Page 17 of Hunted By the Fae Warden

“That’s terrible,” I say. “Poor Megan. I hope she turns up soon.” Anger heats my blood. Kaiden is the Warden of Trevos, and he’s allowing his soldiers to steal young women and men away from their families. For nefarious purposes, no doubt. I glance toward the castle, tempted to march there right now and give him a piece of my mind. But we agreed not to see one another again, and I’m not certain I would manage to control myself around him.

I let him kiss me.

Guilt settles on my shoulders as I regard Yvette. She knows Kaiden has bothered me, but she has no idea about the passionate kiss we shared in my living room the other night. A kiss that took place on the very day the criminal burned along with King John.

When my house comes into sight, I pause in my steps as I notice the porch. Additional firewood has been added to my pile. Not just a few logs, either, but so much that it nearly takes up the entire wall. It’s enough to get me through the remainder of winter and then some.

“Wow, Mira,” Yvette says, “that’s a lot of firewood. You’ve been busy. Did you sneak into the forest again?”

“Something like that.”

I almost expect to find Kaiden in my living room, but he’s nowhere to be seen. His scent, though, it lingers. My entire house smells like honeysuckle and masculine fae male. Yvette and her mother don’t appear to notice, but there’s no mistaking it. Kaiden visited my home while I was out. Not only that, but he brought me extra firewood. My anger toward him wavers a bit.

I fix a massive meal of roast chicken, boiled potatoes, and stewed vegetables, and Yvette and her mother seem to appreciate my efforts. They become more animated as the afternoon wears on, and the shadows of grief start to leave their faces. I send them home with plenty of leftover food, including two apple cakes and a loaf of dandelion bread.

Once they’re gone, I linger on the porch and gaze at the huge amount of firewood that’s neatly stacked against the wall. I think of the day Kaiden walked me home from the forest and how safe I’d felt with him. I also think of how much I’d enjoyed our conversation as well as the moments of companionable silence. That is, until we got into an argument in the passageway. When he’d informed me that he was the new Warden of Trevos and his people planned to remain in my city indefinitely.

Will I ever see him again? I can’t help but wonder.

Perhaps I’ll only glimpse him from a distance from now on. Like when he’s standing on the main balcony of the castle making an announcement or sentencing some poor soul to death.

The cold night winds eventually drive me back inside, and I curl up by the crackling fire, feeling more alone than I have since my parents and brothers died. The solitude never bothered me this severely. Until I met Kaiden. Until I experienced his warmth and a deep sense of camaraderie with him.

Now that I’ve had a taste, I want more.

What’s he doing right now? Is he thinking about me too?

Oh gods, I have it bad. I have a big, huge, terribly inconvenient crush on Lord Kaiden of Linnshire in the Summer Court, otherwise known as Warden Valloc.

But if I’m being honest, it feels like more than a crush.

Not being with him feels like the worst agony, a wound that will never heal. It’s not so dissimilar to the sharp grief Iexperienced last winter when I lost my entire family, though I feel guilty for making the comparison.

I find myself downing copious amounts of blackberry wine as the evening goes on, desperate to quell the ache of my loneliness and my immense need for the fae lord I can never have.

CHAPTER 11

KAIDEN

Though I can seeMira sitting on her porch, I’m high enough in the air that she hasn’t noticed me. I’m also far enough away that I don’t feel the overwhelming warmth I always experience in her presence. I’m careful not to fly too close to her house, lest the tether the gods have placed between us starts pulling me in.

I’m flying back and forth in the sky on the pretense of supervising a training exercise for the highborn soldiers from various provinces, which means I’m not the only fae in the air. Even if she looks my way, I doubt she would recognize me amongst the other winged males.

As I squint and try to decipher what she’s doing, I dare to fly a bit closer. Corn. She’s husking corn. How strange considering it’s winter. It’s my understanding that in the human lands, corn is usually harvested in the summer months. But perhaps she has a way of preserving it that I’m not aware of. In Linnshire, we use magic to make our harvested fruits and vegetables last longer, as well as to keep away insects and rodents, but perhaps humanshave devised their own methods of making produce last well beyond the harvest.

From high above the city, her homestead sticks out. Not because it’s one of the largest properties within the stone walls, but because it’s the greenest.

And she lives there alone.

I suddenly wonder if she has any marriage prospects. Perhaps that’s why she was so adamant that we not spend any more time together. Never mind that I was just as adamant.

Jealousy pulsates through me, a red-hot surge of emotion. I release a thunderous growl, and several nearby soldiers change course and fly in the opposite direction.

When Mira finishes husking the corn, she tosses the remnants into a compost pile and sweeps the porch. Smoke drifts from the chimney, and I imagine her home is cozy and warm. Welcoming. How I would love to visit her and sit by the fire with her snuggled in my arms all day.

After weeks on the road, I’d been relieved to get a room at the castle once we conquered Trevos. But my quarters are cavernous and cold and if I’m being honest… lonely. Because Mira’s not there.

Every night I lay awake wishing she were beside me, and every night I resist the urge to invite myself into her home and pay her a visit.

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