Prince of Cats - Tasha Black Page 0,4

move, he could see the fear and desperation in her eyes.

He glanced at the baby.

His baby.

It was a fine, healthy child. She had every right to want to protect it. He would just explain everything to her, that was all. There was no reason for her to be upset. He would explain, and then she would understand.

Then he would take the baby and leave, and he would never see her again.

And with the child in his possession, he would have someone else to love.

Perhaps the woman would stop haunting his dreams.

“Fear not, human,” he said, keeping his tone smooth and modulated. He prayed all his sappy emotions would stay firmly in his chest and not escape his lips. He didn’t want to sound like some lovestruck mortal.

She blinked at him, and a single tear escaped her eye and traveled down her cheek.

He closed his eyes and fought the urge to scoop it up with a finger, taste the salt of her pain.

“You may not remember me,” he said lightly. “But I fathered that child. I have come to claim him so that he may take his rightful place on the throne in my world. He is a very important baby, perhaps the most important fae child in centuries.”

Her eyes were wide with terror and he could sense her fighting against his magic with all her will.

Tears streamed freely down her cheeks, wetting her face and dampening the collar of her shirt.

Against his better judgement, he stepped closer and stroked her cheek.

The touch sizzled through his blood and he closed his eyes against the pleasure that surged through him. He had not tasted such sweetness since the last time they met.

What if I don’t go back?

What if I stay here with the woman and child, hidden away somewhere in this realm, with none of the problems of the Autumn Court at my feet?

Pain shot through him and he opened his eyes to see that she was biting his finger.

He wrenched his hand away, cursing.

She should not have been able to fight his spell enough to do that. Her will was strong.

He grudgingly admired her fierceness, even as he sucked on his wounded finger.

He moved to the crib and looked down at his sleeping son.

The sight took his breath away.

Looking in through the window from the tree outside earlier, he’d had eyes only for the woman.

Now he was hypnotized by the beauty of his son.

The boy had dark hair, like his, and long dark lashes kissing pillowy, pale cheeks.

Killian’s heart threatened to shatter.

But there was no time to moon over the child.

He slid his hands under the warm little body as gently as he could and scooped him tenderly into his arms.

The child whimpered and then buried his sweet face into Killian’s neck.

Killian felt it - the shimmer of magic that assured him the child was his.

And if the babe had magic, he could serve as an heir to the Autumn Court.

Turning back to the woman, Killian noticed the letters on the wall spelling out a name.

KIERAN

He smiled to himself.

For all her fear and fury, the woman had named the child with a name of his people, and one similar to his own.

“Kieran,” he whispered to the downy head.

He went to the window and then turned back to the woman.

Her eyes were pure agony.

Guilt threatened to split him in half. Having held the child, he now understood some portion of the desperate need the woman felt to protect him.

This was as it should be. She had fulfilled her duty well and her watchfulness had ensured him a healthy heir to bring back to faerie.

Any guilt he felt at not informing her of her role in the bargain needed to be pushed aside. The child was too important for Killian to succumb to such soft-hearted nonsense.

Little Kieran was going to save two kingdoms. He was more important than the woman, more important than Killian, more important than anyone or anything.

His fate was already decided.

Outside, lightning flashed, followed by a boom of thunder as rain began to streak down the window.

“After I go, you will be unfrozen,” Killian told the woman gently. “Your fate will be yours once more. You have served me well. The boy is everything I could wish. Trust me when I tell you that he will have a better life than anything you could have given him, or even dreamt of. He will have a place in history. Know this, and be proud as you go on to live your