“What about the gancanagh?” he bit out. “He only visits you because he wants to worm his way into your bed. Are you going to let him?”
“What the fuck?” I was sorely tempted to shove him and start an actual fight. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but no. Why do you care?”
“I d—” His voice cut off abruptly, and I saw his nostrils flare with fury at being exposed by his inability to lie. His cheeks flushed with faint colour.
He couldn’t say that he didn’t care. Because he clearly did.
Something cold and calculating sparked inside me. Something that felt too similar to how the Folk acted when they were trying to get what they wanted.
If he cared whether I fucked someone, that meant something. And I wanted to make him feel even just a hint of the confusing, overwhelming disappointment I’d experienced at the thought of him being a sly, manipulative bastard just like the rest of them.
I wanted to claw back a tiny bit of power. Of control. I wanted it to sting.
“I haven’t fucked the gancanaghyet,” I forced myself to say, my voice raspy, even though the thought of touching Caom like that was entirely unappealing. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t. Or someone else. Plenty of Folk like fucking mortals, don’t they? I’m sure I could find someone.”
His nostrils flared again as he tried very hard to control his emotions, to wipe his face clean of them.
“You don’t like the thought of it?” I shot him a smirk. “Why would that stop me? If I’m stuck here because of your mother, it’s only a matter of time before I fuck someone. Isn’t it?”
Lonan’s long fingers curled into fists, but he stayed silent. And he didn’t leave, even though he could have. He just stood there, like he wanted to torture himself by hearing me say this when he clearly hated it.
“So why not the kelpie?” I continued. “If he ever shows up, I’ll ask him. See if he’s game. I can’t wait.”
“Liar,” he blurted out. “Don’t lie to me.”
“Thatinfuriatesyou, doesn’t it?” I grinned at him, wide and toothy and almost rabid. “That you can never tell if I’m lying or not. That you can never trust anything I say. Well that’s how I feelall the time.”
This wasn’t fun anymore, taunting him, but I couldn’t stop talking. The words poured out of me.
“I never feel safe. I never feel like I can say anything without worrying about how my words might be twisted. I don’t know who I can believe, or if I can believe anyone at all. I thought you were trying to help, but you weren’t.” I was breathing too hard, my face hot. “You’re just trying to get me to do what your mother wants me to. I don’t haveanyonehere I can trust.”
I forced myself to take a breath, trying to calm down. Trying not to expose so much of what lurked under my skin constantly. The fear and unease and loneliness. All things the Folk would prey on, would use for their own gain.
“So yeah. Sure. If I find someone I want to fuck, I’ll fuck them. Might as well get something good out of this, right? And if I’m fucking a fae, I don’t have to worry about what one of us might say. I can make sure our mouths stay busy.”
In a sudden blur of movement, Lonan shot towards me, and my body tensed up in anticipation of a punch to my face or a sharp blade cutting through my throat.
But he didn’t hurt me. He grabbed my face and pulled me closer and then… and then his lips crashed into mine, and he was kissing me.
I made a shocked sound, muffled against his mouth. But as warmth poured through my limbs, I tentatively grabbed the back of his neck, sifting my fingers through his silky hair, and kissed him back. My gut tightened with an overwhelming rush ofwant.
Lonan sucked in a shaky breath against my lips, his fingers tightening on my face as his tongue brushed my top lip. Lust rippled through me, getting stronger as our tongues met in a hot, wet slide and Lonan made a rough sound into my mouth.
He tasted so good. Cold and smoky, like the air that creeps for miles after a bonfire on a winter night. The kind of scent that made you yearn for something when it hit your senses, but you had no idea what.
His lips were cool but his tongue so warm as it stroked mine. I kissed him harder, moaning into his mouth as he pushed me back. I grunted when my back hit the tree trunk, but then Lonan’s lean, hard body was plastered to my front and his tongue was surging back into my mouth, and I forgot everything else.
It was like a battle. A duel between lips and tongue and teeth. My hands left his hair to travel down and grab his hips, pulling him even closer. Lonan’s shaky moan vibrated against my mouth, making me shudder with pleasure as my cock stiffened painfully fast.
Lonan must have felt it, because another rough moan ripped from his throat. He sucked on my tongue, making me twitch inside my trousers as I imagined that suction somewhere else. When he pressed his hips closer, I felt answering hardness rub against mine and I groaned against his mouth.
What were we doing? How was this happening? I thought Lonan despised me, but he was kissing me with almost aching desperation. How did we even get to this point? I couldn’t remember anything of our argument before, my body and brain solely focused on the addictive pleasure of his mouth.
When he tore his mouth free and dropped to his knees, hands trailing down my front, I sucked in a sharp breath. I stared down as Lonan frantically unlaced my trousers, tugging them down until he could ease out my unbending cock with long fingers.
“Fuck—” I cut off with a choked gasp when he sucked my cockhead into his hot mouth.
His mouth was clumsy but exhilaratingly eager as he sucked me deeper, tongue tracing a vein before winding round the head. He moaned low around me, lean cheeks hollowing, black eyes hidden by his long lashes and brows pinched with desperation.