The Starlit Prince: A Standalone Fantasy Romance (Secrets of the Fae) by C. F. E. Black

Author:C. F. E. Black [Black, C. F. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hill City Press
Published: 2023-09-25T16:00:00+00:00

24

Talia

Rafael hefted me over his shoulder. I giggled as I bumped awkwardly against his back. He smelled like cloves and oranges, and I couldn’t exactly remember why he’d stabbed that other man. I thought the flower carriage was going to take me home. I wanted so badly to go home.

My husband crunched through a tangle of thin, thorny branches, then bumped up the front steps of his house. It was a mansion, and it was my home. I was home. The man with the flower carriage had brought me home. Or maybe I’d never left. I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten outside in the first place.

Rafael set me down inside the shadowy archway, his hands sliding up my ribcage. Giggles burst from my mouth. He kicked the door open and slung me over his shoulder again.

“Wee!”

He snorted in annoyance.

“He said you were dangerous, but this is fun.” I was tired of holding my head up, so I let myself jangle uncomfortably against his back. I felt lightheaded.

We walked down a long, checkered hallway, up two steps and through a paneled drawing room, down two steps and back onto checkered tile until we crossed a familiar hallway that led to my quarters. As my eyes drifted closed, I focused more intently on his intoxicating smells, like fear. I smelled fear on him.

My head snapped up. Wait, how could I smell fear? What did fear even smell like?

He stopped at a lovely door painted with purple flowers. The carved trim looked like vines that had been painted to appear covered in frost. Holding my legs with one arm, he knocked with the other.

“Put me down,” I grumbled. His insistence on carrying me like a sack of potatoes was giving me a headache.

“Hmph.”

“I can stand.”

He tilted forward and placed me on the floor, one arm still holding most of my weight. He appeared entirely disinterested in the way my body was pressed to his side, but I couldn’t ignore it, even though my head throbbed and I had no idea why I wanted to laugh at everything.

Everence opened the door and sucked in a quiet breath. “What did you do to her?”

Rafael grunted again. “He spelled her. They were already at his carriage.”

Everence stepped aside, and Rafael guided me into the darkened sitting room. The only light came from a fire crackling in the hearth—odd for summertime. As we stumbled into the room, chilly air swept over me. I shivered, but that only made me giggle. “It’s freezing in here!”

Rafael frowned, his mouth so close to my ear that I felt his warm breath tickling my skin. “She’s part winter,” he said, nodding at Everence.

I glanced up at the blonde woman, who shrugged and pointed toward a low sofa.

Rafael’s hand cupped the back of my neck, and before I knew what was happening, he had tilted my entire body backward, onto the couch. For the briefest moment, I stared into his dark eyes, looking for that flash of amber I’d seen in Puerta.

He coughed and stood but kept his eyes on me.

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