Page 37 of Fae's Mate
Alana simply nods and heads for the door. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts then, but if you want to hash anything out with me, you know where to find me.”
“The library?”
“The library,” she agrees with a grin.
And then she’s gone.
I wander out onto the balcony, looking out over the blanket of orange, red and gold as a light breeze caresses my skin. It really is breath-taking here.
I feel like a ping-pong ball. My two decisions are the rackets, and I am bouncing between the two. On the one hand, I’m a human. I belong in the human realm. It’s madness to be even considering staying, especially for a man—a fae I have just met. Even if he is handsome, generous and sets my heart racing whenever he is near. On the other hand, what do I really have to go back to? Would it be so bad to stay here?
Time is different here. There are no clocks or watches. Everything is gauged by the sun, sunrise, sunset, and midday when the sun is at its highest. How much time passes between those three events, I don’t know… and it probably changes at different times of the year, so I have no way of knowing how much time passes before there is another knock at my door.
Huffing, I plod across the room, wiggling my toes in the shaggy rug as I cross it. I thought Alana was going to leave me to my thoughts.
My heart stops in my chest when I swing the door open and reveal the High Lord stood in the hallway. Today he is wearing a chestnut brown suit, which on anyone else would look awful, but on him… it matches the colour of his eyes, complimenting his lightly tanned skin and golden-brown hair. When the corner of his mouth curls up into a half smile, my core tightens.
For fuck’s sake.
“You weren’t at breakfast,” he tells me, as if I didn’t know, and nods at the tray in his hands.
I hadn’t even noticed he was carrying it.
“Usually you choose fruit for breakfast, occasionally a pastry, so I brought you both... may I come in?”
All I can do is nod, slightly taken aback by how easily he asks me questions now. Stepping aside, I allow him to enter. He walks confidently across the room and places the tray on my bedside table, gesturing for me to eat something. I close the door and head for the bed. Sitting on the edge awkwardly and reaching for the glass of water on the tray. After gulping down half the glass, I reach for an apple and bite into it.
“You are avoiding me,” the High Lord says matter-of-factly.
“No…” I protest, “I mean… yes… sort of. Not you specifically. I just… I haven’t decided and—”
“Seki,” he whispers, coming to stand in front of me. I look at his boots until his finger lifts my chin, so I am looking up at him. His light touch causes my breath to catch in my lungs and my skin to tingle.
“I dislike seeing you troubled. There is no rush; until we find out how to open another portal, you do not need to decide.”
The smile he gives me is so warm and genuine, I cannot help but smile back. He releases my chin, and crouches before me so we are eye to eye. “In the meantime, I hoped we could spend some more time together?”
My stupid heart flutters at the thought of it.
“What did you have in mind?”
He looks pensive, but I doubt he is only now considering his options.
“When you first arrived, you told me you owned a bakery. Did you bake because you had to or because you enjoyed it?”
“Because I enjoyed it,” I answer honestly.
“Then perhaps we could bake something?”
“We?”
“Well… you, I could assist.”
I stifle a giggle. “The High Lord of the Autumn Court wants to spend his morning baking?”
“The High Lord of the Autumn court wants to spend his morning with his…. I wish to spend it with you.”
He was going to say ‘mate’. A brief flash of guilt fills my stomach, but I push it aside—he wants to spend his morning with me, and that makes me giddy.
