Love that I feel for a Seelie fae with the sweetest face and kindest heart.
“I reject your proposal.”
Leah’s smile fades like the light at the end of every day. “Howdareyou turn me down. Your father was a disgrace, and your mother was a whore, yet I chose to look past your inferior parentage to see the man you have become, and yourejectmy proposal? I am the chieftain’s daughter. I could have anyone?—”
“Then choose someone else. Someone more deserving than me. Someone whoseparentageis not so beneath you.” I knew others in our clan felt that way about me but never Leah.
How could she think I would want to tie myself to her now that the truth has been revealed?
“And become the laughingstock of camp once more? Absolutely not. You and I will be mated.”
I was hoping to appeal to her rational nature, but it would appear as though Leah Locke has forgotten all reason. “Then I will go to the chieftain and tell him the truth.”
She jerks back, ramming into the cupboard. The skillet she claimed was from me clatters to the floor, barely missing her toes. “You wish to tell my father that you revoke your acceptance of his only daughter’s proposal?”
“I never accepted!”
She rips the skillet from the floor, waving it in my face. “The skillet on my stove says otherwise. Who do you think my father will believe, Ever? You or me?”
Our chieftain might like me well enough, but no amount of affection could compare to the way he feels about his only daughter.
If Leah refuses the truth…
Then I am deep in the shit.
32
“Beware of enemies appearing where friends once stood.”
An Unseelie Fable, Author Unknown
Nia and I race back to the cottage, giggling through the maze of streets that already feel like home. Inside my aunt and uncle’s hushed conversation drifts from the kitchen, but neither of us stop until we are safely ensconced in her bedroom.
“Oh, Kerris. I cannot believe you did that,” she manages between gasps, her color higher than I’ve ever seen it before as she fans her face with both hands.
“Whatever do you mean?” I tease, twisting to give her access to the laces at my back.
Nia tugs at the knot, a smile in her voice. “You, Kerris Dawn, gave an Unseelie warrior a whole damn pie in front of the entire city!”
The corset loosens, falling to the ground so I can step out of it. “I sure did.” And if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.
I motion for Nia to twist around. The ribbon on her corset is tied in a double knot that takes a little work to undo.
“I thought Ronan was going to lose his life.”
She sounds utterly delighted by the prospect, which strikes me as odd considering only a few days ago she was trying to convince me to forgive the man.
“I still cannot believe the wretched way he spoke to you.” Her hair tickles my fingers when she shakes her head. “You should’ve seen Everett’s face when the prince grabbed you. He had murder in his eyes. I was half afraid he was going to run Ronan through. Serves the ass right. He never should’ve touched you like that.”
I trace a finger along my sore wrist, still marked from his iron grip. There will definitely be a bruise come morning. “I’m afraid it’s official: I won’t be the next Princess of Willowhaven.”
Nia whips around, catching both of my hands as her corset falls to the floor. “No. You’re going to be the next Mrs.— What’s Everett’s surname?”
“I don’t know. I never asked.” But when I see him tomorrow night, I will.
“It’s so romantic, isn’t it?” Nia spins me around the room like we’re back at the festival, dancing to a fiddler’s tune. “The way he gave you those flowers. Flowers that happen to match all the others in your room.”
Everything about Ever is romantic. Being around him makes me feel as if I’m floating on a champagne cloud. “He is the most amazing man I have ever met.”