Some of the tension went out of her body. “Then what am I doing here? Why are you all so hot for humans? I saw the crowd yesterday. They were all looking at me like they wanted to eat me.”
“They did.” As her eyes widened, he added hastily, “Not your literal flesh, though there are types of wild fae who would. But for the high sidhe, it is your passions that fascinate us. Your kind feel things so strongly, so intensely. The seelie high sidhe sometimes steal human artists, prizing their ability to make us see the world as you do. But we of the unseelie favor a more…direct way to sample human emotions.”
Tamsin’s throat worked. “Oh. Wow. Okay. Disney films never featured vampire faeries.”
“They would not. It is your psychic essence that Lady Maeve and her court would drink, not your physical blood.”
He wondered whether he should stop there, shielding her from the grim details. But even from the little he knew of her, it was clear that she was a woman of bravery and determination. To attempt to hide the dangers she faced would be an insult to her warrior’s soul.
“The court would make sport with you,” he continued, striving to keep his voice level. “Mock you, taunt you, uncover your weaknesses and destroy your sense of worth. That is how they capture the most treasured flavors; humiliation, despair, the bitterness of self-hatred. Little by little, drop by drop. Until they had drained you to the very dregs, leaving nothing but a hollow-eyed shell that breathes and walks, but can no longer feel anything at all.”
Tamsin’s pet was rubbing against her ankles again, whining, as though able to sense her distress. She picked up the little creature, pressing her cheek against its soft fur. Cuan wished that he could hold her as she held her dog; close against his chest, heart to heart, giving and receiving comfort.
But it was not his place. He dropped to one knee in a formal posture of fealty instead, in the manner of a knight swearing an oath to his lady. “I shall not let it happen, Tamsin. On my blood and breath, I will keep you safe.”
Tamsin’s teeth worried at her bottom lip. “Would you run away with me? Even if I can’t go back to my own world until we work out a way to undo the curse, there must be somewhere in fairyland that we could hide.”
“I would spirit you away this moment, if there was somewhere I could take you.” He’d been racking his mind on this very point, trying to think of a safe haven. “But Lady Maeve’s hounds would track us to the ends of the earth. As would hunters from every sidhean in the unseelie lands, once they heard that there was a rogue human at large, ripe for the taking. I am swift of foot, but even I cannot run without rest.”
Tamsin paced a few steps, her brow furrowed in thought. He stayed on his knee, trying to keep his gaze politely focused on her face rather than the graceful sway of her hips. It was more difficult than he cared to admit.
“In our stories, fae are divided into two factions, seelie and unseelie,” she said abruptly, swinging round again. “Bright and dark, good and bad. You just said that you’re unseelie. Does that mean that seelie are real too? Could we go to their lands?”
“Yes,” he said, unable to keep a certain dryness out of his tone. “If we wished to be spitted and skinned. They have little love for humans. And none at all for monsters.”
Tamsin cast him an indignant glare, her hands closing defensively around her pet. “Angus is not a monster.”
“I was not referring to your loyal hound.” His lips quirked. “Not that loyal hound, anyway. I told you, I am a half-breed.”
Tamsin’s voice softened. “You aren’t a monster either.”
“You are very kind. And also, it seems, uncommonly fond of strange beasts.” He held up a hand, stopping her as her lips parted to form some protest. “But I digress. There can be no help from the seelie. Perhaps in the old days, when our King and their Queen still made the Great Marriage…but that ritual link between the factions was lost when the Summer Queen vanished. We cannot throw ourselves upon the mercy of the seelie. They have none.”
“Then what can we do, Cuan?” She jerked her chin in the direction of his discarded gear, still stained with his own blood. “You nearly died yesterday. And you heard Maeve. She’s going to let more warriors challenge you, again and again. Even with your magic and skills, you’ll get hurt eventually, and next time Aodhan might not be there to fix you up again. They’ll wear you down sooner or later.”
“It is rather likely to be sooner rather than later, I fear.” It pained him to have to admit his weakness, but he had to be honest with her. “Yesterday was a fluke. I took Eogan by surprise with a low trick. I cannot hope to stand indefinitely against true high sidhe.”
She sank down onto his bed, releasing Angus once more. “So we’re up shit creek without a paddle.”
Thathuman phrase he could understand all too well. The imagery was uncomfortably vivid. And apt.
He rose, pacing the room himself as though he could physically find a way out of the trap that enclosed them. Even with his back turned, he could feel Tamsin’s gaze on him, palpable as a caress against his skin. He was acutely aware of her presence; the heat of her, the fragrance, even the soft whisper of her breath. His every sense was as heightened as if he was in one of his shift forms—but focused only on her.
It was as if there was a connection between them. A strange bond, formed the instant their eyes had first met…
And the answer came to him, like a firework exploding in his mind.
“Cuan?” He heard Tamsin sit up straighter. “You’ve thought of something, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” he breathed. He turned around, steeling himself. “But you are not going to like it.”