"And I thought we both decided I'd be half fae in the forest."
"Oh yeah, sorry."
They both looked over when the stranger stepped from the shadows. Izzy could only stare, he was green and massive. She could see he was green since most of his skin was showing, as he only wore a loincloth leaving every muscle clearly visible. His pointed ears peeked out from his shaggy black hair, but his eyes were his most breathtaking feature. He had double irises in two different shades of green.
"Whoa," she said, exhaling slowly.
Meryn took a deep breath. "God, you're freaking beautiful."
The creature looked taken aback. "It is dishonorable to lie."
Izzy couldn't answer, she could only stare. There was no way in hell this was a goblin. She hadn't heard one damn story growing up about green sex gods.
"Fucking Grimm brothers were jealous," Meryn muttered.
Izzy could only nod. That had to be it. Human men had felt so threatened by these creatures that they had turned them into twisted nightmares.
"Why are they staring? Are they casting a spell against me?" the stranger demanded.
Ryuu cleared his throat. "I do beg your pardon, but you have quite simply stunned my charge and her friend. She wasn't lying when she said she thought you were beautiful. They are both overwhelmed by your appearance, so could you give them a moment to gather their thoughts?"
The stranger was so shocked at Ryuu's words he dropped his spear. "They truly think I am beautiful."
"Man, if I weren't mated," Meryn whispered.
"Ditto," Izzy repeated the sentiment.
Meryn shook her head. "I mean, I love my mate with everything in me but I..." her eyes drifted back to their new friend. "Damn."
Izzy smiled. "I am so sorry I was staring. But how could you not know how..." she pointed up and down. "Everything you are."
"I don't think that made sense."
"Shut up, Meryn, I'm surprised I remember English at this point."
The stranger's cheeks darkened to a deeper green. "My name is Gilheim."
Izzy pointed to her chest. "My name is Izzy, this is Meryn."
He blinked. "Meryn and Isabelle are the names of the women in today's announcement."
"You got that too?" Meryn asked.
He nodded. "Everyone in the realm did." His skin tone lightened to an almost mint green. "You mean to tell me that you are the mate of the new head of the Eirlea House and you are Meryn McKenzie, daughter of Eamon and second in line for the throne."
"Which answer won't make you freak out?" Meryn asked wisely.
"Why would you be here of all places?" Gilheim asked.
Meryn sighed. "Can I be honest with you, Gilheim?"
"Of course, honesty is always best."
"Well, we were curious because we were told we shouldn't come here and I wanted to get out of the damn sun." Meryn pointed overhead. "The shade feels so good."
"But you are half fae. You are related to royalty," he stammered.
"This half fae woman loves the shade."