Page 70 of Stolen Threadwitch Bride
“Useful to know.” I scoffed, even as my eyelids drifted shut in slow, heavy blinks.
With a groan, he dragged himself from the bed, and I forced my eyes to stay open a little longer as the encroaching sun painted his naked body with hazy light. The powerful lines of his arms, the muscles of his back, the trim line of his waist and hips.
I must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, the light at the edges of the curtains was brighter and Ly was gone. When I rose, I found a set of my clothes folded on a chair, so I wouldn’t be spotted leaving his room in last night’s gown. I wasn’t even sure I could put it back on without help. On top was a square of paper.I’ll bring you lunch. Ever yours, L.
The warmth of that note clung to me as I dressed, slipped it in my pocket, and crept out the door.
“So it finally happened.” Boyd’s low voice drawled.
Gasping, I turned and found him watching me, arms folded. My cheeks burned, but I had a weapon he didn’t—I could lie. “I needed to borrow—”
“A bed?” He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t insult me with your stories. This was inevitable. Fae men like to enjoy human women. Your curves, your dim little magic, the fact you’ll be dead in the blink of an eye.” He snorted.
Despite my hot face, a deep cold threaded through my bones and my belly, tying me down.
“Of course he bedded you. You’re exotic and unusual. Those soft handfuls of flesh are a fun diversion for any male. You’re nothing more than a novelty.”
I flinched. It was like I’d been punched in the gut—one of the Briarbridge boys had done that once, when Rose had been busy helping her parents with the bakery. I hadn’t been able to breathe then and my lungs refused to cooperate now.
Because Boyd couldn’t lie.
Besides, hadn’t I thought these things before? Those men and women who returned, longing for something they could never regain, pining and fading away for its lack… They were just playthings to fae lords.
And so was I.
“What’s wrong, girl?” He cocked his head, a small, cruel smile edging his lips, glinting in his golden eyes. “Did you think you might actually hold more interest for him than something new and interesting between the sheets for a few nights?” He laughed, canines gleaming as the sound cut through me. “Humans are even more stupid than I thought.”
Arms folding, I hugged myself and something smooth dug in to my breasts. The pendant.
Ly wouldn’t have given that to someone who was just a conquest. A meaningless trinket, perhaps, but not this—he’d had it made for me to give a specific message.
Still, my eyes burned as I turned and made for my workroom, muttering, “You’re wrong.”
He had to be.
An Invitation
Ithrew myself into my work, not bothering with breakfast. I needed that dip and pull of needle in cloth to centre me, distract me. The breeches were almost done and just needed hemming after the next fitting. The jacket and shirt waited on buttons, buttonholes, and hems. Sylvie popped in to check how I was but didn’t stay long.
The sewing bird sat on the edge of the table and my gaze kept skipping over to its blue-violet steel as I lined up the buttonhole cutter. Like the pendant, Ly wouldn’t have given it to me if I was only “a fun diversion.” It had belonged to his mother: it meant something to him.
Imeant something to him.
Didn’t I?
A mere human, pathetic and weak. Already dead.
Gritting my teeth, I smacked the mallet into the buttonhole cutter.
“Imagining that’s a sluagh or Goren?”
My heart leapt when I found Ly standing in the doorway. Had he come to tell me what Boyd had said was true or…?
Head tilting, he entered. He held up a tiered cake stand full of sandwiches and sweet treats. “Hil said you didn’t appear for breakfast, so I thought you might need an extra large lunch.” The smile he gave me, gentle, warm—it wasn’t a smile that said Boyd was right.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to go to the table where he deposited the cake stand as a tea set winked into existence. If he had come to let me down gently, going over there would mean this was all over when it had barely started.
“Ari?” A flicker of a frown appeared between his eyebrows, and he stalked closer. “Are you all right?”
