Page 51 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

“You don’t know anything about me,” she hissed.

“Oh, but I do. You almost make it too easy, wearing all of your feelings like you always do that cloak. And what I don’t know, I’ll figure out. Trust me.”

A current ran over her skin as she tried to blank out her features.

She didn’t doubt him.

But she needed to do everything in her power to stop him.

Loche propped his head up with his elbow. “While I work on that, why don’t you tell me more about magic? You Fae are so secretive, and I’d like to find out more than what I’ve read in books.”

She shook her head as unease flitted down her spine. “Why should I tell you anything?”

Loche eyed her, and she couldn’t shake the feeling he was reading way too much in her face. “If you’re here to spy on us, I think it’s only fair I get some information on your people. And if you’re not… why would it be an issue?”

Groaning silently, Lessia traced the back of the couch with her finger.

She’d rather go out in the chill wind again than speak of this, but if it was what it took to get him on her side, perhaps even make him open up to her…

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.” He grinned.

When she glared at him, he let out a low laugh. “Let’s begin with what types of magic there are. I know of the elemental Fae. Your king keeps showing up straight from the ocean, not a drop on him, so he must be a water wielder. And those fire wielders nearly burned down all of Ellow during the war. But there are others, aren’t there? Perhaps not as lethal at first glance, but surely worth knowing of.”

She shuddered at the thought of King Rioner.

He wasn’t just a water wielder—he was the strongest water wielder the Fae had ever seen. Her father had told her stories of how he could make the sea swallow small islands if it pleased him.

Lessia cleared her throat, fixing her eyes on the fire. “The Fae descended from two bloodlines: the elementals, who wield fire, water, wind, and earth, and then the mentals, who wield the mind. Which one a Fae has an affinity for manifests when they become adolescents. Although there aren’t many mentals left—they’re not too popular.”

“Why?”

She felt his eyes on her as she walked around the couch again, crouching down to add more wood to the fire. “Some can read minds, some can speak within your mind, some can control it. King Rioner keeps a court of mostly elemental Fae, and they don’t take well to anyone who could challenge them.”

Her mouth dried as she thought of the mental Fae hedidkeep.

It wasn’t just Merrick that terrified her.

Loche shifted on the couch. “What did they do to the mental Fae?”

She hesitated for a moment, waiting to see if the tattoo on her arm would burn.

When it didn’t, she blew out a breath. “Hunted themdown one by one. Only a few who swore their loyalty to the crown were allowed to live.”

Not that it was much of a life.

She’d seen firsthand with her…

Lessia clenched her fists when her father’s face flashed in her mind.

She would not go there.

It was in the past.

As it should remain.

She’d started toward the door when Loche stalked up to her.

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