Page 37

The glamour around the Fae woman shimmered brightly, falsely, but Roan saw her true face beneath the spell.

A slow smile spread across his lips. What a wicked game this pretty creature wanted to play.

.. Well, he was the wicked king of a wicked kingdom.

If Kate thought she could win this battle of wills, she was wrong.

He’d been too lenient, too gentle with her before.

It was time to show her that he was the lord and master of this realm, and she would dance to his tune.

He released the owl form in his eyes and moved slowly toward the woman who stood uncertainly at the edge of the doorway.

The dancers kept out of his way as he approached her.

He glimpsed another woman in the crowd watching him, and he knew it was Eudora.

She wore no glamour, only a silver mask.

His sister wanted him to see her... because she was the reason Kate was here tonight in front of him.

Eudora was clever indeed. He spoke silently to his sister within her mind.

“You found my little pet wandering the palace?”

Eudora’s laughter rang in his head. “I did, and I rescued her, poor thing. She climbed the walls by the sea, Roan. She could have been hurt. So here I am delivering her back into your care. Do not be cross with her—I assured her you would not hurt her if you discovered her here.”

“I would never hurt her.”

“Good. Then show her what it is like to be adored by a Fae king. Dance with her.”

Perhaps his cunning sister was right. He could dance with Kate and show her that he could be charming, he could be adoring, and he could let her taste the world that would be hers, if she would only agree to belong to him.

“Dance with me?” Roan offered Kate his hand.

She hesitantly put her hand in his, and he escorted her out onto the floor. High above, the pixies shed their magic dust, and a glittering cloud rained down like a gold-and-silver mist upon the dancers below.

“I can’t stay long,” she said, glancing at the grandfather clock that towered in the back of the ballroom. All around them, the dancers whirled like rare jewel-winged butterflies.

“Then how long will you be mine, lady fair?” Roan pulled her gently against him, taking in the scent of lavender and starlight that clung to her skin.

“Because I would harness the winds of time to own you forever.” The clock’s hands began to rewind, spinning slowly but then moving faster as the dancers around them seemed to freeze in place, and he had Kate all to himself.

The musicians still played, unaware of the time spell Roan used on the rest of the room.

Kate’s eyes widened as he led her into a waltz.

Her gaze flew over the finely dressed men and ladies who stood frozen as they danced by.

Roan had eyes only for her. His sweet human love held the power to enchant him with spells even stronger than his magic.

In a room full of Fae who would have seen her as nothing more than a treasured pet, this woman stood alone, unrivaled.

“You truly are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen,” Roan said as he spun them in another circle across the floor.

“I’m not?—”

“Look at yourself.” He faced her toward a wall of mirrors. “See your beauty. Tell me again you are not.”

She gasped as the wall of mirrors flashed with images, not of her and Roan dancing but of moments from Kate’s life.

She was swimming in the dark waters of the morgens’ pond... She was defiant in the face of trolls... She held her head high as Sandra and her father confronted her in the kitchen. And again when she wept in the darkness of her bedchamber.

“You see—you are beautiful.” Roan swept her out onto the balcony, feeling her shiver as he drew her closer in his arms. Inside, the dancing resumed as the clock ticked on like it had never stopped.

“You knew...” Kate breathed.

Roan caught her chin and lifted her face up to his as he removed the mask with his other hand. “I would know you in every lifetime, Kate. There is no world where I would not see you just as you are. No spell can hide you from me.”

The majesty of her humanity was laid bare in her dark-brown eyes as he lowered his head and kissed her.

He wrapped his arms around Kate, his fingers digging into the purple silk of her gown.

He sought to hold on to her so tightly that time would fold in on itself and there would be no moment when she was not here with him like this. .. his forever.

Kate breathed against his lips as he kissed her deep, hard. The moonlight kissed her skin and made the pearls and diamonds in her hair shine. Aching to touch her, Roan buried his fingers in her silken tresses and gave himself over to the utter stillness in his aching heart.

This was peace. This was joy. This was Kate .

At that moment, Roan knew he would break his vow even if it destroyed him.

He would never send her home, even if she found the heart of the labyrinth.

He would break the bargain he had made and keep her for all time.

Because he could see no future, no way forward without her.

There was only one way he could be certain she would not resist his desires.

Roan kissed her again and stole Caden from Kate’s mind.

He saw the child’s life through Kate’s eyes, when he’d been such a tiny thing in a bassinet.

.. how his little hand had curled around Kate’s finger.

.. his laughter when she’d pretended to hide behind her own hands.

.. the weight of his little body as he fell asleep against Kate when they sat on the couch.

.. the fear on his face when Kate planned to leave on Christmas Eve.

.. her pain as she realized she might never come back to him.

.. his frightened face in the dungeon, Kate’s fear for his safety, and the reunion between Kate and Caden that Eudora had so carefully hidden from Roan when she’d discovered Kate in the castle.

He could feel Kate’s relief and joy at holding the child in her arms, knowing he was safe.

.. and how she’d learned that Roan hadn’t hurt the child.

He’d cared for Caden by taking him to Eudora.

He lingered over the memory of Kate accepting the truth that Roan wouldn’t hurt her or her little brother and the peace that followed.

As he experienced this through Kate’s memory, the emotions were so intense that he caught his breath.

She trusts me—even after all I’ve done—and yet I am wicked. I have taken so much from her, and she will never know.

But at least she will no longer remember the life that caused her so much pain.

Not like me… His own memories weighed him down, threatening to drown him.

An unwanted son, a lonely prince, a king with a dark and terrible secret…

and now he was a thief of memories for the woman he cherished above all others.

Every last memory of Caden became trapped in the crystal that hung from his throat.

Roan almost staggered under the weight of all those memories.

No, that wasn’t it. As the gravity of what he’d done sank in, he realized Kate would never forgive him should she ever learn the truth.

Out of sheer selfishness, he had taken the memories of the one person she had left in her world to love her, all so she could be his.

His heart darkened as he could hear his father’s voice from beyond the mists of time and death. “You truly have no mercy, no heart... Perhaps you are my son after all.”