rav shouted. ‘I don’t get it. What’s changed? You got it before, but now you’re acting like there’s no problem, Faye. I thought you wanted to help me?’

‘I do want to help you. It just sounded like nice singing to me. I’m sorry…

I…It’s complicated. But I do understand.

’ She shook her head, as if she could loosen Finn’s grip on her.

The ring tightened on her hand, as if Finn knew that she was trying to resist him and was reaching for her, wanting to possess her.

Rav went to the faerie altar and pointed at it.

‘I did everything you said. Milk in the bowl every other day. Flowers, feathers, shells. I’ve even said a fucking prayer to the faeries every day to leave the house alone, but, if anything, it’s got worse.

And then you come back here, floating around like some kind of princess, and act like everything’s okay!

It’s not fucking okay, Faye! I feel like I’m going mad! ’

‘I’m sorry, Rav.’ Guilt and frustration gnawed at her, at the way the enchantment Finn had her under was messing with her real life and her relationships.

‘I thought you…I thought we had a connection, something…I thought you liked me.’ He wiped his eyes in frustration. ‘But you’re being really weird with me, and I don’t know why.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated.

‘I don’t know how you didn’t hear that banging sound.

And the knocking is absolutely doing my fucking head in.

I’m…I’m so tired, Faye. I’m not sleeping.

And I’m trying to get this festival sorted and all the bands are being completely pathetic, and…

’ He trailed off and took a deep breath.

‘Sorry. You don’t want to know about all that. But I am sorry for shouting.’

She approached him cautiously. ‘That’s okay.’ She stepped forward and he opened his arms, accepting a hug. He sighed and laid his head on her shoulder, then pulled back slightly and gazed at her.

‘I missed you, too. Can’t say that hasn’t been part of what’s keeping me up.’

Faye felt the energy between them change. She felt Rav’s desire for her, as she had before, and she still wanted him.

But the pull of faerie was strong in this house, and she was reminded of Finn’s threat to Rav’s life.

Faye still wasn’t a hundred per cent sure that Finn had witnessed her and Rav making love on the beach, but she thought the implication was there that he had.

Finn Beatha was jealous, and dangerous. He was also a faerie lover who was so entrancing she could barely remember to eat.

‘Why did you run off that night? After we…you know? Were together? You’ve been so distant. If I did anything wrong, please tell me. I don’t want to have hurt you.’ Rav stroked her cheek, and Faye looked into his eyes properly for the first time since they had kissed on the beach.

The heady pull of faerie was at odds with Faye as a practical, powerful earth witch.

And this Faye, the one whose magic wove the power of crystal and smoke and rain-soaked earth wanted Rav – this Faye wanted a good man she could trust to love her, to honour her as she should be honoured.

This Faye was fighting the power of faerie that wanted to overpower her altogether and suck her in its undertow.

‘I just…it’s hard to explain.’ She brushed his lips with hers. ‘But I’m here now.’

‘Is this happening? Is this for real, now? Because I don’t think I can cope if I have you and lose you again. I like you, Faye. Please don’t…I don’t know. I just want to know where I am with you,’ Rav appealed to her. Faye realised with alarm that he was holding back, protecting himself from her.

Is this really who you are now? Faye wondered, stepping outside of herself for a moment. How have you, Faye Morgan, become someone that inspires such uncertainty? And such desire? She didn’t recognise Rav’s vision of her, and it was troubling to have that double sense of herself.

‘I like you, too,’ she murmured, touching his cheek and meeting his gaze as honestly as she could. She would give him all of herself that she could; he deserved more, but Finn was a secret she was unable to disclose, even if she wanted to.

He returned her kiss like she knew he would.

Faye couldn’t deny that there was a chemistry between them. Being with Finn was being inside the addictive, effortless lull of faerie. She was helpless there. A sex slave. Willingly, she submitted to all of Finn’s dominant depravities, and she loved every second.

But being with Rav made her feel powerful, sexy and invincible.

The difference was, with Rav, she was awake .

She was sober, and she was in control. Finn led her through a dark dream of excess, but with Rav, she could enjoy his healthy masculinity and feel appreciated as a woman. A woman, his equal, and not a slave.

She didn’t know Rav at all, really, but she wanted to; and, when she was thinking straight, she knew she wanted some stability in her life.

Usually, the only person in her life who gave her any support was Annie; it would be nice, she admitted to herself, if there could be someone else in her corner.

This wasn’t an ordinary dating situation. Faye examined her motives for being here. If it was hard for Rav to compete with a faerie king, it was also true that having been in faerie had given her the confidence to pursue Rav – to respond to him – in a way she wouldn’t before.

Rav kissed her hungrily, as if he had been waiting for this.

His large, strong hands gripped her waist, and she felt his primal need to have her, to feel her feminine energy meld with his masculine, animalistic need for her.

His mouth covered hers easily, and he groaned as he kissed her and hardened against her.

For long, velvety moments, Faye revelled in the kiss; she felt made of honey under Rav’s touch. There was something about the way he was, the way he touched her, talked to her – that made her feel queenly, womanly, full of sweetness.

But suddenly, she was pulled away – taken through the air at great speed by rough hands that pinched where they held her.