Page 19 of The White Stag
My parents tried to teach me everything they could, but barring sending me to the Seelie Court to be educated, there wasn’t much they could do. I wouldn’t have been allowed back if I had. Instead, they would have locked me up and tried to brainwash me into being like them.
Reagan was finally still and sleeping. Cyrus watched her with me, and Finnan went to make breakfast. Cyrus looked positively murderous. Reagan sighed and rolled over. The sun shining through the window hit her hair, and I noticed a tint.
“I think her Fae side is coming through. Look. Her hair is turning blue.”
“Her royal mark is coming through, too.”
The outline of a rose was appearing between her breasts. Estrella had one in the exact same spot. Every king or queen in her line had a rose with thorns somewhere on their body. That meant her Fae mark would come in soon too.
Reagan gasped and rubbed her ass against my cock. I needed to be thinking pure thoughts because Cyrus wouldn’t hesitate to cut it off.
“It tastes like something died in my mouth,” she groaned. “Is that vomit in my hair?”
Oh, her puke was all over us. We tried to clean her up as best we could, but I guess we didn’t get it all.
“Oh my god, did I puke onyou?”
Feeling mortified was much better than feeling like death. She could throw up all over me again if it got her back to one hundred percent. Yeah, it was utterly disgusting, and I had a hard time not hurling myself, but I would literally do anything for her.
“Never mind all that. Are you feeling better?”
“My head hurts, my body hurts, I’m naked, and I didn’t even feel this gross when we were living under bridges, and I didn’t know when my next shower was coming. So I’m taking a shower.”
Cyrus looked away when she tried to stand up because we took her straight from the lake and wrapped her in blankets, but he had to act fast. Reagan might have wanted a shower, and she might need one, but she wasn’t doing a very good job of standing on her own. She collapsed as soon as she tried.
Cyrus knew how to behave around naked women. We’d sat in the sauna with Estrella ass naked and didn’t blink. Reagan clearly didn’t care, and the only reason Estrella would take issue with it would be if Reagan did because she grew up in the mortal realm. Reagan wasn’t ashamed, so Cyrus needed to stop acting like her nudity was shameful. I wasn’t saying to stare like a creeper, but he could still meet her eye when she tried to talk to him.
He didn’t really have a choice unless he wanted her face first on the floor. Cyrus caught her and held her up. He looked like he had no idea what to do with her, either. It was kind of adorable. Boogeymen, in general, tended to be terrifying and the cranky pants of the Fae world. Cyrus was no different.
I used to think the only thing that brought him joy was having absolutely no joy in anything except fucking someone’s face up before he killed them if they had it coming. But then Reagan smiled at him for the first time, and she became his weakness.
Cyrus held her up and looked down at her. Hefinallylooked her in the damned eye.
“Easy, love. It’s not over yet. You’re going to hurt yourself if you take a shower. How does a nice bath sound?”
“Amazing.”
“Oisin, can you help her with a bath? Are you hungry, Reagan?”
“I wasn’t after my swim, but now I’m starving.”
“That’s a fantastic sign, love. Oisin will help you, and I’ll go tell Finnan to throw on something for you too. You said some things while you were out, and now I’m keeping a very close eye on Alastair. You should have told us about the conservatorship.”
“Hush,” I said. “She would have told us when she was ready. Go see about that food.”
Cyrus handed Reagan to me, and I carried her to the bathroom. She was already much too thin since Alastair had been practically starving her. I knew Finnan intended to change that, but she barely weighed a thing since she’d thrown up everything she’d eaten yesterday. I was entirely on board with whatever Cyrus was cooking up against Alastair.
I set Reagan on the toilet and started filling the large clawfoot tub. We had the best Unseelie bath products in this bathroom, but I wasn’t going to presume to know what she wanted.
“Oil or bubble bath?”
“Bubble bath. Alastair didn’t like it when I soaked in the bathtub because the door was closed, and he couldn’t barge in on me. When I was twelve, he took me to a gynecologist who fed me this line about how bathtubs would cause internal infections that could kill me. I’m guessing that is horseshit.”
I let out a growl as I poured bubble bath under the tap. If we got to kill Alastair, we would make it long and painful.
“It wasn’t the door that bothered him. Bathing is a massive part of Unseelie culture. If you think this tub is nice, you should see what is in literally every Unseelie household. Communal bathing and sitting in the sauna are big for us. Sometimes, matters of state are discussed in an aromatic bath where everyone is nice and relaxed.
“The Seelie think bathing together is degenerate. They don’t think you should be naked with anyone but your spouse. I’m pretty sure those prudes can’t have sex unless the lights are off and they are under the covers. Alastair didn’t care about the door. He was trying to strip you of anything Unseelie. Up you go. The bath is ready.”
