Chapter 27

Falin lowered me to my feet as the music stopped.

I was breathless, but smiling. I normally hated dancing. Not today. And not just because I had to figure out something to do with a man who couldn’t speak. As the fiddler and the bagpipers started in on another lively tune, the music seeped into my blood, my bones, and combined with the heady merriment filling the toadstool-ringed circle. Falin led as we danced with a mix of fae. There was no choreography, just carefree movement, as if the spirit of the dance spurred us on. I laughed, losing myself in the excitement.

I wasn’t the only one. The queen may have commanded Falin not to speak, but he could laugh, his face aglow. I didn’t know if part of his compulsion was to stay by my side or if he simply wanted to be with me while he could—it wasn’t like I could ask him— but he’d refused to leave despite my initial insistence. Now I was glad he’d stayed.

The setting sun coated the clearing in a golden-red glow, which added even more magic to the revelry. I finally understood why Rianna enjoyed Faerie. The day had been awkward, but fun. There were games, some familiar, some I hadn’t known the rules but played anyway, Falin laughing as he tried to teach me through charades, which became a game within a game. There was music, and dancing, and everywhere the fae played, giggled, romped, and reveled in the gaiety. When the Harvest Queen and King had said to make merry, the fae had listened.

The song ended, and Falin led me out of the fray before the music started again. Walking arm and arm, I marveled at the beauty around me, at the way the last light of the day made the leaves look like they burned gold, red, and orange. At the fae, who even the most monstrous in appearance didn’t look dangerous, not now, not here. Heads turned to the sky as the last ray of light faded and night descended on the revelry.

I waited for the night blindness to set in, but it didn’t.

Hundreds of small lights in a dozen colors twinkled and then swirled and buzzed around the clearing like oversized fireflies. As a glowing blue figure passed in front of my nose, I realized they were pixies, the smallest I’d ever seen. Their light danced through the sky. But they weren’t the only ones casting their own glow. All the Sleagh Maith in the clearing glimmered softly, pale light lifting from their skin as if each were a ray of moonlight. The court of light’s members’ glow was warmer, almost golden.

“It’s so beautiful,” I whispered.

Falin’s hand tightened gently, as if in agreement, but he wasn’t looking out across the clearing. He was staring at me.

I looked away. Once I’d realized I wasn’t going to shake him this morning, and that I didn’t really want to wander around the revelry alone, I’d told him we’d spend the time as friends—no more kissing and sure as hell nothing the Winter Queen had hinted at. He’d agreed with a disappointed nod. Despite that agreement, this day was the closest thing to a date I’d had in my adult life.

And it was nice.

Something constricted in my chest, warning me of the pain to come at dawn. I fought to suppress it—I still had a night left. Falin may have been having the same thoughts, because as the night progressed I caught traces of sorrow in his face when he thought I wasn’t looking.

The Harvest moon rose, full, orange, and almost close enough to touch. Falin and I walked, going nowhere in particular. Now that night had fallen, more and more of the fae were pairing off, some disappearing into the outskirts of the forest, some not bothering with that much discretion. I found myself blushing more than once as my eyes tripped over bodies tangled in intimate positions.

Then I spotted a very familiar redhead lip-locked with a certain green-skinned fae. I stopped. “It’s never a good thing when your housemates hook up, is it?”

Falin glanced to where Holly and Caleb were lost in their own little world and shrugged.

“I guess I should have seen this coming.” Probably months ago. And they’d only gotten closer since Holly’s first trip to Faerie. “But they better not start walking around the house naked or doing it on the dining room table,” I muttered, making Falin laugh.

We moved on.

As we passed one of the large, endlessly overflowing banquet tables, Falin picked up a crystal flute and drained half of the amber liquid. Then he handed it to me.

I didn’t think about it. Falin handed me the flute, and I was thirsty, so I drank. It wasn’t until I’d taken a large gulp of the drink, which tasted of honey with a bite of alcohol, that I realized what I’d done.

I drank Faerie wine.

Falin snatched the flute from my hand, tossing it to the ground. Then he dragged me away from the table and into the tree line. I stumbled after him, my fingers pressed to my lips.

No. How could I be so stupid? Faerie wine?

No, no, no.

Once past the first few trees, Falin ground to a halt and flipped around. He grabbed my shoulders and backed me up against a tree. The bark scratched against my bare shoulders, but I hardly noticed. Something warm spread inside my chest. Something changing me. I could feel it.

“Alex. Alex, look at me.”

I didn’t. I was too focused on what I felt, or maybe imagined I felt, happening inside me. The fact he’d spoken didn’t even register. My focus narrowed to the fact I’d drunk Faerie wine. Every human knew never to consume anything in Faerie. And I drank Faerie wine.

Falin kissed me, his hand cupping my face. I was too stunned to react.

He pulled back. Then he pressed his palms against the tree on either side of my head and leaned his forehead against the rough bark, his cheek pressed against mine.

“Alexis.” My name, whispered so soft it barely made it past the buzz of shock in my ears.

I’d never heard my name said with so much heartbreak tangled in the simple syllables. I blinked.

“Alexis, I love you.”

Now that got a reaction from me, and I startled at the barely whispered words. I’m not sure if I made a sound or if he felt me jerk, but he pushed away from the tree so he could meet my eyes.

“You can’t trust me,” he said, his hands falling from the tree to my shoulders.

I blinked at him, my brain muffled in shock so that all I said was, “You can talk now?”

Falin pressed his lips into a tight line. “She froze my voice only until I completed her task. Ryese told her that you don’t eat at the Bloom. She wanted to see what would happen if you ate our food.”

Too many shocks had struck me in the last few minutes, so this newest one took me a moment to get my still reeling mind to wrap around.

“Then she…You…?” I hadn’t had time to consider it, but I’d assumed he’d handed me the flute as thoughtlessly as I had drunk from it. But if the Winter Queen had wanted me to eat Faerie food. If she’d told him to make sure I did…“You did that on purpose.”

He squeezed his eyes closed. When he opened them again, they were blue ice. Cold. Emotionless. His hands slid from my shoulders to my upper arms, and he gripped me tight. The bullet wound on my arm screamed in agony, making me wince.

“You can’t trust me. Do you understand?”

“You’re hurting me.” My voice sounded a hell of a lot calmer than I felt. I’d have been proud of that fact, except it was from the shock, not any great inner strength on my part.

“Good,” he said, but he frowned and his grip loosened. “As long as I belong to her, you can never trust me. I have to do whatever she commands. So don’t call me, don’t look for me, and if you see me, run away. Do you understand?”

I didn’t say anything, and he squeezed my arms again, hard. It was meant to hurt. Even if I hadn’t had the wound, it would have hurt. I yelped, I couldn’t help it, and Falin shook me.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I said between pain-locked teeth.

“Then go.” He released me. When I didn’t move, his face contorted. “Go. Now.”

Still I hesitated, and his blades appeared in his hands.

That got me moving. I darted around him, breaking into a run.

I glanced back only once, when I reached the tree line.

Falin had dropped to his knees in front of the tree, his head hanging low, and his daggers driven into the ground on either side of him. I almost stopped. Almost went back to him. But I didn’t.

After all, I had no idea what other commands he’d received from the Queen Ice Bitch.