Page 56 of Quiet
“Then I can’t give you my blood.” Isa left off theannoying fairyhe’d wanted to tack on the end of his sentence. He was irritated, not suicidal. He didn’t know much about the fae—considering all of his information was gleaned from a college class based on children’s fairy tales and hearsay—but all of the stories had one thing in common. The fae were dangerously unpredictable.
Briar hummed in approval next to him.
The man’s face was a perfect mix of delighted and irritated. “You insolent little creature. How do you know I won’t leave you here to deal with this alone?”
“You won’t,” Isa said, feeling more confident. He’d just remembered another thing he’d read during his stint of wallowing in Irish mythology. “You can’t ignore a debt, can you?”
“For fuck’s sake. You humans get a little bit of education and suddenly everyone knows all of our secrets. Why do I keep spending time with you lot?” He dropped to his knees dramatically and put the back of his hand to his forehead. “Fine. I’ll give it to you, but if you ever tell another living creature, or try to use it, I’ll turn you into paste.”
Isa felt a quiver of nervousness in the pit of his stomach. What if he forgot and accidentally let it slip some day? “Not even Briar?”
“Not even Briar. Oh, and you need to give me your name too.” There was a twinkle in the man’s eye when he said it.
“Like hell I’m giving you my name, you’re already getting my blood. But you cancallme Isa.”
“Okay, smart little Isa, do we have a deal?”
“Your name for my blood?”
“My name for your blood.”
“You have a deal.” Isa felt the weight of something indefinable settle over him.
The man leaned forward and stopped when Briar tried and failed to push him away. “Relax, cousin. I swear to do him no harm.” Briar gave the fairy a glare but didn’t stop him when the man leaned forward again. He put his lips against Isa’s ear and whisperedsomething.
Chapter22
Isa
Aburst of stardust and gossamer resonated throughout Isa’s mind. It bounced from place to place, occasionally rubbing against something in Isa’s mind that felt familiar, like it had always been there, but he’d never noticed until now. When the name finally settled, it seemed to imprint itself where it landed, leaving a small, shimmering nest in Isa’s consciousness.
“I can already assure you I have no idea how to pronounce that,” Isa said dryly. “So, I think your name is safe with me.”
Laughter rang in the air like bells, merry, but somehow still undeniably masculine. Isa shivered as goosebumps sprang up on his arms. The fairy was attractive, yes, but it was too much. Like staring directly into the sun.
Whereas Briar was perfect. Isa could stare at him for hours and not get tired of it.
Speaking of which, it was time to fix Briar.
“Okay, how do I give you my blood?” It was going to hurt, wasn’t it? Isa wasn’t the biggest fan of pain, but he couldn’t think of that right now.
“Eager, aren’t we?”
“Just get it over with,” Isa said through gritted teeth.
The fairy held out his hand, palm up, and Isa watched as the air above it began to glow. Motes of light drifted down to form an indistinct shape. It looked like he was gathering moonlight into the palm of his hand. The light flared brighter, and Isa winced, expecting it to hurt his eyes. It didn’t. Instead, the light was soothing, beckoning, like it was trying to draw him in.
He didn’t realize he was leaning toward the fairy until Briar became a heavy weight on his arm. The poor man was drowning in synesthetic shock but still had enough wits to be overprotective. It was so sweet that Isa was able to pull himself out of whatever magic the fairy was performing.
How on earth had Isa ever thought he could stay away from this man?
The shape in the fairy’s hand solidified into a knife—a very pretty, very pointy one. Isa’s stomach did a slow, sickening swoop. This was definitely going to hurt.
“Don’t look at me like that, clever human. You’ll still be in one piece once we’re done. I need you to be able to help my cousin, after all.” The fairy held the knife out for Isa to take. “Here, you go first.”
“Me?”
“I’m not going to do it for you—it must be consensual to work. So, get to slicing, human,” the fairy said in a snotty tone of voice, like he expected Isa to know the intricacies of fae magic.
