As did Ella. “Well, she’s fun. Why haven’t you brought me here before if her wings are so amazing?”
“Because we’ve been on our tour of chicken around the kingdoms, Isabella. I had to save the best for last.”
“Uh-huh.” She gave him a fond look before glancing at me. “He has a thing for chicken wings. It goes back to our very first date, actually.”
“Ah, that was a fun night. Your first visit to the Midnight Fae realm.”
“Fun? I wanted to kill you that night.”
“But you didn’t. You even let me kiss you. Twice.”
Ella grumbled something unflattering at him before adding, “I didn’t like Tray much when we first met. He was kind of a dick.”
Tray snorted. “She misunderstood my intentions.”
“Because you were an asshole.”
He lifted a shoulder. “My plan worked in the end, didn’t it? You’re mine.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she scoffed, rolling her big blue eyes. But I caught the happiness radiating beneath her expression, her absolute joy at having him in her life.
They really were a fine couple.
Very unlike me and my mates.
Whom I refused to think about.
No. No. No.
“So her son is a Fortune Fae?” Ella asked Tray, providing a fantastic distraction from my mind. “Like one of the Midnight Fae Alphas I learned about last year?”
“Yep. He chose to abstain from blood and magic all his life and turned Fortune Fae as a result. An Alpha, as you said. Fangs and all.” He bared his teeth at Ella, causing her to snort.
“Still don’t understand why you vampires don’t have fangs,” she muttered.
“Actually, I’ve never understood that either,” I admitted. “Anatomically speaking, it makes sense since Midnight Fae drink blood.”
“Exactly,” Ella said, waving a hand in finality.
“Our incisors are sharp enough without the additional fang point,” Tray drawled.
“Yet Midnight Fae males who don’t drink blood end up getting fangs as a Fortune Fae Alpha. Yeah, that makes sense.” The way Ella said it implied it didn’t make sense at all. Which I agreed with her on. Then again, I had pointed ears and that seemed silly, too. They served no purpose, and I heard just as well as any other fae.
“Fortune Fae are a different breed of puzzles,” Tray murmured.
“So what happens to female Midnight Fae who reject their dark source?” Ella asked, frowning. “We never covered that in class.”
“Because they become Norms,” he replied. “Not as exciting.”
“What’s a Norm?” Ella asked.
A type of Fortune Fae, I thought, while Tray dove into a political lesson that more than intrigued his mate. She peppered him with questions that took up the majority of our meal, which was fine by me. I sat by and listened while I enjoyed m
y sandwich—which was indeed a proper one with shrooms and all the fixings. Anrika brought me a second spritemead without asking if I wanted one, giving me a wink before disappearing into glitter once more. The magic reminded me a bit of Shade’s, only he preferred the dark smog to happy confetti.
I sipped my drink while thinking about him and his promise before he left.
Anytime.