Page 369 of Never Kiss a Fae
“I am not a Winter Fae,”he retorted, his white hair frosting at the ends. “And why are we even talking about this? I just came to deliver the declaration.”
“From Lark,” Cyrus added.
“Yes. From Prince Lark,” he admitted, his jaw clenched. “They’ve agreed to support the academy and the necessary magic. Now I’m taking a few days off while the Winter Fae go play and spread Christmas cheer throughout the Human Realm.”
“You should come back with us to Elemental Fae Academy,” Cyrus suggested. “You can help us with the trials.”
“Trials?” he repeated, his expression morphing from confusion to exasperation. “Ah, fuck, what did Lance do now?”
I almost laughed. Lance was Titus’s little brother and Kalt’s best friend. And yeah, the little firecracker was a troublemaker. But he’d mostly cooperated with his probationary sentence, where he served as my assistant at the Academy. I rather liked the hotheaded fae. He reminded me of his brother, just younger and a little more wild.
“He’s talking about their competition,” I clarified. “For who gets to be the father of our first baby. Nothing to do with Lance.”
Kalt blinked at me. Then he looked at his cousin and arched a white brow. “Why the hell would I help with that?”
“We need judges,” Cyrus explained. “And last I recall, you still owed me a favor.”
The Water Fae narrowed his gaze. “So this is the favor you require? Judging sex games on my days off?”
“Uh…” I cleared my throat. “I don’t… I, uh…” I couldn’t remember what the other trials were, as my mind had concentrated solely on the orgasm competition. “I agree with Kalt on this one.” Because those trials were probably sex related.
Exos chuckled. “The other trials are all about nurturing, nonsexual endurance, and meal preparation. We need the judge specifically for the last part.”
“Meal preparation?” Kalt arched his brow again. “So you need someone to judge food?”
“Essentially, yes.” Exos lifted a shoulder. “All three trials blend together but end with cooking dinner. We’ll be relying on others to tell us who prepares the best meal.”
“Free food,” Kalt said. “Okay, sure. I can handle that.”
Cyrus smirked. “Not enjoying the Winter Fae cuisine?”
“It’s a little sweet for my liking,” he admitted. “They eat cupcakes for breakfast.”
“I see nothing wrong with this,” I replied as I retrieved my untouched hot chocolate from the end table. “Let’s go to the North Pole.”
“But I made bacon.” Vox waved at the plates. “And real eggs.”
My lips twisted. “True. Okay, breakfast, then cupcakes.”
All my mates chuckled, while Kalt remained unmoved. He clearly didn’t like the idea of going back to the North Pole.
“We have to start the trials today, little queen,” Cyrus said. “But once we’re done, we can take you wherever you want to go.”
“Why today?” I asked before taking a sip of the decadent liquid. It was so, so, so good.I seriously love you,I told Exos.
I love you, too, baby.
“Because we all agreed that it was best to test our endurance and nurturing after a week of pleasuring you. It increases the stakes and makes it more realistic,” Cyrus explained.
“Yes, because we need to make sure we can balance fucking you and raising a child,” Titus added, his trademark bluntness coming out to play. “So the next phase is to nurture a breakable object, stay awake for thirty hours, and then cook a nutritious meal.”
Cyrus nodded. “We’ll be evaluated on all three tests and have that added to our scores from this week.”
“What kind of breakable objects?” I wondered out loud, picking up a piece of bacon to nibble on between my sips of hot chocolate. Weird, yes. But it tasted amazing.
“It’s yet to be assigned,” Titus replied. “And we’re supposed to have an observer for that part, too.”
“True.” Cyrus looked at Kalt. “So you’ll be judging that as well.”
