Page 31

Sav

I swallowed cold potatoes that tasted like cardboard as I stared ahead.

Across from me, a male grinned in my direction.

Under other circumstances, I might have found him handsome.

Handsome enough to send a flirtatious smile, but he was grinning at Hazel—showing Jack exactly why she kept that tail on display at all times—not at me.

My grip tightened around the silverware, fingers aching as I forced them still. I pressed my lips into an imitation of a pleasant smile. Hazel was the closest thing I still had a friend in Faerie. Her flirtation wouldn’t change that.

When Bracken broke my heart, Hazel had been there to help me pick up the pieces. She’d helped me find my way when I thought I’d never recover. Mab , that was a long time ago. A lot had changed since then and even more had changed since our world collided with Earth.

In truth, Hazel was just being Hazel. She enjoyed casual flings with no strings, and a dalliance with a human would be just that. Anything more would mean death. It was a reminder that nothing could ever happen between me and Jack. I needed a distraction. Someone to take my mind off the man.

I scanned the length of the expansive table, eyes landing on a handsome male who was already watching me. My lips tipped up.

He raised a glass, and I mimicked the action before taking a sip. He lifted a fork to his mouth and wrapped full lips around the metal. He ran his tongue over its grooves before setting it down. His gaze dipped to my plate and slid back up—over my cleavage—crawling slowly to my face.

Picking up a spoon, I dipped it into a bowl of pudding and brought the chocolatey substance to my lips, sucking the spoon in and out of my mouth. I licked along the metal until it was clean.

His eyes lit with amusement, and he lifted his glass again.

I returned the gesture, reached for my napkin, wiping my mouth when he turned to speak to the person beside him.

“Watch out for Heath. He has a bit of a reputation,” Hazel whispered in my ear.

“Did he get it from bedding you?”

Hazel’s ice blue lips tipped up. “Careful, Sav. I might think this human means something to you. And the rules in Faerie, on that account at least, do not differ from in the human realm.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I whisper hissed.

“Good. Then you won’t mind if I call dibs tonight.”

“Haven’t you already satisfied your curiosity?”

Hazel laughed, her shock of white hair cascading over her shoulder as she leaned closer. “I haven’t scratched the surface of what I want to do to this human.”

Red tinged the edges of my vision, but I swallowed the emotion and smirked.

“Good luck,” I said, glancing at Jack, who was glaring down the table at the male I’d just been flirting with.

As if he had any right to be upset after Hazel had just put her hands and tail all over him at the banquet table.

“He doesn’t look like he can keep up with your appetites.”

Hazel’s mouth flattened into a line. “We’ll see.”

“Guests. Members of the royal court.” Robin said, standing. “Let us take our leave and regroup in the ballroom.” His gaze met mine. “I hope to see you in your finest.” He dipped his head and swept from the room.

Though he’d come to dinner dressed as a king in his own right, Robin did nothing by half, and none had missed his subtle reminder that dinner attire was not appropriate for a ball.

I ran a hand down the velvety fabric that split dangerously high on my thigh and inhaled deeply.

In this dress, my intentions would be clear.

Was I being idiotic? Planning to take someone to my bed?

The male I had flirted with at dinner was a stranger, and I had never been one to lie with a random fae, but it had been so long since I’d had anyone between my legs, Kaspar’s incident in the bath notwithstanding, and Hazel was right about one thing.

My strange attraction to the human was dangerous.

It needed to be snuffed out before it took root.

Tonight was a dance. One that would mean the difference between the fae trapped at the AFF’s freedom or their slow death at the hand of a sadist. Acting as a member of court would go a long way toward proving I deserved my place here.

Even if that meant putting on a show for my uncle.

And just because the show was to help the folk trapped on Earth, didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun.

Frost clung to the archways, delicate as lace, never melting.

The stone floors pulsed faintly beneath my heels—alive with Mab’s slumbering magic.

Overhead, flickering faelight glowed blue and white, weaving melodies that lifted the tension from my limbs and soon I was moving swiftly toward the ballroom.

I narrowed my eyes as I passed Jack’s door. Let him find his own way.

Guests exited their rooms, joining me in a lilting step toward the grand finale to the evening.

