Page 48 of Taken By the Fae

I shake my head. “This is too weird.”

“Does the connection bother you?”

“I… don’t know. Not really.”Not at this very moment. I purse my lips. “How long is it going to last?”

He shrugs. “This isn’t something I’ve experienced before. A human being able to feel what I’m feeling. It’s as new to me as it is to you, I’m afraid.”

I release a breath and shoot him a smile. “Lucky us.”

He tweaks my chin. “Look at it this way. At least you’re not tuned into Max’s emotions.”

I groan. The thought of being connected to Max makes me shudder.

Tristan’s laugh is a deep sound that booms through the room. It’s genuine. I know that with a fresh certainty I feel in my chest. This reading emotions thing could get dangerous.

I glance over at his desk. “What are you doing up so late?”

His eyes flicker across my face in the dim light. “I spoke to Allison while you were asleep. She knows you’re okay. I don’t take what happened tonight lightly. I will find out who is behind this, and there will be consequences.” The tang of anger radiating from him makes me frown. I miss the light emotions he was giving off a minute ago.

“What exactly happened to me?” I ask, masking my surprise at his reaction to the situation. I’m not fae—not his to protect.

“You were poisoned with foxglove. It’s a rare plant that originated in the fae world, and when our home was destroyed, some foxglove made its way into the human world. In small doses, it can cause severe hallucinations, but the amount you were given… It infected your bloodstream and would’ve attacked your nervous system without intervention.”

Theit would have killed yougoes without saying.

A shiver races through me, making my stomach coil tightly, and I hold the sheet tighter around me. I almost died tonight. I would have if Tristan hadn’t come, hadn’t saved me. “And you think it was a seelie fae who poisoned me?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Then why do you—”

His anger rises, dark and cold, but his calm and collected expression holds. If I wasn’t privy to his emotions, I wouldn’t notice the shift. “They won’t get away with harming you, Aurora. Whoever ordered this attack knows you’re significant.”

I swallow, my pulse ticking faster under his gaze. “I don’t understand.”

“Don’t be naïve.” His breath tickles my cheek, a reminder of how close he is. “You know I care about you.” The worry and attraction swirling inside him becomes muddled, making my head spin. I need to figure out a way to turn this off.

Swallowing, I say, “I’m not naïve, but you also haven’t told me anything. Part of me guessed there was something, or you would’ve figured out another way to approach the situation after you couldn’t wipe my memories.” I shrug, still pretty drowsy. “And I—” I clamp my mouth shut. I’m not entirely sure what I was going to say, considering my mind is still caught on the wholeI care about youthing. If I can feelhisemotions right now, he can feel mine. I don’t have to put words to the mix of emotions warring inside my chest. I could tell him I haven’t stopped thinking about him since I left the hotel the morning after I was taken. That I caught myself wondering what his lips taste like more than once. That I want to know him so deeply, it terrifies me. But I say, “I understand.”

He holds my gaze for a beat of silence before he says, “Good.”

I shake my head. “Not good.” My throat tingles as if I’m going to hurl. My stomach feels heavy, and my pulse is uneven. “Some fae wants me dead.” The words have to fight to make it through the chattering of my teeth.

“Aurora, you’re okay.”

I clench my jaw, trying to make it stop. My eyes sting as I hold back tears, gripping the blanket until my knuckles are white. It’s all too much. My heartbeat is in my throat as black spots dance across my vision and my ears ring. The unseelie fae want to kill me. Tristan is acting differently since I almost died, and Allison is putting herself in danger of being cast out by the seelie fae because of a guy.

“Hey.” His smooth, deep voice brings me back from the edge. His hand is on my shoulder. “Breathe.”

I stare at him, and he nods.

“Take a deep breath for me, Rory.”

Rory. I say it over in my head. That’s new.

I inhale, and all I can smell ishim. Fresh, warm… comforting.

“Good girl,” he praises. “Again.”

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