the chieftain, she had found herself surrounded by the goblin
children
and their mothers. Meg had won them over with cookies and stories.
She had rapidly discovered that all faery creatures loved stories.
The sidhe children liked heroic stories, so she had been telling
them the plot line from Star Wars by the village fire at night. The goblins were a bit more blood-thirsty. She told them Nightmare on
Elm Street. They didn’t get that Freddy Kruger wasn’t the hero of the piece.
“I was having fun.” She waved to the little goblins. She had to
wave with the boots she was holding because Cian wouldn’t let her
free hand go.
He turned to her. “Now it’s my turn. I heard a yes, Meggie. I told
you, a yes changes everything.”
Meg grinned at him. “I said I intended to say yes, Ci. I didn’t
actually say it.”
Cian stopped in the middle of the forest, and when he turned to
her, Meg almost took a step back. The playful, flirty man she had
gotten to know over the last days was gone. In his place was a man
who didn’t look like he would take no for an answer.
His eyes were dark as he stared at her. “What are you saying,
Meg? Think carefully before you answer, my lover. I might not be my
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Sophie Oak
brother, but I assure you, right now, I’m feeling a bit of his rage. If you’re telling me no, then I need to get away from you.”
Everything in her softened. She had pushed him hard over the last
week. In some ways, she had made him pay for her anger with his
brother. Meg stepped into his arms and let her packages fall to the
forest floor.
“Yes, Cian,” she said, loving the feel of his body pressed to hers.
She had slept beside him each night, taking his comfort and
holding herself apart from him. Every single night she started out