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She flashed him one of those adorable, rebellious glares of hers that he was surprisingly charmed by, but this wasn’t the time for her to argue with him.

“You’re still being bossy,” Kate whispered, but her eyes softened.

“It is for your own good. I need to heal you. Remember what I said about my magic? The shine is dangerous. You must trust me.”

She lifted her lashes up as she continued to gaze at him, and then he saw it, that gentle slide into the direction of trust. Her lashes lowered and fanned across the pale skin of her cheeks.

“Keep them closed until I tell you it’s safe.”

She did. Roan released his glamour, and the shine of his magic grew brighter than the sun.

“Be still, little one,” he soothed, and let his magic pour into her skin.

* * *

Even through her closed eyelids, Kate was almost blinded by the bright light. A searing heat burned in her stomach, but it grew less as the seconds passed, and she couldn’t help the tears that escaped her closed eyes. When the pain finally ebbed away, the light pouring through her eyelids dimmed.

“You may open your eyes,” Roan said.

When Kate opened her eyes, she saw the dying light of the sun creating striations through the canopy of wisteria high above her.

Beneath her were cool, clean bedsheets and a soft mattress.

The pain within her body was gone. She was tired rather than exhausted.

In that moment, she felt as if she could be carried away upon a light breeze.

A black-and-purple butterfly flitted among the wisteria blooms, and Kate was mesmerized by its fragile beauty. Her lips parted as she took in such a simple but beautiful thing.

“What do you see?” he asked her.

“That butterfly. It’s so large, so vibrant.

.. We don’t get butterflies like that in my world.

.. not anymore. They’re dying out.” She thought of all those delicate butterflies that were slowly going extinct because of the destructive lives humans led.

Nothing felt sacred or safe anymore, and she never felt that more strongly than she did now, watching a butterfly in the land of the Fae whose life was not challenged or threatened.

Roan sat down on the edge of the bed. “Now you begin to see.” His gaze was not on the butterfly, but rather on her.

“See?” She slowly pushed herself up. Cool air danced across the bare skin of her stomach, and she glanced down. Impossibly faint scars stretched across part of her belly, right above her navel.

“ Oh God! ” She was practically naked. She snatched the bedsheets to cover her body. She forgot she’d had only her bra and panties on when she’d dived into the pool. At least they were dry now. She guessed that was Roan’s doing.

He chuckled softly, then his eyes darkened.

“You are starting to see the beauty in mortal things. I see a creature who is doomed to live a life as brief as a candle, but the light within it is no less precious than the creatures in this realm who live thousands of years. Its delicate mortality illuminates its beauty more poignantly than we can imagine. It makes us cling to the things we are so quick to lose.”

That she understood. She would mourn the loss of the butterfly and the flowers once death had paid its call upon them. Kate felt as though she understood Roan in that moment, perhaps even more than she first realized.

“Is... is that how you see me ?” She stared up at Roan, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, except for his silver hair, which was pulled halfway back by a leather tie. There was something ancient in his eyes, though, that betrayed his true age. How old was he? She didn’t dare ask.

Roan continued to watch her curiously. “Do I see you as more beautiful because you will one day die?”

She managed a nod.

“I will not lie to you. Your mortality adds an element to my fascination, but it is only one piece.”

“What are the other pieces?”

Roan stood and pulled his tunic shirt off his body, exposing his glorious chest and his back to her view. She saw more faint scars along his beautiful skin, just above his black leather pants, and wondered what could wound a Fae king.

Roan’s blue eyes turned as dark as the sea at midnight, and a shiver ran down her spine. “No more questions tonight, little one. You must pay your price for a day in the labyrinth. Not as simple as you boasted, is it?”

Pay the price? A day in the labyrinth? She couldn’t remember what she’d agreed to earlier; she’d been focused on saving her little brother.

“You agreed to my terms, and those terms were that each night you would give to me whatever part of you that I desired .” Roan’s voice was deep, smooth, seductive.

Kate’s stomach somersaulted, and she clenched her thighs as her body responded to his words on a primal level that she hadn’t thought possible.

He towered above her as he stood at the side of the bed, his hands resting on his hips.

