Page 20

Hannah

I never knew having a bodyguard would be such a weird feeling. I barely see the woman, Luna, since she protects my cottage at night. But Rune has to stand there and watch me do paperwork all day. As much as I love my job, no one could ever think this part of it is thrilling.

“Are you sure you won’t sit?” I ask Rune for the millionth time.

“Sitting means relaxing, and—”

“—relaxing is the worst thing a bodyguard can do,” I say in synch with him, having heard it enough.

Rune looms beside the door to my office, all muscles and wild brown hair.

His features are ruggedly handsome, with fascinating amber eyes and just enough scruff of beard to be sexy.

He looks like one of those guys from an SUV commercial, the kind that tries to convince men that buying this specific car will turn them into competent, sexy outdoorsmen.

He’s very quiet and courteous with me, but every time I look at him, I get the restless urge to be outside. Maybe I’m projecting because I know he shifts into a wolf? Or maybe my magic can sense something about him.

That would be freaking fantastic if true, because I sure as hell can’t get it to do anything else.

I spent yesterday evening doing more research with Severin.

We finished off everything else in his library, but found nothing useful.

I’m touched by how much time he’s spending to help me.

I know it also helps him, but even though we both get frustrated at not finding anything, he never gets impatient with me.

The loud clattering of someone running up the Town Hall’s wooden stairs in hard shoes echoes through my office door. Jared bursts into the room, his perpetually sunburnt face slick with sweat, his damp lycra cycling clothes clinging to him. “Hannah!”

In a blur of movement, Rune power slams Jared into the wall so hard the freaking building shudders.

“Hannah?” Jared croaks at the same time I yell, “He’s okay!”

Rune relaxes the arm he has barred across the cyclist’s neck but keeps pinning him in place.

Jared tries to push back, his massive thighs straining. Up until a few days ago, I would have said he was the strongest man in town, but Rune holds him easily.

Exactly how strong are fae compared to humans? How strong is Severin? A knowing goes through me, my body remembering how effortlessly he carried me through the sky, his arms unwavering.

Jared’s grunt of effort and irritation snaps me back to the present.

“Please let him go,” I say. “I’ve known him since high school.”

“Shadow fae can cast glamours, can make themselves look like anyone.” The werewolf bares his fangs at Jared, who hopefully can’t see them because of the protective spell. “Prove you’re who you say you are.”

“Why do you have fangs?” Jared’s eyes go wide. “Are you another of those flying guys?”

Welp, there goes that hope. But actually, it’s okay. If the protective spell is letting Jared see the fae for what they really are, that means he’s either a witch or friendly to magic.

I step out from behind my desk and set a hand on Rune’s arm. “He’s okay.”

As soon as he lets Jared go, I ask my friend, “What’s up?”

“There’s another new castle in the woods!” His pale blue eyes go wide, his voice filled with awe. “And there’s a dragon!”

“Dragon,” I say slowly, trying to wrap my head around it. “You mean a dragon-dragon?”

“It was huge! As big as a house.” He throws his arms wide. “And its wings…”

When I shoot a questioning glance at Rune, the werewolf nods. Okay, so dragons are freaking real and have moved to Ferndale Falls.

Looks like my kooky little town just got kookier.

I get directions and send Jared on his way, promising to talk about all of this soon.

Maybe I can have a special town meeting for all the people who can see the fae?

I set the issue aside for now. That can be a future-Hannah problem.

She’ll probably cuss me out like a drunken sailor for putting it off, but there’s only so much I can handle at one time.

God, I wish I could call Severin. I need to get him a phone.

We head outside and immediately run into Mrs. Greely, who’s walking her elderly Labrador, Max.

“Hannah! Where did all those children come from?” Mrs. Greely points her cane at the tulips racing across the green. “They can’t be more than three-years old. Why isn’t anyone watching them? It’s a disgrace!”

Oh, god. I slap a hand over my mouth to try to hide my laughter. If the walking tulips look like toddlers, I wonder what she sees the pixies as.

“A disgrace,” another voice echoes.

I spin. There’s no one else near us. “Who said that?”

Rune shoots me a puzzled frown.

“Said what?” Mrs. Greely taps my arm. “Don’t you try to distract me, young lady. You’re the mayor. What are you going to do about the children?”

“I’ll look into it, Mrs. Greely. I promise.” At her that’s-not-good-enough snort, I add, “We should be glad we have such a wonderful small town where we all know each other and children can play without worry.”

