Page 8

Chapter eight

Roisin

W hat the Dia was I doing? About to kiss a human. Fall for his charm and then what? Nothing. There couldn’t be anything between us. I wouldn’t love him. Couldn’t mark him as my mate. It would kill him. My power refused to abate though as though it wanted to mark him as mine. I didn’t understand why it would act that way when he was a human.

“What were you doing?” I stood and paced to the window covered in a thick black velvet curtain, I yanked the heavy material aside and gazed out at the snow-lit wonder of the realm.

“We were talking.”

The blankets made a rustling noise as Brandon must have stood.

“Talking?” I spun around.

“Yes, it’s what people do.”

“Don’t get smart with me.” I placed my hands on my hips .

“What do you want me to say?” His hands slackened around the blanket, and it slipped even further down his waist revealing the intriguing trail of hair on his lower stomach and the sharp lines of the muscles beside his hips. “That I’m wildly attracted to you? That I can’t stop thinking about kissing you? Touching every inch of your body until you’re exhausted from orgasm after orgasm.”

My mouth fell open. Never had a man said anything like that to me. Heated arousal pooled between my legs. My body responded to his words. To the hard swell of his cock beneath the blankets. I’d longed to spread my legs before him while sitting on the chair to see what he’d do with the invitation. I guess I knew now he’d take anything I offered him, but would it be fair to use him for his body? For the orgasms he said he’d give me.

“But…”

“But what?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“But Fae have fated mates.”

His gaze fell to the floor for a second, then he raised his chin. “From what I’ve read, you might wait hundreds of years for your fated mate. Don’t you want to live in the moment? You almost lost your immortality. Would you have kept waiting for him then?”

“That is a moot point. I always believed we’d fix the spring.”

“Okay, Princess Roisin, wait for your fated one.” He spun around and strode across the room toward the door leading to the bathing chambers. “Can you find my clothes while I wash up? Then my naked chest won’t tempt you to stare at it like you have been since I woke. ”

With that, he flung open the door and shut it with a finality that left me aching to have his presence back.

I turned back to the window and pressed my forehead against the cool glass pane. There was a call to the snow-covered realm outside that made me feel like I belonged there. It was such a strange sensation since I’d grown up in the warmth of the Summer Court. I couldn’t explain this connection to the Winter Court. Was it because Fae didn’t suffer from the cold or was it my powers over ice that bonded me here? I shook my head and pulled the curtains closed. Brandon would suffer from the cold though. He’d already suffered enough.

See this was another reason we wouldn’t be more than acquaintances. We were too different. Once we returned to Earth, we’d separate, and I’d make sure to never see him again so he wouldn’t tempt me to experience the orgasms he’d promised. Many orgasms, I reminded myself. Thank goodness I’d never experienced a Fae heat otherwise I might take him up on his offer like the way Saoirse had used human men in heat knowing they wouldn’t get her pregnant.

I strode over to the armoire and wrenched open the doors. An assortment of clothes lined the interior. I already grasped the layout because I’d watched a servant place the garments inside while Brandon had been unconscious. That was another thing. He was too vulnerable. Mortal. He wouldn’t live long. What if I fell in love with him and then lost him the way Briana had lost her first chosen mate? She’d suffered from a broken heart for years because of it. I didn’t want to be like her. When I loved, I wanted it to be a forever love.

There was no way I’d separate sex and love. That wasn’t in me. When I finally gave my body to a man, it would be with my heart too. My emotions entwined my body and heart.

The running water stopped, and I creaked open the door and shoved the clothes through the gap knowing the bathtub lay on the other side of the door and I wouldn’t accidentally glimpse Brandon naked.

But Dia, I wanted to. I longed to see all of him. To have all of him. I clicked the door shut and strode to the bed. Unable to help myself, I lifted a pillow and placed it under my nose to inhale the masculine scent that was all Brandon. A sharp tang of dark vanilla and earthy tones.

The things I wanted from the human… but I couldn’t have them.

Footsteps sounded outside the main door, then the jangle of keys, the distinctive click of the lock popping open, and the heavy door swung inwards. I’d felt like a prisoner even though Tay said it was for our protection. Tay stood on the other side of the door. Her gaze flickered to the pillow in my hands, so I quickly tossed it on the bed as heat rushed into my face.

Tay’s gaze slid around the room assessing. I’d watched her do it many times as though she was taking many pictures in her mind to examine later.

“He’s awake I see,” she said.

“Aye. ”

“A servant will be back to escort you both to dinner in an hour.” With that declaration, she shut the door and locked it again.

I slumped onto the bed. What did the demons want from us? And would we ever get home?