Page 106 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

She pushed out into the street without another word.

35

Prince Cressica and the Greatest Faeborn Snowball Fight

in All of History

The Prince stood at the top of the hill with his arms folded watching Shayne and Dranian bound down on a human sled, their pompom hats bouncing along with them. Kate’s raspy laugh flooded the hill as she reached the top after a painfully slow climb. She was out of breath, her fair cheeks were flushed, and she was smiling wide enough to bloom fresh flowers right here in the human realm snow.

And only the sky deities knew how adorable she looked in that wretched hat.

Cress cleared his throat and looked back at Shayne whipping a ball of snow into Dranian’s face below.

“Aren’t you going to try it, Cress?” Kate asked, panting. She wobbled on her feet over the uneven snow as she tried to reach him. It was all Cress could do to keep himself from grabbing her to carry her around for the rest of the day before she lost her footing and broke all her little fragile human bones.

“Absolutely not,” he announced. “This is a game for immature childlings.”

Kate licked damp snow from her lips as she smiled.

Oh, sky deities, have mercy. Cress could not look away.

She tugged him toward her sled. “Just try it once,” she begged. “Please? You won’t regret it.”

Cress yanked his arm back. “Absolutely not.”

“Cress.”

Why did she have to say his name like that?

A foot came against his back, and Cress was shoved forward. He whipped around to glare at Mor. The curly-haired fairy winked.

“How insufferable,” Cress muttered as he marched toward the sled after all. “I’ll try it only one time.”

He sat down on the wooden board and was about to inch forward when Kate climbed on in front of him, shoving his legs out of the way. His faeborn heart punched against her back, though he doubted she could feel it.

Mor appeared like a cursed nightmare that wouldn’t rest. He pushed against Cress’s shoulders, and the sled tipped forward. Cress’s royal eyes widened as the wooden board picked up speed.

He screamed a little.

They slammed into the snow at the bottom and tumbled off. The sled spun away, and Cress sprang to his elbows so he wouldn’t crush Kate when he landed on her. Kate was laughing too hard to realize. He blinked down at her smiling mouth. He wanted to kiss her when she laughed this way. He wanted to so severely, he almost did it.

He released the breath he was holding and moved to climb off.

Sledding had been a bad idea. Him being anywhere near her for the next week until the human Yule celebration was a terribly bad, faeborn-cursed idea.

He stilled when Kate grabbed the sides of his face and planted her lips on his in a light kiss. It was just one, brief, dreadful second. But it sent the human realm spinning.

“Stop that,” he whispered, turning his gaze cold so she would see how serious he was.

Kate’s smile widened. “I don’t want to.”

“You’re making this difficult for both of us, Human.”

“That’s the idea.”

There was a mark of seriousness in her tone.

“Gross!” Kate’s-brother-Greyson shouted from a few feet away. “Save it for when I’m not around, you two.” A snowball smacked Cress’s back, and Cress looked over to find Kate’s-brother-Greyson and the two humans with him snorting laughs.

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