He nodded, shooting me a wink. “It’s a shame, really. There’s a spark in you I like, Norah. You’re brave and feisty. I could have seen us doing well together. In fact, I could have sworn I felt a...” He shook his head and squeezed his fingers tight around the chair. “Nevermind that. Clearly, I was wrong. The Winter Court will be lucky to have you.”
I swallowed hard at the look in his eye. What had he been about to say? He’d felt...something. What? Was it the same thing I felt when I looked at him? But that was impossible. He was just using his magic on me. I was certain of it.
“So, do you think I should be reading up on the strengths of the Summer fae?”
His smile was so bright, it was almost blinding. “You’ve had a hard past few days. I’ll make it easy on you.” He leaned forward and whispered into my ear, sending a swarm of goosebumps storming down my neck. “Summer fae are known for their healing powers.”
I pushed myself up higher on the pillows, wincing when a new blast of pain went through my leg. “Well, that would sure come in handy right about now.” A pause. “The nurse is a Summer fae, right? Why didn’t she heal me, then?”
“Technically,” he began as he shifted closer to the bed, his movements as graceful and purposeful as a lion’s once again, “we’re not to use our healing gifts unless absolutely necessary. It can drain us, you see.”
“Drain you how?” I asked, trying to focus on the conversation rather than how close his body was to mine.
He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “It can make us tired and weak, particularly if the injury is serious. We then need time to recover, which isn’t ideal when we have foes to fight or academies to run.”
“Right.” I sighed and leaned back onto the pillows. “That makes sense.”
He grinned and slid a hand onto the bed, resting it a mere inch from where my thighs were covered by the thin white sheet. “That said, I’m feeling inclined to help you, Norah. You’ve had a tough first week, and it’d be a shame for you to miss any of your classes. Why don’t you and I make a deal? I’ll heal your leg, and you can give me something in exchange.”
Both his words and the tone of his voice sounded full of danger. A flashing red light blazed in my head, blinking furiously in an attempt to stop me from making a very stupid move. Liam didn’t unnerve me as much as Rourke and Kael did, and he certainly hadn’t used me as bait or abandoned me on a cliff to face a Redcap on my own.
Yet.
He was his own kind of dangerous. One that I should probably run far, far away from.
But this damn leg...
I winced at the pain.
Also, I was…curious. I couldn’t help myself. His hand was so close to my thigh. Did that mean he had to touch me to heal me? My skin buzzed with excitement.
I clearly needed to get a grip.
But then I gave Liam a nod with my breath held tight in my throat. “All right. Are you going to touch me?”
Oh god, that sounded far more suggestive than I’d meant. Partially because my voice was practically a strangled whisper.
His smile widened.
Before I knew what was happening, Liam slid his hand underneath the sheet. His fingers whispered across my bare thigh, tracing lazy circles around the bandages that had been wrapped around my wound. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even blink. Blood roared in my ears as every single part of me focused on where his skin met mine.
I felt on fire. Delicious, exquisite fire.
It took every ounce of self-control not to squirm.
“So, would you like me to heal you then?” he said in a teasing voice. “Or shall I remove my hand?”
My breath shuddered from my lungs. “Healing, please.”
It was all I could say, and even those words sounded strained and whispered, like the sound of the wind rattling through the trees.
“Very well,” he murmured. He dragged his fingers from my skin and onto my bandage where he continued to caress my leg. I tensed at the expectation of pain, but none came. Instead, a soothing warmth flooded through me. It felt as though the sun had risen from behind the clouds, beating down on my skin as I soaked up the summer rays. My whole body felt alive and electric. Warm and soothed and free of pain.
That warmth slipped up my leg and built between my thighs. Sparks dotted my visions as I stared up at the ceiling, not daring to look at Liam’s face for fear he would know exactly how he was making me feel. His fingers continued to caress my thigh. Gently, softly. An aching need built inside of me. A need for his touch. A need for…him.
