probably have been too perfect to be truly gorgeous if it weren’t for the slight unevenness of his nose, which looked like it had been broken at least once.
He looked younger than most of the Fae I’d seen, though he was older than me. I wondered if he had a baby face, or whether he was really a Fae teenager. I supposed there was such a thing, even though Fae adults became effectively ageless.
He broke into a crooked smile, and I realized that I was staring at him like I was some twelve-year-old meeting the Jonas Brothers. I mentally shook myself by the scruff of the neck and managed to get the covers out of the way. My bare feet didn’t much like the cold stone floor, but I wasn’t about to take my eyes off the Fae long enough to put my shoes and socks on.
“Who are you?” I asked when he just stood there grinning.
“My name is Ethan, and I’m here to rescue you.”
O-kay. Maybe I was dreaming after all. The fog in my head thickened as I tried to figure out which of my million questions I should ask first.
Ethan was still grinning. Guess he was really enjoying my witty dialogue. “Unless you find your present accommodations to your liking and wish to stay.”
“Just grab her and let’s go,” said a girl’s sharp voice from the other room. I couldn’t see her with Ethan blocking the doorway. I wondered where Lachlan was.
Ethan cast an annoyed glance over his shoulder. “I’m trying to show some courtesy,” he said. “You have heard of courtesy, haven’t you?”
The girl called him a couple of names I won’t repeat, and I felt a surge of disappointment. Despite the less-than-friendly exchange, there was a familiarity to their dialogue that suggested they were pretty chummy. Then I rolled my eyes at myself. Why on earth would I care?
Ethan turned his attention back to me. “We really should get going. We haven’t got much time.”
I managed to tear my eyes away from him to pull on my socks, thinking furiously the whole time. Was there any reason I should go with this guy? (Other than that he was a hottie, that is.) I had no idea who he was or why he wanted to rescue me—if he really was trying to rescue me—and Aunt Grace had warned me I was in great danger. Of course, I trusted Aunt Grace about as far as I could throw Lachlan.
I bit my lip, stalling by retying my shoelaces. I’d thought to myself earlier that if I wanted to escape, I’d need an accomplice. Had fate finally taken pity on me and sent me exactly what I needed? Or were Ethan and his girlfriend the real bad guys? Just because he was gorgeous didn’t mean he wasn’t rotten to the core. Then again, if they were the bad guys, I wasn’t going to have much choice in the matter. There were two of them, and only one of me. Maybe I should try screaming?
Ethan took a step closer. “You’ll want to come along with us quietly,” he told me, and there was a hint of warning in his voice. “If we had more time, I could gently persuade you that you can trust us, but that will have to wait until we get you out of here.”
I glared up at him. Somehow, he didn’t look quite so hot anymore. I jumped when the girl entered the room and shoved Ethan aside. She was also Fae, and she looked even younger than Ethan, maybe even my age. If she’d had that distinctive bump on her nose, she’d be the female version of Ethan, with the same long blond hair, slim build, and light-colored eyes.
“Hey!” Ethan protested as he stumbled, but the girl ignored him, muttering something under her breath as she advanced on me.
I decided now would be a good time to scream after all, but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. Either I’d just come down with the world’s most sudden case of laryngitis, or the girl had just cast a spell on me. I decided that put her and Ethan firmly in the “bad guy” column. I tried to dodge past her, but she grabbed my arm. She was willowy thin like a supermodel, but she certainly wasn’t weak. My struggles made the cameo slide under the collar of my shirt. It was hot again, and I would have tried to move it away from my