Taken (Fae's Captive #5) - Lily Archer Page 0,30

your queen to free me.” She draws her brows down into an overdone glare. “And you said it with a snarl.”

My lips curl at the memory. “You abused me with salty language first. Remember? I told you I’d come to set you free, and you cussed me for a liar and told me to go straight to the Spires. Or did you forget that part?”

She shrugs and looks away. I don’t like ambivalence from her. It never bodes well. Sharp words and raucous laughter? That’s her. A shrug of a shoulder, a noncommittal word? Something’s wrong.

“Why didn’t you believe me?” I move closer and drape an arm across her back. “When I told you I’d come to free you, why did you call me a liar?”

“How long are we going to rest here?” She closes her eyes, hiding from me.

I can’t let her get away with it. “As long as it takes for you to talk to me.”

“I’m talking.”

“You know what I mean.” I swipe a smudge of mud from her cheek but manage to just add more. We’re covered in muck from head to toe, but at least the Grim Eagle had to find its lunch elsewhere.

“I don’t know why.” She breathes out a long sigh that speaks to a deeper sort of tired. One that doesn’t go away with a brief rest. “I suppose because it was completely ridiculous to think that anyone would come for me.” Her gaze meets mine. “You don’t know what it’s like. Being a slave. Being a changeling. The things my master did to me …” Her voice fades, her eyes looking through me, perhaps seeing her past.

I want to take her pain and sink it to my deepest recesses, to keep it there for her and guard it so it can never hurt her again. But that isn’t the nature of damage. Some experiences leave scars. Some are so deep they form grooves that we’re damned to re-tread, to continue gouging out the same sad path that was set for us by another.

She clears her throat. “So, no, when you said you were there to free me, I assumed it was some cruel trick. Who would free a changeling? Especially a high fae like you. Who would care what happens to a slave, a human that was nothing more than a snack for Granthos’s pets?”

Killing him so quickly will forever be a regret. I should have made him suffer, made it slow. Instead, my magic spoke for me, obliterating him from the face of Arin.

“I’m sorry.” I lean closer and press my forehead to hers. “For everything. How I spoke to you, how I pushed you away. I am a bit … gruff, I suppose. I know I can be difficult. At least, Leander tells me that often. Rigid and unyielding on my principles, and yes—” I sigh. “I am quite fond of rules. But with you, it’s different. With you, everything means more. And if I have to break the rules to show you how I feel about you, then that’s what I’ll do.”

“You’re only saying that because of your mate bond.” Her deep brown eyes turn sad, the depths welling with tears that she doesn’t allow to fall. “You don’t believe it. Not really. If you weren’t constrained by the bond, you wouldn’t give me another look. That’s why you pushed me away. You don’t care for me. It’s just the bond forcing you to.”

A kick to the bollocks would hurt less. Have I been too adept at hiding my intentions? That ends now. I grab her and pull her so she lies on top of me, the crown of her head brushing the twisted roots above us.

“What are you d—”

“Listen to me, changeling.” I hold her still, though her wriggling is rather pleasant against my thickening cock. “Listen.” I lock my gaze with hers. “You didn’t let me finish earlier.”

She bites her lip, and I suspect it’s the only way she can keep herself from popping off to me. Impertinent changeling, she of the sexy invective.

“When I first saw you, I wanted you.”

“Wanted me?” Her eyes narrow. “What do you mean by—”

“Shall I put a finer point on it?” My blood rushes through me, everything inside me focused on everything inside her.

“I think you have to.” Her gaze strays to my lips and a hint of mischief flickers in her eyes. “In layman’s terms so I can understand.” Her heart thumps against my chest, her breath quickening. “I’m just