Fae Isles 0.5 - Heart of Silk and Shadows by Marshall Lisette

Author:Marshall, Lisette
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-05-01T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 9

How he ever managed to pull his hands off her, Agenor didn’t know. How he managed to watch her vanish inside that gods-damned house without tearing down the walls and dragging her out again, into his arms, into his bed … If not for that single venomous sentence she’d thrown into his face, he wouldn’t have been able to.

But her words wouldn’t leave his thoughts against the silence of the night. Selfish lovers, from all I’ve heard.

He was not going to confirm her worst opinion of him all over again.

Which was probably selfish in itself, with that warped way the bargain worked – being selfless only for her good opinion of him. He didn’t care. Let him be bound to help her; that was the least of his problems. Bargain or not, he wasn’t going to give her a reason to accuse him of manipulating her, of seducing her only to get his fill. Not even if the alternative was returning home like this, his mind a hazy mess of maddening want, his body pulsing with a reckless, primitive need he hadn't felt since the War of the Gods started and his life turned into a never-ending song of bloodshed and duty.

His fist would have to make do. At least until he’d figured out where they stood now, what exactly had changed between them with an evening of both too much honesty and not nearly enough of it.

It’s just politics.

And yet … was it?

He flew too fast, too recklessly, and landed on his own small balcony with such speed he nearly sprained an ankle from the impact. Just politics. Which had been true of much of her life, he understood that now – as true as the colourlessness of his own. It was the truth about Russ, the truth about her calculated interactions with her neighbours, the truth about the letters she’d left between his shirts. It may even be the truth about him. Much of what she said and did was easy to explain if he was simply a tool to her, the first and only fae ruler forced to take note of the humans’ predicaments on the island.

But he’d seen those glimpses of softness on her face in the few unguarded moments where she forgot to be furious. Had felt her come apart in his arms.

His arousal flared again, unhindered by even the familiar, colourless sight of his bedroom.

What was she doing to him? He’d never been one to lose his mind over anyone. As much as he’d enjoyed his time with some of his past lovers, they’d always come second to work and matters of state – sensible, mutually beneficial affairs that lasted a few years and then dissolved as amiably as they had started. Following all the rules. Meeting all his expectations. Just as he’d thought he wanted, simple and reliable and …

Tedious.

And now a pair of cold blue eyes was enough to send him spinning like an infatuated youth.

With a joyless laugh he tore

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