Page 127 of Beyond the Faerie Gate

I scoff. “You think I’m going to put her in danger?”

“What fucking danger, fairy? It might’ve escaped your notice, but I’m behind bars.”

“Why are you yelling at one another?”

She couldn’t have said the words quieter if she tried, but her voice still cuts through the conversation like a bolt of lightning. I spin on my heel to where she’s standing at the bottom of the dungeon stairs, just out of view of the cells, chewing on her lower lip like she can’t decide if she should be here or not.

The answer is definitely not.

Lore is behind her, and I shoot him a glare. “What?” he raises his hands in a gesture of surrender. “My pet wanted to come and see her dungeon.”

So he obliged her.

Of course he did.

He must read my anger in my expression, because with a wink and a bow, he blinks away.

“Mab told me you were fighting,” Rose whispers, peering into the gloom.

“Don’t take another step.” Caed can’t see her yet, thank the Goddess. He doesn’t deserve to even look at her.

“He doesn’t want you to compare us and realise I’m the prettier one,” the bastard says. “Come into the light, little queen. You can’t possibly appreciate me from all the way over there.”

Abandoning him at the bars, I stride towards her. “My lady,” I begin. “Please, go back to Kitarni. He’s trying to get into your head, and you’ll be playing right into his hands if you do this.”

Rose’s hands are curled into fists around the sleeves of the white dress she’s wearing. She looks so uncertain it makes my heart hurt, but I keep my body between her and the Fomorian.

She shouldn’t be here. This is the last place someone as good as our Nicnevin should ever step foot. As it is, her white dress makes her stand out like a beacon in the gloomy dungeon.

I’ll move if she asks me to, but I stay between her and the threat, always.

“You always let your Guard tell you what to do?” Caed prods, all trace of the anger from before gone and replaced with his usual dry amusement. “Great. That works for me. Let me out of this cell.”

Rose’s eyes sparkle, and the corners of her lips twitch.

No. Tell me she does not find that idiot funny.

“I just want to stay for five minutes,” she murmurs, eyes wide and pleading. “You’re just talking, right? I won’t be any trouble. Please, Jaro.”

My jaw locks, and in my mind I run through all the ways I can kill both Lorcan for bringing her here and Caed for goading her into staying.

But she’s my queen. I can’t deny her. Her violet eyes stare into mine, pleading with me.

“You will stay behind me,” I grunt. “At all times. Do you promise?”

Rose blinks up at me looking adorably confused, “How about beside you?” she offers. “I can’t have a conversation through your back.”

I’m grinding my teeth so hard she can probably hear it, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference to her. She just stands there, staring at me, as if she can’t comprehend why I would want to stand between her and the son of a man who’s declared her his sworn enemy.

She’s not grown up with the Fomorians, Jare. She doesn’t understand why he’s dangerous. Or what they do.

“What happened to his nose?” she asks, and for a second there’s a dangerous fire in her eyes.

Danu is rumbling to life within her tiny body, ready to exact vengeance for the harm inflicted on a Fomorian.

My heart misses a beat.

Shit.

---