Kate swallowed hard, her gaze roving over his body. “What do you... desire ?” she asked. The shimmering silver strands of his hair were slightly wet, and it curled at the ends, brushing his shoulders. She had the strangest urge to reach out and touch it.

“I wish to take a single memory.”

“You want to take a memory from me? Why? And what do you mean by take ? You mean I won’t have it anymore?” She shrank back from him as he put one knee on the bed. He looked wild and dangerous, and not just because he had magic at his fingertips.

“Fear not, I shall take one you won’t miss,” he promised with a wicked grin as he climbed on the bed and came toward her on his hands and knees.

“Roan, wait!” Kate pressed her hands against his chest, then realized that had been a foolish thing to do. Whenever she touched him, she forgot she wasn’t supposed to like it.

“It’s only a memory,” he purred as he pulled her to lie flat beneath him on the bed.

“Then why are you on top of me?” she asked, her hands still pressed against his chest.

“Because I like how you feel beneath me, little human.” He nuzzled her cheek, and that simple skin-to-skin caress sent wild bolts of heat shooting through her.

She felt trapped, yet safe. What a strange contradiction.

.. and so intensely wonderful. His lips brushed along her jaw and up to the shell of her ear, making her tremble with a violent longing and she moaned softly as she struggled with her need for more of him.

More touches, more caresses... more .

“I need to take your memory with a kiss.” One of his hands brushed her bare shoulder, exciting planes of skin that had never felt this sensual before in her life. Roan could touch her anywhere and she would come alive.

His mouth gently covered hers, and the warmth of his lips encouraged her to respond.

Whenever he kissed her, she was overcome by a strange sense that this was what she had been waiting for her whole life.

She should be pushing him away, slapping him, fighting him, and yet right now nothing mattered aside from his kiss.

She drifted on a path of pleasure as he taught her to kiss, how to use her lips in ways she’d never thought possible.

Her hands explored his face, her fingertips tracing his jaw, the shape of his ear, before she stroked her fingers to the wetness of his silvery hair.

It brought back the memory of the morgens’ attack and how he’d saved her life.

How he’d healed and tended to her. Roan claimed he only felt desire for her, but Kate swore that in this kiss she felt something more .

Something her foolish heart wanted to cling to in this strange world that was so very far from home.

She opened her mouth to his tongue, her body warming up at the erotic way he thrust his tongue lightly between her lips. It made her think of how he would claim her, how he would make love to her with a blanket of stars and the wisteria hanging above them.

The ache deep in her womb was new and fierce, but Kate recognized it for what it was.

Desire .

Her body wanted this man—no, this Fae . Whatever he was, he was so harshly beautiful, even with his scars.

He was enchanting. Nothing like she would have imagined a Fae would be.

He was muscled and massive instead of slender, his hair silvery, not gold.

And his eyes... Lord, those blue eyes were of a shade that escaped words.

“Kate, show me your mind...” Suddenly, it felt as though the world was spinning around her.

She was pulled into a memory.

She stood on the campus lawn of the University of Nebraska. Her father and Sandra had dropped her off four hours ago, and now she was exploring. She had located the student union on a campus map, and she had her book list printed off from her computer.

“Hey, freshman, look out!” someone shouted.

Kate was tackled to the ground by a young man only a few years older than her. The breath was knocked out of her lungs, disorienting her enough that she simply stared up at the man above her. He was really hot. His shaggy blond hair matched the faint smattering of freckles along his nose.

“Hey there, gorgeous.” The man winked at her, then realized he was lying on top of her in the grass. Trapped beneath a beautiful boy.

“Oh my God, I’m sorry.” He sat up and helped her to her feet. “Sorry, really. I didn’t want you to get hit.” He nodded toward a group of boys who were throwing a football on the lawn.

“I’m just glad I didn’t get hit.” Kate’s face heated as the young man continued to smile at her.

“You’re a freshman, right?”

“Yep. I was on the way to buy my books for the semester.” She held up her now crumpled list.

“Nice, need help?” he asked with a boyish grin.

“Oh...” Before she could really answer, he called out a farewell to his friends.

Then he took the list from her and examined it. “Abrams, huh? He’s nice but tends to ramble a bit,” the young man said as he glanced at her schedule.

“You’ve taken his international business transactions course?” Kate asked, excitement filling her.