Chapter 21
Cuan stretched his back, grimacing at the faint twinge of disused muscles. “If this continues, I shall grow soft.”
Tamsin’s hand ran down his thigh. “Based on the evidence, I really don’t think that’s likely to be a problem.”
He chuckled, capturing her wrist. He drew her hand up to his mouth, planting a kiss in her palm.
“Not in that way.” He released her, sitting up in the bed. “And tempting as it is to prove that to you again, I really must practice. I cannot be out of condition for the next duel, whenever it may come.”
Tamsin propped herself up on an elbow. She was flushed and glowing from their recent lovemaking. As ever, his heart turned over at her beauty.
“It’s been five days now,” she said, stretching herself. “Maybe you’ve terrified them all into giving up.”
He let out a wry breath of laughter as he got up, hunting for clothes. “Who would have guessed that showing my true eyes would make them all creep around like frightened rabbits? Half the court seems to think I might snap like a mad wolf at any moment. I suppose I am living down to their worst expectations.”
“Mmm. I think it’s more that you aren’t creeping around with your tail between your legs anymore. Bullies have to make other people feel weak in order to feel strong. Now that you aren’t ashamed of who you are, they don’t have any power over you.”
He leaned down to kiss her again. “I have you to thank for that.”
She hummed in pleasure, her tongue soft and sweet against his. Her palms slid over his shoulders. His faemarks lit, along with a heat lower down.
We do have a few more hours before Motley returns with Angus…
Cuan sighed, reluctantly pulling away. “Sadly, I really do need to practice. Technically, any fae could still challenge me over you. I cannot let myself become a brownie’s cat.”
Tamsin quirked an eyebrow at him, in a way he’d become intimately familiar with over the past few days. They were still bumping against each other’s cultural references, though more usually it was he who was baffled.
The more he learned about her human world, the less he understood it. The worst had been trying to follow her description of an infinite realm that sucked in the bored and unwary through tiny mobile portals. Apparently it was a place populated mainly by cats. But he still hadn’t the faintest idea what ‘the internets’ actually was.
I could spend a lifetime exploring our differences, and never grow weary…
He shook off the hopeless thought, pulling on his pants. “Brownies are famously excellent housekeepers. No vermin in a brownie’s abode. And thus, a brownie’s cat is a lazy beast. As I shall be, if I do not redouble my exercises.”
Not bothering to find a shirt, he stretched briefly, then summoned his swords. The hilts materialized in his hands, cool and familiar. He murmured the traditional ritual invocation to the Shining Ones, and began the formal movements of his sword drill.
He was keenly aware of Tamsin’s gaze following him as he cut and parried at shadows. He’d noticed that she never missed an opportunity to watch him, especially when he was partially unclothed. It was flattering…and also bittersweet.
For he knew that she studied him for the same reason that he did her.
He watched her too, every moment they were together, hoarding each second like a mock-dragon gathering jewels. Sometimes he even woke in the night to trace her sleeping face with his fingertips, desperate to memorize every precious curve.
This is but a fleeting dream. Sooner or later she will be gone, back to her own world.
Though as the days stretched on, he couldn’t help hoping that maybe it would be later rather than sooner. It had been five days, and Aodhan was still no closer to finding a way to break Tamsin free of the tithe-curse.
It was making the alicorn even grumpier than usual. The last time they’d visited his tree, he’d refused to even open the door.
“If I’d found something, I would have told you!” he’d yelled down at them from a tower window. “How do you expect me to work with these constant interruptions? Go away!”
Apparently, one visit every three days counted as ‘constant interruptions’. Cuan hadn’t tried to check on Aodhan’s progress—or lack of it—since then. He had faith that the alicorn genuinely was devoting every waking minute to freeing Tamsin.
But if even Aodhan’s razor-sharp mind is struggling to slice through this knot…perhaps Tamsin’s unknown ally will not be able to free her either.
He still didn’t know Tamsin’s secret plan. From the way he’d seen her murmuring with Motley a few times, he guessed that the raven shifter had helped her contact someone in the human world. But clearly this had not yet born fruit. She was still here, after all.
Cuan had been careful to make sure that he did not overhear Tamsin and Motley’s whispered conversations. He truly did not want to know. And not just due to the risk that he might be forced to betray the secret to Lady Maeve.
He could not lie to others. But he could lie to himself.