Page 10 of The Fae Menagerie
"Sleep naked. I do." He winked. He fucking winked! My cheeks burned all over again.
Once he left and closed the door behind him, I stripped down and draped my favorite suit over the chair. I shivered in the cold room, but as soon as I slid between the silk sheets, I wondered why I'd never done it before. I loved the feel of silk on my skin, and this was so much different from the constraints of my pajamas. My cock perked up from the sensation. It always chose the most inopportune times to decide to play, usually when I was alone.
At this rate, I would be a virgin forever.
Thanks to Doyle, I was trapped in fae prison. I could die a virgin.
Chapter
Four
DOYLE
The living roomcouch was uncomfortable for sitting. It was worse for sleeping, or whatever I did last night. I don't think I managed a full hour of shut eye, each moment tossing, turning, and worrying about Parker.
Since when did I worry about others? Parker was human, for one. He was at a disadvantage in the fae realm. The menagerie didn't count as part of the realm itself. It existed outside time, only in the viewers' dreams. When my mother woke from her dream, she would remember my entire stay in the menagerie as though it had happened in one night's sleep. Meanwhile, I had suffered for millennia.
Parker was an anomaly. I didn't know how his stay would reflect in the human world. To ensure he didn't die here, I needed to find the fae luck coin, and fast. I doubted Parker would survive a week after Aidan's threat. Then there was wash day, when Aidan would return for his weekly seduction.
The sun was rising on this strange in-between world of the menagerie. I rose with it, stashing my sheets and pillow on the floor of my closet.
I must have made too much noise because Parker cleared his throat behind me.
"If you have wings, why can't you fly us out of here?"
What a way to start the day. I sat back on my heels and turned to face him. "The walls are spelled with anti-magic. Aidan can come and go," I didn't know how, "but my magic won't work in here."
"Your wings can't lift you without magic?"
I stood and demonstrated, flapping furiously. My feet never left the ground.
"That sucks."
"You're telling me." I walked over to the chair where he'd left his clothes and tossed them through the parted curtains. "Get dressed. The viewing starts as soon as we finish breakfast."
I straightened my garment around my neck and wings before heading back into the living room. In the kitchen, I sat at the table and waited for food to appear before me.
The spread didn't disappoint. It was fit for a king, or the prince of all Anthousai. My mother, the queen, must have thought Parker was the answer to her riddle. The meal was her doing, I was sure. Parker would eat well while he was here, if she had anything to say about it.
When Parker made his way to the chair opposite mine, I was out of my chair and pulling his away from the table before I knew what happened. I felt an inexplicable pull, desire, or compulsion to help him. It was foreign to me, though it had happened yesterday at the dinner table, too. When Parker grinned at me before he took his seat, it was worth it.
The slight upward curve of his lips made me happy. I had a hunch Parker didn't find much joy in the earth realm, not with people like Bret trying to "take care" of him.
I slid back onto my chair and helped myself to egg-battered toast and fresh strawberries. Parker grabbed some poached eggs, strawberries, and two strips of crisp bacon.
Parker was far less annoying than other humans. He didn't talk much, and when he did, it seemed far more important than their usual babbling in the fae realm. "Is this poisonous?" "Will I have to stay here forever if I eat this?" and, "Why did you trap me here?" were the top three most common (and annoying) questions I'd ever been asked by humans. Parker hadn't asked a single one.
The silence dragged on until Parker finished his bacon, placed his silverware gently across his plate, and stared at me expectantly.
"What?"
"What is the viewing?"
"Oh. That." Scratch that. He'd found the most annoying question I'd ever been asked. I circled a strawberry around the edge of my plate as I considered my response.
Too late. The bell sounded, and my plate—silverware, strawberry, and all—made its way to the sink without me.
"It's when we sit in the viewing room for four hours and let everyone look at us." I stood before my chair tipped. Parker was not so lucky, lurching forward and almost hitting his head on the table before I caught him. Once again, I'd felt an uncanny pull toward him.
