Page 1 of The Iron Fae
One
A Sex Toy Ruse
I’m safe.
Safety is the goal right now, but it doesn’t feel comforting when I’m walking out on Lincoln, walking away from Jase. I no longer have a safety net to fall on, it’s just me.
Lincoln let me go. Lincolnarrangedit.
My heart sinks further into my twisted stomach, filling it with confusing and messy emotions.
I shouldn’t have left.
I should have fought.
I should have—
My long fingers push through my hair in a rush and I try to focus as my attention drifts up to the bright eyes of the Prince of the Iron Court. The castle doors are close enough to touch. Just behind them is an uncertain future and a last resort sort of welcome.
But Kai doesn’t reach for the doors. My train wreck appearance is captivating all of his attention.
“Mother despises untidiness,” he murmurs as he continues picking through my locks like a mother monkey fussing over its little one.
I’ve never met his mother,Lincoln’s mother.I wonder if he looks like her. Will her face be familiar? Will she catch the smell of her son still clinging to my skin from our hungry good-bye?
“Am I going to meet her?” I ask, my voice lost on the passing breeze.
Kai’s touch softens. After a heartbeat, he grazes the sides of my cheeks and grips my shoulders. His golden gaze settles on me with pity.
I don’t want to be pitied.
“No. Most certainly not, if we can avoid it.”
I nod, wringing my hands together in front of me. I don’t have the strength to return his gaze or the want to witness how sorry he may or may not feel for me. It’s doubtful that queens often receive pity so I might as well get used to it now.
Darkness shrouds the castle, the only light coming from the nearness of the moon and the sparkle of the stars. Bugs hiss in the trees. Animals cooing and calling to one another off in the forest. A howl erupts from the edge of the woods, stark silver eyes watching us from the brush. My body jumps from its mere proximity and the volume of which it calls out.
“I wish I could say it’s safer inside,” Kai chuckles.
Safe. Lincoln said this would be safe.
Nothing is truly safe when the ruling queen wants you dead.
“Mother can be quite the handful which is why we mustn’t tell her what or whom you are yet. I’ll keep you away but if anybody asks, I’ve brought you here from the human world as my guest,” Kai continues. His firm grasp drops from my shoulders and he reaches for the doors.
“Am I staying in the Library? In the pocket world?”
“I’ve arranged for you to have your own guest suite. My very human guest. Rowan should have it ready now.” He hovers with his hand touching the door, unworried about the beasts that linger on the edge of the woods that border the castle.
My attention drifts to the fringe of their property. No guards. No high walls. It’s all a testament to their powers. They don’t need the extra security because no one would dare defy them.
Another howl pierces the air. I look back into the silver gaze that watches us. Between blinks, a few more pairs of eyes appear. Still, I watch back. No part of me feels intimidated any longer. Perhaps it’s the deflating apathy and disassociation consuming me that leaves little room for anything else.
“When the tides of the ocean rise to drown out the beaches of your life you have a few choices you can make. Recede and hide from the waters till the tide lowers, drown in the waters, or build a boat and float,” Kai whispers.
Lincoln hates his stupid metaphors.My first thought.I don’t mind them.My second.
“Maybe I should opt for option number four.” I straighten my slumped shoulders.
