Page 71 of Don't Bait Me (Nora Jacobs 3)

Um… I’m not sure where he’s going with this or what it has to do with me, but it’s intriguing, so I let him tell his story while I scan the crowd around us.

“The queen had her king. She had an heir. She even had a handful of lovers on the side already. But I was dangerous, and that excited her, so she asked me to swear my fealty to her and become her sworn lover.”

I frown at that. “But she was your queen. Didn’t that mean she already had your fealty?”

Illren shakes his head. “It’s different. I was born in the Winter Court, which automatically made me her subject, but swearing your fealty, saying the words out loud to an individual, is a wholly different thing. It’s a binding contract. If I’d sworn my fealty to her, I would have been her servant—her slave. I’d have been compelled to always do as she pleased.”

I try to ignore the fact that he’s now technicallymyservant,myslave. “You’re attracted to powerful fey. The queen must be one of the strongest. I’m surprised you didn’t go for it.”

Illren cuts me a glance. We reach the bar, and he pulls out a stool for me. “The Winter Queen is powerful and beautiful, but she’s cold. Cruel. She didn’t want a lover; she wanted a toy. A sexual plaything. I would never have been anything but an object to her. You will be different.”

I have no idea how to respond to that. Luckily, the bartender interrupts us, so I don’t have to say anything. “Vodka tonic,” Illren says.

“Your best Bourbon,” Terrance says, joining us at the bar on my other side.

The bartender waits for me, and I shake my head. “Sprite for me, thanks.”

The woman gives a quick nod and fills our orders. When we have our drinks, we all turn around with our backs to the bar so that we can see the casino floor in front of us. We sip quietly for a second before Illren says, “It’s in a siren’s nature to love her men.Allof her men. You will eventually care for me as much as the others. And as for me, I have been wandering all these years, never taking a mate, waiting for something I didn’t know I was searching for until I found you.”

That would be the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me, if he weren’t a near stranger. “You mean until you learned what I was,” I correct him.

Illren immediately shakes his head. “Not so.” He takes another sip of his drink. “I was intrigued by the rumors of you, as were most underworlders in this city. I watched you at the club long before we met.”

I shoot him a sideways glance over the rim of my glass. “Well, that’s creepy.”

Illren shrugs. “An assassin always studies his mark before making a move.”

“Still creepy.”

“I liked what I saw, Nora. I would have approached you eventually.”

“And I would have turned you down.”

Terrance snorts, and Illren smirks. He continues on, ignoring my quip. “After our phone conversation, when you refused to be intimidated by me, I knew I had to have you. I did what I did because I could not let you pass me over.”

I set my glass down on the counter and shake my head. “I’m a shiny new addition to the underworld scene, that’s all. You’re curious and needed to see what all the hype is about, but I’m not that special. You were too impulsive. Too proud to let a woman reject you. And now you’re stuck with me forever.”

Illren turns to face me, leaning against the bar, and for the first time since we entered the building, I have his complete attention. “I am anything but impulsive. I can’t afford to be. Everything I do is calculated. I would not swear fealty to the Winter Queen—the most powerful creature in all of Faerie, who could easily have ordered my death—but I bonded myself to you in order to secure a relationship with you even if it is only as servant and master. That should prove to you how serious I am about this.”

His violet eyes, so unnaturally bright, stare relentlessly, piercing me to my core. They scream of his seriousness, but I’m not ready to accept him. “Or,” I say, “it just proves that I don’t have control of my song yet, and you ended up under my spell.”

Illren’s smile turns surprisingly soft. It’s stunning and makes my breathing hitch. “I can think of no place I’d rather be,” he murmurs, taking my hand in his. “Entranced by you or not.”

He’s still staring at me, silently urging me to accept him. To accept the type of relationship he’s offering. To have him as more than a servant. His thoughts are just as intense as his gaze. He’s desperate to form a meaningful bond with me. He’s been alone for nearly a thousand years. As the Winter Queen’s personal assassin, people feared him. The women he was with were either naïve of his profession or thrill seekers. He’s never made a sincere connection with a female before. Never thought he would. He wants this. Wants me.

“Agreed,” Parker murmurs, startling me from the trance Illren caught me in.

I pull my hand from his. “What?”

“We all feel that way, Nora,” Oliver says.

“Even if you did lure us to you, it makes no difference. We’re happy to be with you,” Parker says.

Rook clears his throat and says, “Without you, I would still be pining for my deceased mate. Most wolves don’t recover from the loss of a mate. You’ve made that possible for me.”

“It takes a lot for a vampire to form strong, emotional attachments,” Parker says. “Without you, I wouldn’t know love.”

“I would be alone,” Terrance chimes in gruffly. “A grumpy old troll without a family.”

---