Oh god.
What the hell am I doing?
Was this really how fae healed? Because it felt like a hell of a lot more than that.
“Look at me,” he said in a soft growl.
I pulled my gaze from the ceiling to meet his eyes. His eyes sparked; his thumb swept across my skin. I bit my lip, swallowing down the moan that threatened to escape from my throat. How did this feel so agonizingly good? How did I feel as if I were two seconds away from shattering beneath his touch?
It was the magic, I thought, heart racing in my chest. It had to be the magic and nothing more.
When he finally slid his hands out from under the covers, my chest was heaving. I could feel the imprint of his hand still on my skin. The ache between my thighs burned.
“How are you feeling now, Norah?” he asked with a lazy grin.
“Yep.” I swallowed hard, cheeks flaming. “Pretty sure that fixed it.”
“Good.” He winked, leaned forward, and dropped his voice to a hush. “Now, if anyone asks, I wasn’t the one who healed you. You’re going to make sure I don’t get in trouble for helping you.”
I nodded my head vigorously and tried to find my voice. “I guess I owe you a favor or something, right? What do you want?”
He chuckled. “I have an errand to run that requires a trip to the Autumn Court. I’d like you to accompany me, but you’ll need to pretend as though you’re my companion.”
“Your companion?” My face drained of all feeling, except for the heat that still dotted my cheeks. I wasn’t over the whole healing thing yet. “You mean you want me to pretend I’m your mate? But won’t they know I’m a new changeling at the Academy?”
“The fae I’m visiting do not know about my role here at the Academy, so no. There’s no reason for them to suspect you’re a changeling, nor one who is clearly not of the Summer Court.”
Not of the Summer Court. I needed to remember that. Which was hard after…the whole healing thing. I was still buzzing from his touch, as little as it had been. I wanted more. But he wasn’t my mate, and he never would be. Someone else would. The high I’d gained from his healing magic suddenly dipped. Kael or Rourke would be my mate instead.
“All right, I guess I can do that,” I said with a frown. “But don’t I need to be here for my lessons? I mean, I may have shifted or whatever, but I clearly need as much training as I can get.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday.” He pushed his auburn hair back from his face. “So, you have the day off from lessons. I’ll have you back long before Monday’s training begins.”
“All right, I guess that’s okay, then,” I said, still frowning. “What is this errand anyway?”
“It’s important,” he said. “Trust me.”
Trust him. Ha! That was rich. Not a single one of them had done anything to convince me to trust them. And yet…I wanted to go. It was another chance for some hands-on training. Another chance to learn more about this world.
I would never be able to fight the Redcaps unless I took every chance to learn that came my way.
With a brilliant smile, Liam pushed up from his chair and strode to the door before pausing to hold his finger to his lips.
“Now, remember. I wasn’t the one who healed you.” And then he disappeared out the door with a wink.
The next morning, I snuck out of the Academy just before daylight. Liam was waiting for me in the courtyard. And he was...sitting on a h
orse, one with sleek green-gray skin that rippled as it stomped its hoof on the dewy grass.
I slowed to a stop in front of them and frowned up at Liam’s bonfire eyes. “You didn’t tell me there was going to be horse-riding involved.” A pause as I scanned the horse, noting the green-gray color. Dread pooled in my stomach. “Is this one of those pookas?”
He tipped back his head and laughed before giving his horse’s neck a soft pat. “Sapling here is about as far from a pooka as she can get. Trust me. When you’ve seen one up close, you’ll be able to spot the difference.”
I decided not to tell him I had seen one up close, though in its weird goblin-like form. These fae sure were fond of keeping secrets from each other, of sneaking around, and of breaking the rules. Doing things unknown, things they knew the others wouldn’t approve of. Rourke had told Kael, but he clearly hadn’t filled the others in on how he’d used me as bait, probably because it had been a pretty asshole thing to do.