Her face softens. “That’s what we did in my day.”

I pat her arm, letting out a quiet sigh of relief that I’ve diverted her.

“But there are strangers, Hannah!” She shakes her cane toward the other sidewalk, where a gnome does cartwheels and a wood nymph glides along. “Strangers!”

Damn. Should have known it wouldn’t be so easy. Mrs. Greely can be a dear, but she’s also the town busybody.

“Those aren’t strangers, Mrs. Greely. They’re new townspeople.” I want my words to be true. I want to win one of the bride trials, fake marry Severin, and make this prosperous future for Ferndale Falls real. Even if my marriage will be fake, what it means for the town won’t be.

It takes several more minutes—and a full interrogation of Rune about who he is—but we finally get free and enter the woods.

Finn races out of a patch of ferns, setting the fiddleheads swaying. “There’s a dragon! I didn’t think they were real, but I saw one.”

“I heard.” I lean over and scratch around his ears until he squirms in delight.

We tromp on down the path, Finn sending a series of suspicious looks Rune’s way. “Why does he have to be here?”

“I told you, he’s my bodyguard.”

“He’s a wolf .” Finn spits it like it’s a dirty word.

I glance back at Rune to find him watching us with fascination. “You can truly talk to him.”

“He’s my familiar.”

“She’s my witch!” Finn yips, then looks up at me. “You don’t need him. I can protect you.”

I stop and crouch down to give him some more love.

“I don’t doubt it for a minute,” I lie. Finn’s the best fox to ever fox, but against a shadow fae like Meloria?

Hell, no. Especially since she seems like she’d have zero problems hurting innocent animals.

“But Rune being here makes Severin happy, and he’s my fiancé. ”

“Fake fiancé.” Finn gives my hand a gentle nip to punctuate his words, his teeth grazing without breaking the skin. “I’m your real familiar. I’m more important.”

“You just admitted you’re my familiar.” I grin.

“Humph.”

It doesn’t take us much longer to reach the new castle, which is on the other side of the waterfall from Severin’s palace. And this one is a castle, with plain, heavy stone walls rising to crenellated towers. An outer wall surrounds an open courtyard, paved with huge slabs of stone.

Severin stands beside another fae, who has red-scaled wings and a sinuous tail. Two dark horns spiral up from the long deep-auburn hair covering his head. He’s dressed in brown leather pants and a white dress shirt that sets off his bronze skin.

How the hell do you put on a shirt when you have wings? I shake my head. Magic, of course. Duh, Hannah.

“Hannah, this is Lukendevener, the foremost dragon expert on human magic,” Severin says. “Lukendevener, I present Mayor Hannah Wylde, my betrothed.”

“You may call me Luke.” The dragon frowns. “Humans seem unable to handle a full dragon name.”

“So you’re really a dragon?” I ask. “Someone said you’re as big as a house.”

“That’s my true form, but I’ve been told it’s far too large for Earth.” Luke scowls at Severin, who looks completely unrepentant, then turns back to me. “You really don’t know how to use your magic? ”

“I really, really don’t.”

“I look forward to working closely with you to figure it out.”

“No.” Severin steps in between us, his shadows coiling around my waist and thigh to move me gently out of the way. “You will tell me what you find, and I will work with Hannah.”

Possessive much? I guess it’s all part of the act.

“Such a system is inefficient,” Luke says.

“If you’re not up for the task, I’m sure I can find another dragon who is,” Severin snaps.

The dragon’s wings spread wide.

Holy shit. They’re a good ten feet across.

Severin’s wings emerge, and the two fae enter into a staring match. Tension ripples through the air along with pulses of magic. It’s so thick it’s hard to breathe. It goes on and on, and right when I think I’ll scream from the buildup of tension, Luke’s wings fold onto his back. “Very well.”

“Find everything you can about human witchcraft and report to me tomorrow afternoon,” Severin says.

The dragon stomps through the silver doors of his castle.

Severin spins toward me, triumph blazing from his emerald eyes. Power rolls off him, a magnetic pull I can barely resist.

“Cancel anything you have planned for tomorrow evening,” he growls, his shadows tightening around my waist. “The second you get off work, you’re all mine.”

My butterflies do a round of tequila shots, swirling and looping through my tummy in drunken giddiness.

I’m screwed. Totally and utterly screwed.