Page 87 of Owned By the Fae
‘Your fingers are magick, Harbinger,’ he murmurs, kissing my lips gently. ‘I’ll have to remember to put them to good use next time.’
I smile against him and sigh, already hating that he’s going to have to leave soon.
When he eases away from me a little while later, I let him even though I want to cling to him and never let go. But he doesn’t get out of the bed. Instead, he moves my hair from my face and strokes down my back, his eyes serious as they stare into mine.
‘Do you know where Varrik found me?’ he asks.
I shake my head. ‘You’ve never said.’
He sighs and lies down on his back, closing his eyes. ‘I don’t much speak of it. I was in a backwater world. The Horde had swarmed through a few days earlier. They’d killed everyone I knew, including my mother and sisters.’
I put my hand on his arm and his lips turn up into the ghost of a smile.
‘I survived the attack,’ he continues, ‘and I thought that was the end of it. I’d seen to my family’s bodies, performed the sacred rites. I packed a small bag with some supplies and started walking toward another settlement in the mountains a few days away.’
‘Did you make it there?’ I ask.
He shakes his head, his eyes still closed. ‘I met the cunts who’d killed my family on the road. The commander of the unit decided to spare me.’ He chuckles. ‘I tried to kill him. I failed, of course. I was a weak, weedy thing then. But I suppose he liked my spirit.’
Kal shifts toward me. ‘I was taken through the Breach to one of their main camps. I was put in a tent with fifty or so other boys of all different races. Varrik appeared with some of the guards a few minutes after I got there, and he chose me.’
He scoffs. ‘Gods, I thought I was so special when he held out his hand and told me to come with him.’
‘And he brought you here?’ I ask.
He nods. ‘I hated it at first. I missed my family and my home. We were farmers, you know.’
He smiles, opening his eyes. ‘There was a rumor in Alcana about Dane, Grey, and I that was so similar to the truth, for me at least. It made me chuckle when I heard it.’
I let out a small laugh of my own. ‘I remember that one.’
He clears his throat and gives me a sad look. ‘It took until we left for me to realize that Varrik probably had the Horde attacking settlements to find fae children to take.’
I nod. ‘It took me a long time to see the truth of him, too,’ I say, squeezing his hand.
He grips my fingers tightly for a moment before he relinquishes them.
‘There’s a banquet tonight,’ he murmurs, changing the subject.
‘I heard.’
‘Fiana has returned.’
I nod.
He sounds about as happy that she’s back as I am, but I don’t say anything about her. Instead, we cuddle for a while and then he washes away the evidence that he's been with me. Afterward, he pulls my gown back over my head and laces it for me. He gestures to the table, where I see he's brought me some books to read, and I give him a grateful smile.
‘Where do you get these flowers you bring me?’ I ask him, noticing he's put another on the table today and remembering how interested the healer was in them.
‘There's a valley over the next hill. The winter hasn't touched it yet, so there are still some growing amongst the rocks.’
‘The healer said to me that they look like faerie flowers.’
He frowns. ‘The healing plant?’
‘That’s what he said.’
He looks at the flower more closely. ‘I suppose it does. I never thought of it before. I wonder if it’s similar. They’re very potent, you know.’
