Page 116 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
Caer stared at her. “My dislike of magic doesn’t affect how I feel about you or your magic,” he said, tripping over the words. “I don’t think anything could. I just…” He ran his hands through his hair. “I wish I’d met you sooner.”
“You wish I’d been your first encounter with magic?”
“I wish you’d been my first a lot of things, actually, but honestly… I just wish I’d met you sooner. I would like more days of knowing you.”
Aislinn’s mouth went sandpaper dry. She wanted more than anything else in the world to close the gap between them. Vines, she wanted more than that. She wanted to grab fistfuls of his hair and tear off his shirt and throw him backwards into the water and—
Her breath started to increase.What was the matter with her?
Caer frowned. “Are you all right?”
“I’m very… hot,” she said, fanning herself with her hand. “It’s very warm here, isn’t it? So very… very… warm.”
Caer’s frown deepened, but his mouth turned upwards, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he should laugh.
“I shall fetch some refreshment,” he said. “Stay here.”
She watched his broad shoulders as he disappeared into a nearby tavern, before turning back to the fountain and splashing herself thoroughly. She felt almost dizzy with sensation, her thoughts still spiralling with the thought of all the things she wanted to do to him.
And he was beingso sweet.Why hadn’t she just been able to focus on the words? Why hadn’t she been able to return the sentiment, her thoughts honeyed over instead?
She took a few moments to try and steady her breath, but nothing seemed to be working. It was like drowning in lava.
“Evening, sister!” Beau staggered towards her, coming out ofHorns and Hoeswith a tankard in hand and lipstick smeared across his face—his or someone else’s, she wasn’t entirely sure. “How fares it?”
“Fine evening, brother. Enjoying yourself?”
“You know, I rather am. That establishment over there has a truly fine collection of horns.”
“Is that so?”
“How’s your evening going?”
Aislinn looked across at the space she last saw Caer. She seized Beau’s tankard and downed it.
“That well, hmm?”
“Caer is being unbelievably sweet and all I want to do is rip his clothes off, smother him in honey, and lick every inch off with my—”
“Oh,” said Beau, eyes widening.
“Oh what?”
“You’re, um…”
“Oh,” said Aislinn, with sudden realisation. “Oh, oh. Oh no.”
Female faeries, being infertile creatures, only had a small gap of fertility around once a year. Sometimes the Beltane rituals could trigger an extra one, but more often than not they simply brought that period forward.
Aislinn, being half fae, had two.
Two short windows, every year, when she wanted to bone anything that moved.
“It’s not a big deal,” Beau insisted. “Just tell him. Cast a few fertility spells. Have the best sex of your life.”
“I can’t cast a fertility spell inside the palace, Beau!” She’d been willing to risk it for one night, the chances being so slim. But if she was in heat…
No, no, NO!
