She couldn’t, but Sulia didn’t need to know the details of the conversation. Then again, her mother had been on the Council. Had she known about the possible threat to Felan?
Sulia nodded. “It is very important to connect with family.” She reached out and placed her hand over Taryn’s. “Never feel you are alone at Court.”
The hairs on the back of Taryn’s neck prickled to attention as a shiver like ice scraped down her back. “You do me a great honor.” She clasped Sulia’s hand as if accepting her friendship.
“Nonsense, we women must stick together.” She released Taryn’s hand, then Sulia pulled a bracelet off her wrist. “You didn’t have time to shop, so I bought this for you.” She placed the silvery bracelet in Taryn’s palm. The bells tinkled.
“Thank you. It’s beautiful.” What was this gift going to cost her? “You didn’t have to.”
Sulia’s smile grew wider. “Of course I did. You must tell me more about the mortal world. I have many questions…if only you could come with me.”
Taryn laughed, but it sounded strangled. Did Sulia know? Surely not. They’d been so careful. “I have certainly raised the level of interest in life across the veil.”
“You make it sound exciting. Perhaps we need more mortals at Court.”
“But they can’t eat or drink or dance.” It was all she could do to keep the shock concealed. Fairies couldn’t just bring mortals to Court, not anymore—even Taryn knew that. Was Sulia interested in returning to the old ways? Of sacrifices, worship, and toying with mortals as if fairies were gods?
“They can. They just get trapped here forever. What mortal wouldn’t want that?”
Taryn swallowed. She didn’t want to be trapped here forever and she was fairy, but she had to say something. “Precisely.”
The Queen might be filled with rage and hate, and people might fear her moods, but this woman was far more dangerous. With her white-blond hair and pale pink eyes, she looked so harmless, all sugar, no spice. Yet Sulia was beginning to scare her. She needed to be very, very careful. With friends like Sulia, she didn’t need enemies at Court.
Her gaze strayed to Verden’s back. He acted like he was above the gossip and rumors, but he wasn’t. He knew and heard far more than he let on. Dating in the mortal world was so much simpler. Sometimes she wished she’d been born a changeling. Today was one of those days. There was no way her life could get any more complicated.
Chapter 10
A frisson of danger slipped down his spine and spread over his skin. Every time he crossed the veil with Taryn, he knew he was breaking every rule he should be upholding and every oath he’d sworn to Gwyn, and yet he couldn’t stop. She was the rush that had been missing from his life for too long. A spark that made every breath dangerous. However, instead of playing against her and trying to stay one step ahead of her game, they were playing together. It was them against the Court.
How long could the odds hold in their favor? He pulled her through the doorway and then hard against him, his lips on hers. He wasn’t wasting a second of the time they had together. It had taken too long for him to leave dinner, the Queen watching his every move. They should have waited another night and been more careful, but he needed Taryn.
Her fingers gripped his waistcoat, fisting the fine fabric, but he didn’t care if he went back looking like he’d tangled with a bear. Not right now anyway. He would later, but the part of him that played by Court rules and gave a damn was shut down with the thrill of getting away again, of having someone to get away with—someone who was having as much fun as him.
He cupped her cheek, his thumb smoothing over her skin. Fun had been missing for too long. But even as he looked at her, he knew that this was more than just fun. It cut too deep when she sat with the King. His King. Warning brushed over his skin like a cool breeze. Too many things could go wrong, and she still needed her father’s pardon.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered against his lips.
“Nothing. Let’s move away from the doorway.” As they walked away, he glanced over his shoulder but saw nothing to concern him.
“You can’t lie to me.”
Couldn’t he? He lied to everyone else, including himself. “Why do you keep risking everything by crossing the veil?”
She looked at him for a few heartbeats, as if she didn’t understand the question. “For the same reason you do, I think. At Court I do what is required and what is expected…but here, with you, none of that matters.” She drew in a deep breath and tipped her face to the sunlight filtering through the branches of the trees. “I am just me and you are just you. It’s easy.”
Easy. Was that it? Is that why he was craving these times, because it was easy and he didn’t have to be anyone except himself?
“And if I asked you the same question?” She raised one eyebrow as she moved toward a sunny clearing big enough for him to lay down his cloak.
“I want to be with you and I can’t do that at Court, yet.” Maybe never. He should be making plans, alliances, and working out what he was going to do after the power shift, but he cared less and less. All he wanted was Taryn.
She watched him, as if weighing his answer. “I want you too.” She beckoned him forward.
He used a little magic to gather fallen leaves to soften the ground, then took off his cloak and spread it over. A perfect place to spend a mortal afternoon while Annwyn slept. He sat down and let the tension of Court dramas fade. The weight would be there waiting for him to pick it up later. There would be plots to unravel, the mortal world to watch over, and the Queen to avoid, the same as always. He relaxed onto his back.
Taryn didn’t sit next to him; she sat on him. Straddling him, her dress pooled around her. “Do you know where we are this time?”
“Yosemite.” He only knew the name because he’d had to clear up a Grey problem here a few years ago, maybe ten years ago. It was so easy to lose track of mortal time. Humans and a small gang of Greys looking to make trouble were never a good mix. Those Greys were now much further north and well away from civilization.
She smiled. “I’ve been here before.”
Damn. He’d been hoping to take her to places she’d never been. “I didn’t realize.”
“So you do know places closer to towns.”
“Very few.” And they weren’t the places he really wanted to take her, but she’d asked. “I don’t come across the veil to share you.” He drew her down for her kiss, but he wasn’t just bringing her across the veil for sex—although sex with her was different than the calculated couplings at Court. With Taryn, no one was keeping score and she wasn’t going to screw a deal out of him. And he didn’t want one from her; that she was here was enough. He started undoing her dress, wanting to feel her skin against his.
She pulled the dress over her head and tossed it to the side. His fingers traced over her stomach and around each breast. She shivered and her nipples hardened into tight peaks that needed to be touched. He sat up and took one in his mouth. She arched her back, her fingers digging into his shoulders. He liked the press of her nails. It wasn’t done to leave a mark or prove a point. Her fingers flexed against him depending on what he did, her reactions natural and unforced. She wanted him to know when she was enjoying something, and she responded to his touch. It was as if they made their own magic when they were together.
With a final lick, he released her. But she didn’t release him. Her fingers pushed into his hair, tugging out the binding so his hair fell free; then she tipped his chin up so she could claim his lips. Her hips moved and his shaft pressed against his pants. There was entirely too much fabric between them, and she seemed to agree, her hands sliding under his shirt.