Page 4

Hannah

Oh, god. Oh, god. I’m flying !

My heart races with a mixture of fear and excitement, like the feeling you get on a rollercoaster.

His arms hold me close, magic tingling everywhere our bodies touch.

Freaking shadow thingies emerge from the tattoos on Severin’s skin to coil all around me!

The smoky-black tendrils are like nothing I’ve ever seen, but no matter how strange they are, their hold makes me feel more secure.

Wind whistles past, tugging on my hair and stroking over my skin, but his shadow wings are completely silent. Even in the fast-moving air, his scent surrounds me, leather and wood smoke and pine. It shouldn’t smell so good, but it does.

Clinging to his shoulders, I twist my upper body, my neck craning so I can see the town.

Ferndale Falls looks pretty as a postcard from up here, the rectangle of the town green dotted with white and pink flowers.

As we rise higher, more of the town comes into view, showing how Ferndale Falls doesn’t form a circle, like most towns.

Instead, the residential area of Victorian houses and adorable cottages spreads south and west. To the north and east, the small downtown area butts up against forest, with the eponymous waterfall right in the center of the “do not build” area.

Or at least it was all forest.

Now, a fairytale palace rises from the trees to the left of the waterfall, full of fanciful spires and heavily carved decorations, all made of white limestone. A detached outer wall circles the main building, creating an open area in the front and a flower-dotted garden in the back.

I sure as hell see why Jared came running to get me. There’s no way I can hide any of this without Severin’s help.

“ That’s your home?” It comes out as a shocked whisper.

“It is.” Pressed this tightly to him, his deep voice vibrates through me. He dives, his shadows adjusting their grip as I tip backward.

I let out an undignified eep and cling to his biceps as my cheeks go fiery hot.

Shit. I have the blush to end all blushes when I’m embarrassed, and his cocky smirk says he’s seen it.

Not that he needs to—he can probably feel the heat radiating off me in waves of mortification like heat lines shimmering over sun-baked summer pavement.

Then I’m twisting again, eager for a view of the waterfall from this height.

We flash past the falls, the water cascading down the rock face in a froth that breaks into a million sparkling diamonds where the sun strikes it.

The pool below spreads outward in a lovely blue, just waiting for summer swimmers to cool off on our handful of hot days.

Severin flies on, seemingly effortlessly. Treetops race below in a blur of green, suddenly broken by the straight line of the palace’s outer wall. In another abrupt change, he brings us back to vertical, his wings snapping wide to cup the air and slow us.

I make another undignified noise as my startled body instinctively tangles my legs around his, even though he holds me as firmly as ever.

“I’m unused to flying with anyone.” He lands in front of the palace. Thick green moss covers the ground between it and the outer wall instead of grass. “I will attempt to gentle my course adjustments for our future trips.”

“Future trips?” I force my legs to unwind from his and slide down to standing. How am I supposed to survive being plastered to his hard body on the regular?

“I will be carrying you rather often while we’re married.” He raises one eyebrow. “Unless you can fly?”

“Nope. No flying.” Oh, god. Did I just lie? Who the hell knows? I might be able to fly.

I spin away from him, ready to get a better look at the palace.

The towers soar overhead, and the arched silver doors of the entrance look too heavy for a person to open.

It’s easily the largest building in the entire town multiple times over.

“You really didn’t damage any of the forest by bringing this here? ”

“I really didn’t,” he says. “You now stand in Faerie. This is a piece of Avalon, my home realm.”

“But we’re on Earth. ”

“We are.” He tips his head. “And we aren’t.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Why should it? It’s magic.” He smirks and offers an elbow. “Let me show you the palace.”

With my hand tucked into the crook of his arm, we walk toward the impressive double doors, which gleam like polished silver.

They’re each twenty-foot tall and embossed with a flourishing tree.

Animals and various small fae peep out from the leafy branches.

Severin’s shadows whip out ahead of us and open the heavy metal doors easily, and he escorts me into a grand marble foyer.

Intricate carvings decorate almost every surface, repeating the nature motif of the main doors.

Within them, tiny faces full of cunning and mischief peep from behind flowers.

A massive chandelier fills the vaulted space overhead, blazing with what must be a hundred candles.

Twin staircases curve up each side of the room to form a wide balcony, and rooms open to all sides, each filled with the most exquisite furniture and art.

“This is stunning! It’s one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen.” Enthusiasm fills my voice. “It’s like something from a movie.”

“We can look at the rest of the rooms later, but there’s something I want you to see.” Severin steers me toward the arched opening framed by the stairs. On the other side is a room even more spectacular than the entry.

Fluted columns march down the sides of the long room, leading to a bright silver throne encrusted with emeralds the same color as Severin’s eyes.

Overhead hang more of the gorgeous chandeliers, but most of the room’s light comes from sunlight pouring through the tall, arched windows that line both of the side walls.

The stained glass in each depicts more scenes from nature that paint the marble floor in bright splashes of color.

Something seems… odd. It takes me until we’re almost all the way to the throne to figure out what’s bugging me. “Wait! How is there sunlight coming through the windows? We’re in the center of the palace. There’s no way this room could have even one exterior wall, let alone two.”

“Magic, of course.”

“Of course,” I echo, a bit dazed.

