Page 87 of Beyond the Faerie Gate

“You’ll teach me? But aren’t you…” Busy fighting a war, stopping a siege, and apparently uniting several armies in my name?

He raises a single eyebrow. “Aren’t I what?”

“I just assumed you’d be busy.”

Florian snorts, shakes his head, and starts riding again. “No.” He doesn’t offer any further explanation before he turns to the knights who remain with us. “To your posts,” he orders. “And be quick about it. The break is over.”

With groans and mutters of disappointment, they disperse, bowing to me as they go. One of the twins—I’m sure it must be Cailu—risks giving me a wink, only to find Lore on the back of his horse, a blade at his neck.

“Mine,” the redcap growls the single word through his sharp teeth.

Oh Goddess, that should not affect me like it does.

“Lore,” I murmur, trying to placate him. “He didn’t mean anything by it.”

Drystan scoffs, voice cold as he replies. “Then he shouldn’t have done it.”

I ignore him and do my best to shimmy from Blizzard’s back, but Drystan’s hand grabs my arm, keeping me in place.

“We had a discussion about getting in between fighting fae males already. And that is not how you dismount a horse.”

“How do I stop Lore killing him?” I growl right back, shocking him.

“You don’t.”

I turn back to Jaro, eyes pleading, but he just shrugs.

Great. No help there. I thought he and the knights were friends. Even the other twin doesn’t intervene.

“Lore, please,” I beg. “Don’t hurt him.”

The redcap doesn’t even look back at me. “For how long?”

How long? “Ever?”

Lore, apparently dissatisfied with my answer, digs the blade in deeper.

Goddess, I’ve got to do something.

“If you leave him alone, I’ll—”

I blink, and he’s back on his horse, directly beside me, staring me in the eyes. “A bargain?” He grins, and it’s a smile full of sharp teeth. “Ooh, pet, you have no idea how tempting that is. What’s a dead knight’s life worth to you, then?”

“My lady,” Cailu objects. “It’s not necessary.”

I wave him off, keeping eye contact with my redcap. “What do you want?”

“I want you to let me kiss you,” he answers, without hesitating. “As many times as I want. Whenever I want.” His voice drops an octave, becoming a private whisper. “Wherever I want.”

Jaro growls. “You push too far, unseelie.”

My body doesn’t think so. No. Muscles deep inside me clench on the heels of Lore’s answer.

“I’ll stop if she asks me to,” Lore retorts.

“Done.”

All of my men freeze.

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