CHAPTER 15
Lynne
I RUSHED AWAY FROM the tea party and into the dark of the forest. Before the forest had made me nervous but now with anger and jealousy in my heart, it only fit my mood.
The nerve of her. Who did she think she was? She was nothing but a puny little human. She should be worshiping at our feet not insulting us.
“Peach!” Dorian’s voice called out to me, but I didn’t slow down.
“Is it true?” I growled when he finally caught up to me. My fists clenched at my sides and I fought back the anger that had manifested itself in me so easily.
“Is what true?” he asked reaching for me but I jerked away. I didn’t want him to touch me right now. If he touched me, I might very well fall apart. Even now I could feel my magic sizzling along the surface of my skin looking for an outlet.
My eyes darted down to the earth. It would be so easy to place my hands on the soil and change this dank forest into my own.
Shaking the temptation off, I glared at Dorian. “That you went skinny dipping with that human. Is it true?”
“What?” his eyes widened. “Of course not! Well, actually,” he paused and rubbed the back of his head with a skittish grin, “it did not exactly happen like that.”
“Then how did it happen?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Dorian sighed and stepped closer to me but didn’t try to touch me. “Look, you have to understand, Ms. Liddell is an immature brat that does not know how to keep her nose out of things. Which means she needs to be rescued a lot.”
“What does skinny dipping have to do with you rescuing her? Was her clothing attacking her?”
He laughed slightly. “Actually, it was. She had gotten into a patch of brusselbutch, and if you had ever been in contact with that particular bush you would know that it burns like the Reaper when it touches your skin. So, I had to pull her out of the bush and in the process ended up getting myself covered in it. Thus causing us to have to take all of our clothing off.”
I chewed on my bottom lip at his explanation. I’d never heard of a brusselbutch and wouldn’t know the first thing about if it burned the skin or not but his story made sense. I tried to still the jealousy in me, but it was hard. I’d spent my whole life pretending not to feel things and now that I had the freedom to feel what I liked when I liked it was hard to go back the other way.
“Lynne,” he whispered, his hands wrapped around my upper arms. This time I didn’t pull away from him. I let him draw me closer. “Nothing has or ever will happen between me and that human. You are the only one for me.” He tipped my chin up with his fingers. “My peach, I love you. No one else.”
He brushed his lips against mine and I softened. Throwing my arms around his neck, I let myself get lost in his kiss. Like he said, she was a brat. I should pity her not feel jealous of her.
After a moment, Dorian drew back from the kiss and smiled. “Now, let me show you this beautiful fountain that sits at the heart of the UnSeelie Court. It is so scandalous even your mother would laugh.”
“All right.” I giggled. “Show me this fountain of yours and then take me home and make love to me.”
My words caused Dorian to stop laughing and his eyes darkened. “Actually, on second thought, the fountain is not that great. Let us retire home.”
I smacked his arm with a grin. “No you don’t, you promised me a laugh. Now you must pay up.”
“Very well,” he sighed in defeat and then smirked, “But then we will spend the rest of the evening in my bed.”
“Oh, the horror.” I mock fainted as Dorian clasped my hand in his and led me out of the dark forest.
The UnSeelie Court was ever changing. One second you are standing in a dense forest and the next you are stepping out of the trees and onto a cobblestone road.
“Come, it is this way.” Dorian held onto my hand tightly as he took me through a stone archway and into what looked like a maze.
“You UnSeelie are really into defense, aren’t you?” I commented as we moved through the maze. Each twist and turn looked the same as the last.
“Like I said, the best offense is a good defense, and we do not lack for defenses.” He paused for a moment and turned to me with a serious expression. “You have to promise me you will not wander on your own. At least not until after we have married. I do not want you to accidentally get swallowed by something.”
I gulped. Swallowed? That didn’t sound good.
“I promise.”
“Good.” He nodded and then started walking again. This time he didn’t stop until we heard the sound of water. “We are almost there.” He tossed me a grin before picking up his pace, almost running down the path.
I laughed and held my skirts to keep up with him until we came to the end of the path. The path exited into a square area surrounded by stone walls. Each corner had a tree in it and then in the center sat a fountain. As we approached the fountain, I began to understand why Dorian had said even my mother would have laughed at it.
The stone fountain had four women in a circle. They were scantily clad and their expressions were that of mid-orgasm. The designer had to be a man. There was no other explanation for it. As my eyes scanned up and down the figures I thought, a very sexually deprived male.
“How can you allow this to be in your kingdom?” I asked, not really upset but more curious. My mother would never have allowed such a thing. Sure the Seelie Fae were all for showing off their bodies at parties but outside of that, it was all about decorum.
“Believe me, we have tried to get rid of it, but every time we destroy it it shows back up in a few days.” He placed a booted foot on the edge of the fountain. “Either it’s the UnSeelie Court messing with us or there are some really fast satyrs around here.”
“Satyrs?”
“Yes, half goat, they are pretty into the whole sex scene. Which is why you should never come here by yourself.” He turned from the fountain and then froze. “Or one of those will show up.” His eyes focused on something behind me.
Standing at seven feet tall was the biggest hairiest creature I had ever seen. He had large horns on his head and his legs were as thick as my whole body. His dark eyes briefly looked at Dorian but bypassed him and focused on me. The curl of his lips made my stomach drop.
Oh no.