Page 47 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

Kieran patted his mare before she was led away. “All of our horses are extremely well-trained. I don’t think any of them qualify as ‘hysterical.’”

“Whatever.” Alaric limped towards the tavern without another backwards glance at us.

Then Kieran held out an arm to me. “Shall we?”

“What do you think the chances are that they have running water here?” I asked as I looped my arm through his.

“Sorry to dash your dreams so soon, but there is no running water here,” he said as we followed after Alaric. “Despite the name, Faybell wasn’t built on the backbones of an old Fae town. It was built completely by us. The tavern servants can draw a bath for you, or…”

“Or…” I eyed him as he opened the door to the tavern and we stepped inside.

The large room was filled with Moroi, and the boisterous conversations almost drowned out Kieran as he leaned over towhisper in my ear, “There are natural hot springs in the back corner of the outpost. Those who run this place like me. If I requested to have sole access to them tonight… they’d probably be willing to make sure I had the springs all to myself.”

“Is that so?” I whispered back. The idea of slipping into some hot water sounded positively magical right now.

“Mmm,” he hummed. “Of course, if I’m to share these hot springs with you… there might need to be some begging on your part.”

I slid my eyes towards him as we made our way to the table where Alaric sat. “Maybe I’ll just find the person in charge of them and persuade them on my own.”

“Don’t be hasty,” he said quickly. “Just come with me after we get something to eat, and we’ll discuss it then.”

Alaric eyed both of us. “I don’t want to know, do I?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but Kieran beat me to it. “Probably not.”

Food magically arrived in front of us moments later, and I gave Alaric a questioning look. He shrugged. “It’s not like there are a lot of options on the menu, and I figured you’d be hungry.”

“Thanks,” I said before tucking into the spread of dried meats, roasted vegetables, and bread.

Faybell was far enough inland that fresh fish wasn’t readily available the way it was at the coastal Houses like Harker and Laurent. Crops were easy to grow because none of the beasts that prowled the forest had any interest in them, but livestock was challenging.

A few outposts managed to keep around some goats and the occasional cow and used the milk from them to make cheese. Clearly, this wasn’t one of them.

Some of the locals came over to talk to us as we ate. Well, they really came to talk to Kieran, but were nice enough to me and Alaric. I occasionally glanced towards where Vail and hisrangers were sitting, curious about what they were talking about.

“You ready?” Kieran asked, drawing my attention away from the rangers.

I slipped my hand into his and rose from the table. Alaric’s gaze flicked over us briefly before he went back to his meal.

“For you to beg?” I smirked at him. “Absolutely.”

He rolled his eyes and tugged me up the stairs.

“Uhh… I thought you said the hot springs were towards the back of the outpost?” I asked in confusion as Kieran opened a door, revealing a small, tidy room with our packs from the horses stacked on the beds.

“Were you planning on putting on the same dirty clothes afterwards?” He pulled out some clean clothes for himself before digging into one of the other packs. “Or were you just going to walk back here naked? I’d vote for that option, personally.”

I snatched the pair of panties he had dangling off his finger, and he smirked at me before quickly folding up a set of clean clothes.

“You’re making it more and more tempting to find someone else who can show me these hot springs,” I said in a mock growl.

He just grinned as he once again grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. I laughed as he practically dragged me to the hot springs, as if they’d disappear or I’d change my mind if we didn’t get there fast enough.

“Oh,” I breathed out when Kieran tugged me through the door of a simple but well-constructed building.

The wooden walls had been stained on the inside so that it was a deep reddish-brown, and dark grey stones had been stacked against the back wall, giving the room a cozy, natural feel. Fae lanterns provided a gentle blue glow that catapultedthe already gorgeous space into something magical. A pool of crystal-clear steaming water awaited us.

I whispered in awe, “This is amazing.”

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