Page 136 of Kingdoms of Night

She almost laughed. A man she had just been calling Kopo, a sweet talker? After how they’d met, she never would’ve guessed this of him. She straightened.

“Maybe.” Her gaze lingered on his lips. She’d kissed and been kissed many times. Why did it now feel as if she’d never kissed anyone? Not really. Not in any sense that mattered. She licked her lips and then stepped away. “We worked well together, don’t you think?”

“Yes.” His voice had deepened, low and quiet. He hadn’t moved from that spot beside the arch, and the purple light framed him as beautifully as if he was about to be painted. His eyes had darkened, and they studied her with a look that made her ache to her core.

“I’m glad,” she said slowly, her mouth dry as she chose her words with care. “I am very glad that if this had to be done, that I was able to do it with you. I could not have chosen a better companion. If I had chosen, I would have probably picked wrong.”

He laughed once again, rubbing his hand across his neck. “I suppose I could not have chosen better than this. If I was going to be taken by some...fae who changes his hair color as much as his clothes, I couldn’t have done much better.”

She stepped farther from the cathedral of mushrooms, allowing the smile to play more fully on her face. What she wanted to say was that she had never known a man like him. That in all her life, short as it had been and limited as it had been, she had never known anyone quite like him.

She didn’t know how to say what she needed to say, or how to even begin to express what she wanted from him, so instead those words stuck within her while her feet kept moving.

CHAPTERNINETEEN

FERON

Feron had never been more wrong about a person than he’d been about Idalno.

As tedious and annoying as she’d seemed in their first encounter, she was entirely the opposite here. Bathed in purple light, he couldn’t deny that she’d never been more beautiful either. Even with the stray strands of hair laden with sweat against her cheeks and neck, and all kinds of torn threads and snags over her skirt and vest.

He didn’t mind that her shawl was gone. Pretty as it had been, he liked seeing her bare arms and shapely figure. She was thick in all the best ways.

But a woman like her was too good for him. He didn’t deserve her. Even if she accepted him, he’d only mess up her life as he’d messed up every other good thing that had come into his existence.

She moved farther away from the cathedral and into the archway covered in the purple and silver mushrooms. The passage wove ahead, disappearing around another bend.

Already he felt cold now that he no longer held her. But there was no longer a pretense. She could see, and she could walk. These mushrooms—as stunning as they were—had ruined what had been one of the most intimate moments of his life. And she was walking away.

“Have you ever been with a human, or… a former human?” he blurted. He halted. Merde, he’d actually asked that aloud.

“Not a former human, but I’ve heard things about humans in general,” she said softly, her back to him.

“Like?”

She hesitated.

“I want to know. Good or bad.” Although he’d spoken those words, after saying them, he really wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

She lifted her shoulder a little, still not looking at him. “That human men can be creative.”

He nodded.

“But they’re fickle and only want fun. Their fun. Even if they aren’t interested in having babies right away, they’re only interested in their own pleasure. Eventually, though, it becomes about pleasure and babies. Continuing the bloodline. It always goes there.”

“Many are.” What kind of men had she encountered that this was her solid opinion? That she believed this about all of them? Men who’d only cared about their pleasure, and not hers? She sounded so certain.

He couldn’t see her face, but he doubted she smiled. Who could after an admission like that? It sounded like knowledge that had come at a painful price.

“And there are always exceptions,” she said softly. “I don’t mean that all are that way. Just...”

He drew closer. “I’m sure it’s been hard for you, if those are the sorts of men you’ve been around.”

“And Unatos. Mostly Unatos. Mostly everyone, really. But there are always exceptions. And the exceptions make all of this living worth it.” She turned to face him, managing a small smile. Reaching up, she smoothed back some loose strands of hair.

The ground shook, knocking her against him.

Silt sifted down from the ceiling.

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