Though come to think of it...every single one of them would probably do it, too. A thought that didn’t leave me feeling much better about our secret trip to visit the Autumn Court.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “So, then where’s my horse? You don’t expect me to walk the whole way while you get to take it easy.”
He flashed me a grin. “You’re on this one with me, darling. Mates would never take a ride on their own.”
I wasn’t usually the type to have a dirty mind, but there was something so suggestive in the way he said his words. My cheeks boiled under his heated gaze, and I cleared my throat, desperately casting my eyes around for anything at all to look at that wasn’t him.
With a chuckle, he held out his hand. “You’re so easily flustered. Keep it up. The Autumn Court won’t have any trouble believing in our coupling if you keep blushing like that.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not blushing.”
“Then, why are your cheeks so gloriously red? They practically match my hair.”
He yanked me up onto the horse as if I didn’t weigh a pound. My legs slid in behind his, a perfect fit. Timidly, I wrapped my arms around his waist, tensing when I could feel the hard planes of his stomach through his thin shirt. He felt even more muscular than he looked, and that was…that was saying something.
“It’s just warm out here,” I finally said, realizing I hadn’t replied. “It’s summer. You know, the hottest season of the year? Maybe I even have a sunburn.”
I didn’t have a sunburn.
“And you like the warmth?” he asked as the horse took off across the courtyard lawn in a prancing trot.
“Of course,” I said, tightening my grip around his waist as the horse took off. “Who doesn’t? Long, warm nights. Lazy days. Swims that make your muscles ache.” My heart panged at my words. So much of that reminded me of Bree and our trips to the beach. We had gone every year. “Though I guess summer isn’t like that here.”
“Oh, summer is very much like that here,” he said, casting his words over his shoulder. “There’s a small river down the hill behind the Academy. You can go there for a swim anytime you’d like. We train you hard, but we like you to have time off, too.”
“Really?” I peered over his shoulder to see him turning the horse onto a dirt-packed road that led away from the eastern side of the Academy. “What about all the dangerous creatures that we’re supposed to be watching out for?”
“Well, those are easy enough to avoid. Don’t go swimming at night.” His body stiffened. “And get your swimming in while you can. It will be perpetual Winter when you head to your assigned Court in a few years. Not much sunshine there. Just lots of snow.”
“Perpetual Winter,” I repeated, not quite knowing how I felt about that. “You mean, there will be no other seasons there? But...does that mean the Academy is located in the Summer Court?”
“The Academy is located on free territory, which means it doesn’t belong to any one Court. That means it gets to experience all of the fae seasons,” he said. “It’s the best kind of situation for training changelings. Even though you’ll only belong to one Court, it’s good for you to experience what each of them are like…though there are some who would disagree with that.”
“Like who?” I couldn’t help but ask. So far, the whole Court system had felt like a bit of a mystery, but Liam seemed pretty talkative today. Might as well use that to try and wrangle as much information out of him as I could.
“The Autumn Court, for one,” he muttered, his body tensing underneath my arms once again. “They’re all about full separation. They don’t like the Winter Court, and they truly hate the Summer and Spring fae.”
“Then, why do you want to visit them?”
A beat passed. “I suppose I should explain our mission, but you need to promise me that you won’t say a word about this to anyone else.”
My heart charged a little faster. “Why does that sound like Finn, Rourke, and Kael don’t know about this?”
“Because they don’t,” he said, jerking his chin over his shoulder. His gaze locked on mine, so intense that it made me shiver. “Look, I know you’re destined to end up as Kael’s mate, but you aren’t his yet. Can you do this one thing for me and not tell a soul about it? If one day, years down the line, you feel as though you do need to tell Kael, fine. But just not now. Not yet. Okay?”
My heart pounded in my chest, and I swallowed hard. This sounded serious. Yesterday, this quest had all felt like some kind of joke. Like he’d been playing around, almost. Like our mission wasn’t really a big deal.
