Page 399 of Flirting with Darkness

And if he isn’t…

“If you are as you say, then for my part in your pain, your imprisonment, I am truly sorry.”

He regards me as if my words were spoken in some foreign tongue. “Why would you say that to me?” His brows pull so close they almost touch. Confusion? Anger?

“I—because I helped keep you captive. If what you say is true then I was ignorant of the true state of things and—”

“You cannot change my mind with your innocent affectation. Your proclamations of—”

“Shut up!” I hiss. “I’m notaffectinganything, you stupid ass. If you can’t recognize an honest apology…” I stare at him, too angered to bother convincing him when I didn’t fully believe him myself. “Take it or leave it, but don’t dare sully it with your twisted mind.”

The king is too stunned to speak. His eyes go wide, mouth slightly agape, as if no one has ever spoken to him in such a way his entire existence.

He takes a moment, but when he recovers, I’m fully prepared for whatever he’s aiming to lob back at me.

“Eat your meat before it burns,” he grumbles and snags his skewer off the spit.

I reach for mine and before I’ve lifted it from the forked sticks, the king has consumed his entire catch. I glance at the flavorful meat, take a single bite, and hand the rest over to him.

“What are you doing?” he snaps. “You’ll need your strength for tomorrow’s journey.”

I wave the meat at him. “Take it. I ate dinner yesterday. You haven’t eaten in at least a hundred years.”

Again, the king’s lips part as if he can’t believe what I said. It doesn’t take him long to regain his aplomb. “I am a fae king, little bird. I don’t need sustenance to sustain me. If I did, I would have rotted away in that box of yours. I caught the wild sparlings because you do.”

I gape at him so long he’s forced to open my hands and place the stick of roasted sparling back into my palms.

“Don’t worry. You’re still a criminal in the eyes of fae law, and you still must answer for your crimes. Don’t waste your time thinking too highly of me.”

My jaw snaps shut, and I take my stick of meat, hoist up my dress, and move to the other side of the fire.Arse.

Human.

I startle at that voice in my head again, gaze meeting his over the fire. “Stay out of my head, demon.”

He opens his mouth, about to tell me what a stupid human I am for still believing he’s a demon. He decides better of it and waves his hand in front of him.

Magic slithers up the walls of the cave, glittering in the firelight as it covers the opening. “Eat and sleep well, princess. We’ve a long journey ahead of us tomorrow.”

The king smooths over the surrounding ground, chucking stones and bark to the far side of the cave, and lies facing the fire. Facing me.

He closes his eyes.

But I still have three quarters of a sparling to eat and a lifetime of questions he has answers to. “Why does time move so strangely here? We left in the middle of the night, arrived midday, and now it’s suddenly night and you want me to sleep.”

“Time submits to the whim of the ruler of each realm. And I prefer night time. When we wake tomorrow, it will still be night.”

“That doesn’t seem like the best way to travel.”

The king cracks an eye. “What would you know about traveling through the Dark Court?”

I close my mouth and give him the satisfaction of a single head bob.

He’s right. What do I know about it?

* * *

Eventually, despite the strange surroundings, I fall asleep. But the respite is short-lived. I’m woken, who knows how long after, by a frigid wind across my face. I huddle closer to the fire, ducking my head between my arms, but even that doesn’t keep the chill from reaching my skin.

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