Hmmm… Perhaps I’m wrong.
Still, I withdraw another biscuit and hold it toward him.
To my shock, he stretches out a large hand and takes it from me. His hands aren’t hairy at all, nor are they covered in warts. Besides being that strange green-gray hue, they’re just like mine.
Just like mine if mine were gigantic.
He brings the biscuit to his nose and sniffs. His nose wrinkles once more even as he breaks the biscuit in two and pops one half into his mouth. The others watch attentively as he chews. There’s something oddly sensual about the flex of his jaw and bob of his throat when he swallows.
I truly must be losing it. Whoever heard of someone having an attractive throat? My smile tightens as I meet his steady gaze, the onyx pools of his irises threatening to pull me under, an ocean of ink and darkness.
The one who whispered tries once more to reach into the box, but the leader swipes the box from my hand, twisting around with a deadly glower aimed at his fellow Unseelie. The most heinous noise rumbles from his throat, somewhere between a growl and a snarl.
The hairs at the back of my neck lift, and goosebumps prickle my arms.
The others back away, hands tucked behind their backs once more, casting wary glances my way until it’s only the leader and me standing at the well, him clutching the box of biscuits to his chest as if he’s a dragon guarding treasure.
The feral noise stops, and the others take to their mounts.
After a beat, the leader turns back to where I wait. His endlessly dark eyes lower to mine, and my heart starts to race the same way it did the week before when I thought he saw me from across the square.
Something stirs deep within me. Not in my heart, but in my soul. A flash. A spark.
Heat spreads through my veins.
My tongue darts over suddenly dry lips. His eyes sharpen like blades as he tracks the movement.
What would it be like to kissthisman?
The errant thought is enough to make me stumble back.
His gaze drops to the biscuits and then he twists to look at his unicorn. I wait for him to thank me, to say anything at all just so that I can hear his voice.
I bet it would be deep.
I bet it would rumble like that throaty growl.
I’m left wanting as he turns on his heel and stalks back to his mount, the muscles of his back shifting and rippling with each step. I watch with my heart in my throat as he shoves his boot into the stirrup and throws his long leg over the beastly unicorn, my biscuits still clutched in one hand as he grips the reins with the other.
With a click of his tongue, the animal beneath him springs to life, whipping its horned head toward the road leading out of town where the other Unseelie have all but disappeared. He and the others ride away, the wheels of their carts creaking as they vanish on the horizon.
I wait for the spark to die, but it burns the whole way home.
12
Everett
“Distractions are deadly.”
Surviving the Unseelie Lands, Author Unknown
She came back.
Those words pulse like a second heartbeat through my body.
Whydid she come back?
And why did she give me a gift?