Court of Tricksters: Fae Fantasy Romance (Fae Tricksters Book 1) by S. L. Prater

Author:S. L. Prater [Prater, S. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2023-01-19T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 10

(Night)

When the sun rose over the trees the next morning, Night didn’t return to his estate with his wolves. Instead, he found himself inside the home of the witch Sora Yaga. He laid his forehead down on her wax wood table. Shifting his weight, the curve of his antlers struck the surface with a gentle clatter. The wood was cool along his brow and soothing against his burning eyes. Beyond the narrow windows, the landscape whirled by, but from the inside, Night couldn’t feel the hut’s movement as it lumbered across the province on long chicken legs.

Sora filled a short egg-shaped glass with a coffee liqueur. The color burned amber, reflecting early morning sunlight. It reminded him of the shade of Rain’s eyes, and he groaned, covering his face with his hand. The noise hurt his throat, which he’d made raw carrying on in his wolf form the way he had. He chided himself for behaving like some schoolboy who hadn’t yet seen fifty winters, let alone more than five hundred.

“You say you don’t believe in love,” Sora chuckled, “and yet you look positively lovesick.”

“I’m not lovesick,” he said sourly, then added with sarcasm, “but it pleases me dearly that my philosophy on life amuses you so.”

“It’s either funny or it’s sad, and I’d rather laugh.” She poured another egg-like glass and pushed it toward Masha.

Her familiar had taken the form of a small dragon with black scales. No bigger than a cat, Masha perched on the tabletop beside her mistress’s elbow, her leathery wings and tail tucked in around her.

“Endless witness accounts of being in love are told with regularity,” Sora said to her familiar in a chiding tone as though Night were no longer in the room. “Poets wax on and on about it. Astronomers, scientists, academics, songwriters, playwrights too . . . Some of the greatest minds of the last age speak of love. Apparently, the Lord of the Lunar Court believes all these minds suffer from the same powerful delusion.”

“Shared delusions can be powerful,” he grumbled. He accepted the glass that she pushed at him. He wasn’t in the mood to explain that he didn’t drink alcohol, so he held it between his fingers, turning the glass without consuming it, watching the liqueur throw the light, enjoying the scent of roasted coffee, orange rinds, and vanilla.

Masha dipped her diamond-shaped head into her cup and drank with a long forked-tongue.

“Have you explained to your mate,” Sora said somberly, “the seriousness of the situation? Does she know what’s at stake? Does she understand the mind-bending power a true mate bond could protect you from?”

“She’s clever. She knows war looms close, but no. I didn’t explain about the Seelie queen.” Night stopped turning the glass to meet her large blue eyes. “I know why you think I should have, but . . .”

The look she gave him was surprisingly gentle. “You didn’t want her to say yes to saving the province. You wanted her to say yes to you.

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