I expect Severin to sit on the throne or maybe let me sit there so I can feel how grand it will be to be married to him—Oh! Will I be a queen ?—but he pulls me past the throne to a hidden door.

It opens onto the garden I got a glimpse of from the air, and that glimpse did not do it justice.

Instead of a fussy formal garden with plants carefully corralled into uniform beds, a wonderful profusion of color welcomes me.

There are more flowers than I’ve ever seen in one place, in every shape and color.

Roses, tulips, irises, and lilies I know, but I can’t name most of the others.

I’m not even sure we have all of them on Earth.

Small trees dot the landscape, providing center points the rest of the plants surround in little islands of color.

Moss-covered paths wind through the garden, inviting slow ambles.

“Do you like it?” Severin’s voice sounds a bit hesitant for the first time. This matters to him, even more than what I thought of the palace.

“It’s the most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen.” I meet his gaze, letting him see the sincerity of my words.

He smiles, truly smiles for the first time instead of his usual smirk. It lights his handsome features, making him both better looking and more approachable.

Oh . My heart skips, and the butterflies in my tummy throw a rave, filling me with fluttery fits of excitement. I shove my unruly hands into the pockets of my jeans before I do something like grab his shoulders and lick the tattoo on his chest to see if his skin tastes as delicious as it smells.

“I made it, like I did the town green,” he quietly admits.

He leads me to the back of the garden, where a tiny wooden bridge arches over a stream, the water burbling happily over the rocks.

A shadow uncoils from his arm to pluck a pink flower the exact color of my blouse.

It brings the bloom to his hand, and he tucks it into my hair, the heady floral scent saturating the air.

His fingers brush my ear, making me shiver and starting the butterfly party going again. I cup the flower to the side of my head. “What is it?”

“It’s a peony, one of my favorites.”

“It’s lovely.”

“It is.” His expression hardens, his mask returning. “Now that we’re on Faerie ground, we can finalize our engagement.”

I take a quick step back, my foot thumping on the wood of the bridge. His return to cool and aloof makes all the questions I’ve been ignoring come to a head. I know why I agreed to this marriage—I’ll do anything for Ferndale Falls—but I’m still not sure about him.

“What’s really going on here? You’re a king, you’ve got this amazing palace, and you look… like that .” I flap my hand up and down, taking in his gorgeousness. “Why do you want to marry me?”

He cocks an eyebrow. “To rehabilitate the reputation of my people, I must marry a leader from another realm and prove the stability of my position as king. Hence the year and a day.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you want to marry me .” At his frown, I hurry to add, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not doing false modesty in order to fish for compliments. I know I’m pretty great. But I’m not fae.”

“It’s true that marrying a fae from one of the other realms might seem like a better fit, but…” He runs a hand through his glorious hair, and instead of messing it up, like it would a normal person, it only makes it look even sexier, all tousled and “just rolled out of bed.”

My hand lifts with a mind of its own, eager to touch that raven-black hair, and I clench my fingers and barely stop myself. God, why do I keep reacting to his beauty like a love-struck teen meeting her favorite boy-band crush?

“But?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest and gripping my elbows to keep my besotted hands in place.

“A fae bride will come with politics and alliances and commitments I don’t want to make. I need something… simpler.”

Ah, so I’m something “simple.” I guess that means he’s in no danger of catching any feelings where I’m concerned.

It shouldn’t sting—I only just met the guy!—but it does. He doesn’t even know me, but he already knows he’ll be able to marry me for a year and then walk away, no problem .

“You’re not that simple,” a male voice says from behind me. “You’ve got me now, and I automatically make everything better.”

I spin. A small wooden gate in the outer wall stands open, framing a view of the familiar forest of home. A few fern fronds dance as if they’ve been disturbed, but no one shows themselves. “Who said that?”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Severin frowns down at me, his gaze assessing.

“Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky,” a different, high-pitched voice shrieks. A squirrel stands on a low branch right over the ferns, its bushy tail jerking in agitation until it looks like a stop-motion film.

Oh, god. I really am hearing things. I better lock Severin into this agreement while I still can. I’m pretty sure “wife who hallucinates” will make me no longer qualify as “simple.” My town needs his magical protection far too much for me to flub this deal.

He flicks his fingers, and a piece of parchment appears in the air.

When I mention that I can’t read the language, he changes it to English.

It’s our agreement. We will marry for a year and a day.

I’ll get new businesses and magical protection for Ferndale Falls, and he’ll get permission to keep his palace here on Earth.

Using a quill, we both sign.

“So that’s it? We’re engaged?” I picture grand balls and unearthly music and a floating confection of a dress, fancy enough for a Faerie queen.

“Not quite yet. I need one of your hairs.” He plucks one of his own .

I hand him one of mine, and he grips my fingers in his and wraps both strands of hair around our clasped hands. “I, King Severin of the shadow fae, do name thee, Hannah, as my betrothed.”

At his nod, I repeat his words. “I, Mayor Hannah Wylde of Ferndale Falls, do name thee, Severin, as my betrothed.”

Nothing about this engagement has been like the movies always show. Severn might have gotten down on one knee, but he sure as hell doesn’t love me.

But my immediate disappointment melts as magic spirals around us in a tingle of electricity that sets my body humming.

Severin’s gaze meets mine, and his grip tightens.

Awareness thickens the air between us, and I lick my lips.

Is he going to kiss me?