Page 13 of What did you do?

She had sharp hazel eyes that held a threat every time they landed on me.

He let out a sigh and held the pinky finger from his right hand out to her.

As she pierced the pad of his finger with the tip of her sword, I rushed her.

“Caly, it’s?—”

The breath knocked out of my lungs and I realized I was lying on the grass.

The guard had one knee smashed against my throat while she held a small ball of light in the air.

“Mia, let her up. She is with me and is only granted access to the portal if I am with her, all right?”

I glared at the nodding guard while he helped me to my feet.

“It’s for your protection, trust me,” he said.

He smiled when my glare turned on him.

“She had to check my blood. Seelie fae bleed gold, but Seelie royal blood is iridescent. It is two different shades of gold when held against the light.”

As we continued our journey up a neat and tidy dirt path, Eli informed me that Mia was a Lumins guard for the Seelie portal. Apparently they had recently needed to ramp up protection, placing guards at every portal into the realm.

Appreciation rose within me that they had women guards.

“Wait, how will I travel once I become a Seelie royal? Will magic make my blood change or something?” I asked with a laugh.

Eli’s stare kept to the ground. “I suppose that’s a question for my mother.”

My hand absently covered the cylindrical pendant hanging from my neck, rubbing the intricate design, the white-gold vines encasing the small capsule that held my sister’s ashes.

A neighbor behind our field happened to be one of the paramedics that tried to save them…or what was left of them. She had brought some of my sister’s ashes to me, and I’ve never been more grateful for anything in my life.

The sturdy necklace was only removed from its place around my neck when I had an order from the queen. Then it was removed and kept in a tiny red velvet bag until my return.

Adrianna didn’t need to see the monster I’d become.

I tucked the pendant back against my skin and adjusted my butter-yellow sundress.

I despised dresses.

After my last trip to a fae realm involved being trapped in a dungeon, wearing the same blood-caked dress for ages, I’d vowed I would never wear a dress again.

But here I was, as usual, the need to please this particular fae family outweighing all of my own feelings. I knew Queen Saracen expected me to look the part when I arrived, and I would deliver.

She preferred me in girly dresses and had made no qualms about letting me know.

I wanted to please her—kill an evil prince, wear a yellow sundress… Whatever it took, I desperately needed her to accept me.

“I hope lunch is ready when we get there; I’m starved. Human food is horrible compared to our food,” Eli groaned as we continued walking.

“You didn’t seem to think half of my refrigerator was horrible last night,” I quipped.

“I was doing you a favor and cleaning out your disgusting fridge,” he replied while pretending to be offended.

I rolled my eyes and laughed so hard, the unfamiliar sound startled me. I never got to feel like this.

My eyes caught on the white dress shirt pulling across Eli’s chest. His pecs tightened the fabric as his arms moved at his side. When had he gotten so…manly?

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