taken it to mean that I was cold. Because somehow, his arms were suddenly around me. He pulled me close to his hard chest. His body was so warm, like a radiator that had been left on for hours. Trembling, I had the strange urge to curl up against him and breathe in the scent of fire and rain. Here we were, in strange and potentially dangerous territory, and yet I’d never felt safer than I had in this moment. As if nothing in the world could go wrong, not when Liam’s arms were wrapped around me. Swallowing hard, I glanced up to his eyes, half-terrified to see what I would find in them. His gaze burned.
“All better now, darling?” There was an undercurrent of amusement in his voice, and it snapped me out of my strange reverie.
I pulled myself out of his arms, stumbled back, and hurriedly began to straighten my cloak. There was nothing wrong with it, of course, but I was suddenly in desperate need of something to do with my hands. Anything to distract me from Liam’s smirk. From his hands. From his eyes.
“The cloak will do, thanks. You don’t need to paw at me to keep me warm.”
His lips quirked. “I wasn’t pawing at you. Don’t believe me? I’m happy to give you a true demonstration of what pawing means.”
My entire face flamed, which succeeded in doing two things. First, I wasn’t cold anymore, so that was great. Second, Liam could see just how much his words had gotten to me. That wasn’t so great.
“Like I said.” Liam winked. “Keep on blushing, my beautiful bride.”
“I’m not blushing,” I said through gritted teeth. “And I told you, stop calling me darling!”
Liam ignored me. Instead of responding, he opened the door and ushered me inside the tavern. Rows of lights were strung up across the ceiling, and candlelight flickered on every table. A soft music whispered out from invisible speakers. It was an eerie type of folk music mixed in with a clanging piano that sounded out of tune. I tried my best not to wrinkle my nose. I definitely wasn’t a fan.
“Care to sit?” Liam pulled out a wooden chair for me at the nearest table, pretending as if he were some sort of gentleman, but I knew the truth. He was anything but.
Still, I followed his lead and settled onto the chair. It was hard and somewhat spiky.
“Now, what would you like to drink, darling?” he asked with a wink, speaking loud enough for his words to drift toward the tables around us.
I leaned forward and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Vodka tonic?”
I mean, it was the only drink name I knew.
He let out a low chuckle. “I’m afraid that’s not an option. Don’t worry. I’ll find you something you like. Now, why don’t you drop back your hood and make yourself comfortable while I grab us a couple of drinks?”
I frowned, but I kept up my end of the bargain and did what he asked, pushing the hood away from my face.
“Good girl,” he murmured. “Don’t want to hide that pretty face of yours, now do we?”
In spite of every desire otherwise, my stupid face flushed again.
As soon as he was gone, I began to look around the room. I didn’t get very far though because another fae male took Liam’s seat within seconds. With a sharp gasp, I scooted back in my chair. This fae was...well, he reminded me a lot of Rourke, only...somehow, this one was even more unsettling.
In fact, I’d take it past unsettling and go for flat-out creepy.
His lips were a strange orangey-red, split into an eerie grin that showed off two rows of very pointed teeth. Was he a different kind of fae? None of the Autumn fae I’d met at the Academy so far looked anything like this. His eyes were even a reddish hue, the color of old, dried blood.
I shivered when he leaned forward and traced a long, sharp nail across the surface of the table. “Why would a pretty little thing like you be here with a Summer fae?”
“He’s a half-breed,” I blurted out, though I wasn’t entirely sure that was the truth. It was what Liam had told several fae along the way here, but I had no idea if it was a lie meant only for us to gain access.
“Even worse,” he sneered. “Surely you would be better off with a pure Autumn fae such as myself.”
“I ah...” Desperately, I cast my