Captive of Wolves (Bound to the Fae #1) - Eva Chase Page 0,42

My gaze latches on his face, smiling and so bright. “You’re beautiful. Are all faeries beautiful?”

His glow diminishes at that comment, as if the act of pointing out his breathtaking looks drains some of the power from them. His mouth tightens. Is he mad at me? I didn’t mean to make him mad.

I was supposed to be asking him about something—about the Mists. About fringes. They moved here from a long way away. Here is close to humans.

Is it close to home? What is home, even? I’ve lived in Fae Central for almost as many years as I had where I was meant to be.

For some reason, that realization provokes another laugh. My head lolls in the other direction.

Whitt tsks, his good humor seeming to return. “Never did meet a mortal who could handle their—”

“Whitt,” a voice growls, cutting through the glittery vibe of the moment with a tone so dark it might as well throw a shadow over us.

I crane my neck around and squint to focus. Sylas strides into the pantry, glowering at Whitt and then moving to my side. He looms over me, a mountain of a man. I clap my hand over my mouth, since he’s obviously not happy about something, but a giggle leaks past my palm anyway.

“What have you done to her?” he says. “I told you she didn’t want anything inebriating.”

“She changed her mind,” Whitt replies. His voice has gone strange, with a tone I don’t think I’ve ever heard before. Flat and brittle, as if it might snap if he speaks just a little more forcefully. “She practically begged me for a taste, I assure you.”

“Did she know what she was asking for?”

Whitt is silent for a few seconds. “It didn’t hurt her any. She’s loving it. It wasn’t any of the harsher stuff.”

“That’s not your call to make.”

Sylas descends on me and scoops me up in his arms. “I’m fine,” I tell him, unable to stop myself from grinning. “It was delicious. Now I can fly!”

“I think we’d better fly you up to bed so you can sleep this high off safely, little scrap.” He tucks me against his broad chest and gives Whitt one last glance. “Stay here. I’ve got more to say about this.”

Being carried in his arms feels even closer to soaring. The heat of his chest encircles me, and the flex of those solid muscles against my body sends a deeper tingling through me.

He’s looking after me like he always does. My fiercely stalwart protector. I want to lean into him, drink in the rich earthy smell that wafts off of him and lick that smoky tang off his neck. Mmm.

I shift against Sylas, and he adjusts me so his corded neck is just out of reach. Spoilsport. Instead, I watch the ripples in the wood grain on the ceiling flow by. “I’m not tired. I don’t need to sleep.”

“Then you can just rest until you do need to. I’ll bring your dinner up.”

“Not hungry either. That syrup filled me right up.”

“I can see it did.” His tone is dry. I don’t think he’s angry at me. A jolt of panic shoots through me at the thought that he could have been angry, even though I’ve just decided that’s not the case. Everything is backwards and upside down.

But my body is still light as air. My thoughts bubble around in my brain like fizz in champagne.

“I was trying to be friendly,” I tell Sylas.

“Of course you were.”

We’re in my room—I don’t remember the door opening, but here’s the bed and the window with the sun beaming outside. Sylas shuts it. No flying that way. Not a good idea anyway. I snicker to myself.

Sylas sits me down on the edge of the bed and steps back. The loss of contact sends a pang through me. “Are you going? I didn’t mean—if I made a mistake—”

He chuckles. “If you did, it’s a mistake most of us make at least once.”

“Not you.”

“Even me. Let’s not get into the time I got myself fully drunk on duskapple wine when I was a whelp even smaller than you are. I grew a whole new orchard of emeraldfruit trees before one of my tutors caught me.”

I blink at him in disbelief. “You were never smaller than me.”

That declaration provokes an outright laugh. “It was a very long time ago. And to answer your question, I’m not going quite yet. I came looking for you because I made something for you. I’ll show you