Now, I wasn’t so sure.
It sounded a hell of a lot like a big deal now.
“All right, I’ll keep it to myself,” I said after taking a deep breath. “But just so you know, you’re kind of freaking me out here.”
“Maybe you should be freaked out.” His voice rumbled beneath my hands. “Before I became an instructor at the Academy, I was a fighter in the army for the Queen. And no, before you ask, it wasn’t for the Summer Queen. It was for Marin, the Queen of all Fae, the one who was assassinated by Viola, the new Queen of Autumn. They kept me prisoner for several years until they decided that I was no longer a threat, only releasing me if I agreed to become an instructor at the Academy.”
My eyes widened. “So you were loyal to Marin?”
He gave a nod. “I was. And because of my connections, I’ve heard word that the Autumn Court has something else planned, though they’re keeping things very hush hush. Only Viola knows what I look like, so I should be able to get in and out without being recognized. Today’s trip will be an attempt to find out what they have planned, and I’ll stand out much less if I have a mate by my side.”
“Something planned...” I trailed off, skin buzzing. “You don’t mean they’re going to try to do something like they did before? Kill another Queen?”
“Well, that’s the question, isn’t it, darling?” Liam said. “If the Autumn fae are planning another assassination, the other Royals need to be warned.”
Chapter Thirteen
It was easy to tell when we moved from the free territory and into the lands of the Autumn Court. The sapling green forest morphed into a reddish brown, the sweet brilliant life of the trees fading into a tapestry of reds and golds and browns. It was beautiful in its own way, though I could tell by Liam’s grumbling that he wasn’t much of a fan.
Several hours after we’d left the Academy, we entered a small village set amongst the autumn trees. There were about thirty buildings in total, all made from the same dark branches that rose high into the sky. Fae bustled about, some carrying baskets of leaves or moss, others chattering in groups. When we approached, a plainly-dressed female glanced up from where she was gathering fallen berries, her long golden strands glistening beneath the dappled sunlight.
Her eyes were quick and intelligent, glancing first at Liam and then to me. “Her I can’t be sure of, but you’re a Summer if there ever was one. State your business.”
“I’m a
half-breed,” Liam said. “Mother was Autumn and father was Summer.”
“Was?” The female arched an eyebrow, dusting her hands on her linen skirt.
I tightened my grip around Liam’s waist, questions piling on top of my tongue. He wasn’t a full Summer fae? He was part Autumn? And where were his parents? What had happened to them? But I pressed my lips together, swallowing the questions down. I knew I couldn’t ask them now, not in front of these fae.
“Both killed when the Courts split,” he replied. “This is my mate.”
She sniffed and gave a nod. “Nasty business that war, but it gave us a better way of life.”
“Aye.” Liam shifted on the horse. His back was toward me, but I had the strange sensation of knowing exactly how he looked in that moment. Smiling, slightly flirtatiously. He was turning up the charm as best he could, and by the softening look on the female’s face, it was working. “Anyway, my mate and I are just passing through on our way to Esari where we’re hoping to find a life and a home for ourselves.”
The female’s golden eyes flicked my way. “Newlyweds then, I see. Well, I guess the city is the easiest place to start a family, but it’s definitely not what it used to be.”
“Oh?” Liam asked, all casually, though I could tell his interest was more than piqued by her offhand comment. “How so?”
“Haven’t you heard? Storms. Sometimes I swear the sky will split in two.” With a sigh, she shook her head and motioned for us to pass. “Go on then. Just make sure you aren’t out and about when the lightning comes, or else it might just strike you dead.”
We reached the fae city of Esari after another couple of hours spent trekking through the autumn woods. I was beginning to think it might be a bit of a reach to assume we’d be back to the Academy by Monday morning’s lessons. It had taken us almost all day to arrive at our destination, and we still needed to round up the information that Liam was desperate to find.
A Dance With Darkness (2020 Ed) Page 11