me who’d thought he was an arrogant asshole when we first met. The me that tended to hide from difficult emotions and relationships. And the me that often felt like I didn’t know what I was doing half the time. He saw it all, and he still looked at me like I was everything.
I couldn’t hold his intense gaze. It was too much. Too real. I glanced away, and the moment broke.
Falin took a step back. “We should . . .” He stopped. His voice was still thick with desire. He cleared his throat, his gaze moving over my shoulder. “That was not a good idea. The queen is in a foul mood. We shouldn’t tempt her ire.”
I gave a jerk of my head that I hoped came off as a nod as I fumbled to put my hands in pockets, which the dress didn’t have. I was still breathing a little too hard, and the corset wasn’t helping. My chest heaved with each breath, my breasts threatening to spill out with each lungful of air. Stupid gown.
“I guess we should go find Lunabella,” I said, stepping back so I wasn’t quite as close to Falin and the possibilities that still seemed to hang in the air between us.
Falin shrugged. “Dugan is watching her. Besides, we can’t confront her here. If she was involved, we could do nothing as all grudges, crimes, and bans are temporarily forgotten during the revelry. If she wasn’t involved, discussing a death during a revelry would be . . . more than just frowned upon.” He sighed. “It might complicate things that she is in the light court, or that might simplify getting an interview with her after the revelry. I’m not sure. Either way, we know where to find her. For now that has to be good enough.”
“Then why send Dugan to watch her?”
“So I could be the one to escort you, of course.” He held out his arm for me to take. “Come on. Let’s enjoy the revelry.”
* * *
• • •
I yawned, stretching my arms over my head and breathing in as much as the constraining corset allowed. Dawn was starting to light the horizon, which meant the longest night was coming to an end, and the shortest day was beginning. It also meant I’d been awake over twenty-four hours.
“Don’t fae ever sleep?” I grumbled, dropping my arms and slumping in the ice-carved seat I was perched on.
Falin glanced over from his own chair. “During a revelry? Some already are.” He nodded toward the edges of the clearing.
Some fae slumped at the great banquet tables, snoring off an overindulgence of pixie wine. Others had bedded down in the snow under the trees, but many of those in the tree line weren’t necessarily sleeping.
The idea of taking a nap in the snow—even enchanted snow that wasn’t particularly cold—didn’t appeal to me. Still, I wasn’t going to be good for much soon. Leaving was always an option, but even if I stepped out now, at dawn, it would be sunset when I emerged. I hated losing an entire day to Faerie. Especially since I’d go directly to bed when I got home. Losing a day and then sleeping all night was like adding insult to injury.
“I have to walk around, or I’m going to fall asleep in this chair,” I said, pushing to my feet.
Falin laughed, but he stood in one smooth motion and extended his arm to escort me.
We wandered. So far we’d dined very well, watched several plays about Faerie history, listened to more different kinds of musicians than I could name, and even danced some more, though not for long because even in the ballet flats, my blistered feet ached. Neither of us had mentioned the kiss we’d shared.
We were passing close to one of the buffet tables when one of the revelers caught my attention. I stopped. I wasn’t sure what it was about the man, but something about the way he stood, or maybe his voice, was horribly familiar to me. His face didn’t look like anyone I knew. His skin was slightly ruddy and his features a little too round to be full-blooded fae, so I was guessing he was a changeling or possibly feykin. And yet there was something that struck me about his face as well, though I couldn’t place it.
When he saw me looking at him, he looked away, turning to a group of revelers beside him that I got a feeling he wasn’t quite