Page 132 of Never Kiss a Fae
Claire turned as red as the scurbuttle weed. “Oh God,” she said, covering her full lips with her hand. “I’m so sorry, Vox. I didn’t even think—”
Titus cut her off with a kiss and sent a lingering flame running down her shirt, making Claire squeak with surprise. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”
“You’re not helping,” she whispered loudly.
“I’m not ashamed, sweetheart,” Titus replied. “And neither are they.”
“Oh God…”
“Hey, why don’t you help me cook dinner,” I offered, trying to put her at ease and to prove I was fine. That everything was fine. That this whole fucked-up situation was, well,fine.
Besides, Claire and I were going to be spending a lot of time together—Titus included. I knew better than to try to dampen a Fire Fae’s passion, and by the look on Claire’s face when she’d walked in those doors, he was what she needed right now with Exos missing and his asshat of a brother coming in and ruining all of our lives.
Oh, fuck, I hope he doesn’t join us for dinner.
Claire brightened, the light in her eyes returning. “Okay, that sounds fun.” She looked to Titus and he laughed.
“Don’t need my permission, sweetheart.” He stretched, making a show of putting his arm around her shoulder. “I’ll go shower before dinner and leave you all to it.” He grinned at me with a knowing glance. “Didn’t get a chance to this morning.”
Right, because Sol had been in our shared bathroom, so in a moment of desperation, I’d stolen Titus’s shower in order to take off the edge Claire’s screams had given me. The Fire Fae had warned me there would be a lot of cold showers included with this job…
Fuck.
If Claire had put two and two together, she didn’t comment.
“So, what’s for dinner?” she asked.
I was grateful for change the subject. I pulled out the largest item from the sacks and used my air magic to lift it up.
“Dragon steak,” I announced with a grin. River had said this would impress Claire, and after the way Cyrus had treated her, I wanted to do something to take her mind off things.
Her eyes went wide. “Dragon?”
I nodded. “It’s supposed to taste like something you call beef,” I said, sending a wave of air to settle the slab onto the cutting board on the counter.
“Are you going to add eggs and cheese to it?” Sol asked around a mouthful of his snack.
Claire smiled. “I think we can save that for breakfast.”
I gave her simple tasks of cutting vegetables and grinding fresh spices. She seemed to enjoy the job, and I felt a pang of regret for her. All of this was so new and different for the Halfling, but I was able to give her something that maybe made her feel like she was back home, doing monotonous things she used to do as a human, such as chopping up ingredients in a kitchen. I supposed it didn’t matter what world or race one was a part of—food still needed preparing.
It wasn’t until I had closed the oven door on a decorated pan of dragon steak and gotten to work on a patty salad that I felt Claire’s magic testing mine. I stopped folding the leaves over strips of filling to glance at her.
“I understand if you don’t want to be here,” she said, her words soft and for my ears alone. Her bright eyes fixated on me, rooting me to the spot. “I didn’t mean to uproot you and Sol, and I’m sure when Exos comes back, I can explain that Cyrus made a mistake.” Something in her gaze said she hoped I would disagree with her, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to.
I glanced at Sol, but she’d done the trick skillfully enough that he hadn’t heard her. He chomped down on the last of his snack and fluttered his eyes closed, blissfully enjoying the simplicity of a tasty treat.
Yes, I knew what Sol needed. He needed to be around fae strong enough to help him. Fae like me…
Fae like Cyrus and Exos with royal lines stronger than mine.
Perhaps even a fae like Claire.
She edged closer to me, her fingers grazing my arm in a way that made my magic snap taut against hers. She sucked in a breath but didn’t back away.
“The king’s orders are never disobeyed,” I said, trying to put ice and steel into my tone like Cyrus was so good at doing. He seemed to have a knack for pushing the Halfling away, and that was one skill I needed to work on. If I was going to be her guardian, I didn’t want to end up mating with her. Not because I disliked her, but because it was just too complicated.
She flinched at my tone, and even though she backed away and left me feeling guilty, I knew it was the right thing to do.
