Caom’s throat bobbed. “That’s very kind of you, Prince Lonan, but I don’t mind—”
“It’s fine.” I shoved out of my seat, hoping it would slam into Lonan’s legs. It didn’t.
Caom stared up at me with wide eyes. “Ash—”
“Really.” I forced myself to smile down at him, then finally turned to glare at Lonan. “What an honour. To be walked home by the unseelie prince. Or does this count as myfavour?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, but stiffly said, “No.”
“Oh, well, lucky me. I just get the pleasure of your company.”
I nodded at the silent table of Folk. None of them moved, and I could feel their eyes on our backs as we walked away from the tavern.
Neither of us spoke as we made our way down the street to the end of the village, where the tents and stalls had been set up for mywelcome partywhen I’d first gotten here. I was seething with anger, but I forced myself to remain quiet until we were well clear of the village.
“Did you let me win?” I bit out once we were walking across the grass in the dark towards the cottage.
I felt Lonan’s eyes shift to my face, but he didn’t say anything at first.
“You pinned me down,” he eventually said, unable to hide the irritation and disdain in his voice. As if I’d used a dirty trick to beat him, which was laughable, because that wasallthe Folk did.
Still, my cheeks flushed as I said, “I didn’t—I wasn’t trying to hurt you. It was just the only way to stop you squirming.”
“I wasn’tsquirming,” he snapped immediately, then exhaled and said in his usual flat tone, “You won. Does it matter how?”
“Yes,” I blurted. “I don’t want to be pitied. Or patronised.”
Especially by you.I didn’t say it, but the thought settled in my gut with perfect, terrifying clarity.
After a long silence, Lonan quietly said, “I don’t pity you. And I wasn’t trying to patronise you.”
I resisted the urge to twist my shirt between my hands. “You still could have easily thrown me off, though. You’re stronger than me. Why didn’t you?”
I sensed Lonan struggling to think of an answer for a long moment. In the end he huffed, and his tone was cold and bored when he finally spoke.
“Are all mortals so thin-skinned? Take the win and stop whining about it.”
Anger flared. “I’m not whining. I wanted a fair fight. What’s so wrong with that?”
Before he could answer I spun to face him, hands clenching into fists at my sides.
“Let’s do it again. Now. Fairly.”
Lonan stopped dead, staring at me. “What?”
“Let’s go again. A fair fight. Don’t just let me win.”
He huffed and looked away from me, crossing his arms over his chest. “No.”
“Why not?” I stepped closer, glaring at him. “You know you’ll win. You’ll win your favour back. You won’t have to worry about me using it. But at least it will be fair.”
“This is ridiculous,” he muttered, striding forwards, not bothering to look back to see if I’d follow because the fae prince just assumed I would.
And I did. It galled me, but I stomped after him.
“Come on.” I tried to goad him. “It’ll be fun. Scrap with the weak mortal.”
“It will not befun.”