As one, we passed long rows of wolves, created solely for guarding the realm.

Unlike shifters, they could not change, but the magic of the land bound them to an erect form when guarding the palace.

I wasn’t sure they were alive, not in the way folk were.

They were an extension of Mab’s magic, never aging or dying.

That they were still here to guard us meant she must be alive. Somewhere.

In the Winter Court, the final ball of each cycle sealed the court’s magic for the season. Each step of the dance fed power into the land, high and low fae working in concert. My court followed a similar tradition, and I’d been raised on nightshade wine and dance from an early age.

Around me, fae pressed close, eager to join the revelry and a scent so reminiscent of my youth that I nearly stumbled, invaded my senses as I was hit with such a pang of homesickness my vision blurred.

I swept through grand arched doors on a tide of euphoria as partygoers raced into the room, buzzing with anticipation. A haunting melody swelled, then crashed into its crescendo, making my chest ache.

Fae, low and high, wasted no time clasping hands and falling into a lively dance as they entered.

Others crowded around the long banquet tables at the far end of the room.

My favorite thing about Winter was that all fae, no matter their station, were welcome to attend balls.

Dressed in their finery, they came to celebrate as one, feeding their magic to the land as it gave back.

A grin split my face as Barbegazi took to the floor, twinkling snowflakes wafting off him as he spun, adding to the magical allure of the winter court. It was good to know he had not disappeared, as so many others had with the shrinking of the realm.

How I had missed this.

My feet tapped a giddy rhythm to the tune as I approached a table, lifting a dark, jammy-scented glass to my lips. Where my court delighted in nightshade and henbane wines, the winter court preferred wolfsbane.

A swath of raven hair—taller than many of the revelers—entered and began weaving through the crowd toward me. My toes stopped tapping, coldness dimming some of the magic’s sway on my mood as Jack stepped between a group of giggling females and stopped before me.

“Sav,” he dipped his head in some misguided attempt at fae civility, and I would have laughed if I found anything about him amusing at the moment. “I wanted to speak with you, but you rushed out at dinner. It wasn’t what it looked like. I—”

“It looked like you were enjoying Hazel’s company and her attention.” I lifted my glass, downing its contents in one swallow. “I suppose I could have been mistaken.” Turning, I set my glass on the table and grabbed another, darker than the first. Stronger.

“No. I’m not—”

“You don’t need my permission to sleep with Hazel, Jack.” I cut him off.

Jack’s sharp cheekbones flushed, darkening, and he glanced around the crowded room.

Several revelers watched our exchange. Word would certainly get back to Hazel, but if it found its way to my uncle’s ear, it would be disastrous. Forcing a smile onto my face, I tipped forward, my hand landing on his hard chest. “Enjoy her while you have her attention. She moves on quickly.”

Sweeping past him, I downed my second glass.

It burned going down, numbing my lips, making my heart beat unsteadily.

I could feel the magic in it, old and insistent—pulling memories I’d long buried to the surface.

The room dimmed, going out of focus, and the folk wrapped in swaths of blue and navy fabric blurred into a tableau resembling a tempest of waves crashing against one another.

After only three years of abstaining from fae wine, it seemed my tolerance was severely diminished, but it wasn’t as if I could get henbane wine in the human realm.

They’d never allow something deadly to them in the hands of the fae.

That stopped me mid-stride. Jack. It would be poisonous to him. I spun around.

His tall, smudged outline solidified as I squinted, and Hazel came into focus beside him. She snatched a cup out of his hand and whispered in his ear.

Right. He was Hazel’s problem tonight. If she got the human killed, I’d just have to find another bargaining chip.

Music halted, and my gaze trailed to the door. Four wolves in shining gold armor marched in, fanning out to make space. Robin entered with the easy grace of someone born to rule. Whispers followed him like perfume. Some dropped into a bow. Others simply watched, eyes glassy with awe.

Unmated, unmarried, and wealthy, both from his inherited estates and his earnings on Earth, Robin was a catch by all standards. It was rumored he’d once had a long-standing affair with a human actor, but those rumors would have been tantamount to a death sentence if proven, and no one ever had.