“Give me a moment,” I mumbled, not wanting Kheelan’s hands on me so early in the morning.
No hope for it, cool fingers started working my hair back through the tangles Falin had carelessly created to bind his hands to my head. I couldn’t move an inch on my own to escape.
Orin’s eyes popped open, lush lashes fluttering as he blinked the last of his sleep off. He was so pretty rolling out of bed that I had to hold back my own sigh, but it sure wasn’t of disgust.
“Good morning, Eve,” Orin greeted, melodic tones nicer than my usual phone alarm.
“Are you feeling better?” I asked Orin.
Falin woke up growling behind me. I elbowed him and smiled sweetly at Orin.
Kheelan dropped my tangled mess of hair with a huff of impatience. “Release her,” he told Falin.
“You can’t expect Eve to bounce out of bed as soon as the sun is up,” Orin rebuked Kheelan. “We aren’t all so uncivilized,” Orin assured me, giving his bed head a shake.
I had never really liked long hair on a guy, but Orin’s mane of blonde was an exception. It was soft and smelled like sunshine as he shook, a warm scent that reminded me of lying down on the lawn and counting clouds go by on a summer’s day. I didn’t know how else to describe it. Probably, it was his magic, although usually, that felt cool to my touch. Smells and feels were different when it came to magic, I guessed.
“Do you want a morning kiss?” asked Falin behind me.
My ass felt fine now but I still remembered what he had done to me. “Not from you,” I coldly shot him down.
Orin laid back down beside me and gently kissed my lips. He had moved slowly as if unsure of his welcome. I would have protested, but I had been caught in his spell as soon as my eyes met his heated look. That was how a guy should look at you when he woke up beside you.
The kiss was short and sweet. I had somehow wrapped my arms around Orin’s neck while he kissed me and as he pulled away and I tried to follow, Falin’s hands tugged back on my hair.
I let go of Orin reluctantly. “You can kiss me every morning,” I said, still feeling the cool tingle where our lips had touched.
“Using magic isn’t fair,” Falin grumbled. He released my hair, so I could finally roll over.
“What magic?” I asked, lying on my tummy and stretching out the kinks. Sandwiching was always hardest on the middle person.
“I’m a fertility Fae,” Orin said.
I flipped around so fast that my head smacked into Falin’s nose. He shouldn’t have been hovering.
“You can get me pregnant?” I said, unable to modulate my voice as the horror suffused it. Was my contraceptive shot going to be enough?
“Not with a kiss,” Kheelan mocked.
“I’m not stupid,” I retorted and stuck my tongue out at him.
“I mostly help females with their ovulation cycles. If we had intercourse, perhaps you would carry, but fertility Fae are quite rare,” Orin explained.
He sounded so matter of fact that I started to calm down. The shot I took was supposed to stop ovulation for three months.
“Besides, we have to wait until you are more experienced as Falin believes you are a virgin and I’m not sure even with magic that I could make myself comfortably fit-”
“Stop there,” I ordered beet red.
Falin was silently laughing it up behind me, his body shaking the bed.
I don’t think I had ever heard someone claim to have a big dick in such a clinical tone. Pass me the plate with the fungi had as much thrill in it as Orin telling me how he would have difficulty stretching me around his massive cock.
“Nobody is having sex,” I cleared up for him since he slept through my announcement last night.
“I fucked you in my dreams,” Falin naughtily whispered.
“That explains her braids,” Kheelan said. “Do you plan on fixing them?”
“I don’t braid hair,” Falin declined.
“I can do it,” Aeric offered. I didn’t see him, but it sounded like he was in the bed on the other side of Falin.
“No,” Kheelan said. “She’s my responsibility today.”
“Then take her and let the rest of us sleep,” Dain’s voice commanded. It didn’t seem to come from the bed. It also sounded extra grumpy this morning.
“I hope your back hurts,” I whispered to Dain as Kheelan scooped me off the bed and carried me out. Dain was lying on the floor on his chest, using his arms for pillows.
“I hope your ass hurts,” Dain responded, not bothering to open his eyes.
“I can see you’re your usual cheerful self,” Kheelan remarked, plopping me on the bathroom counter. Why did they all want to have conversations in my tiny apartment bathroom?
“You don’t know me,” I said to Kheelan as frostily as he usually spoke. “Get out.”
“Dain said-”
“Dain’s sleeping,” I interrupted.
His blue eyes narrowed on me, more like an aqua in the sunlight streaming in from the window. Aeric’s eyes were so blue they were as vivid cerulean as the sky, but Kheelan’s eyes were the colour of the ocean, a bit murkier and complex.
I savoured the knowledge of the little difference between them, not quite the twins they appeared at first. I was building a list, noting that Kheelan was also shorter but more muscled, Aeric had the perfectly layered boy cut to the brutally short, soldier shave of Kheelan about an inch all around, but both had one to a few thin, tight braids that started at their temple and fell to their shoulders behind their left ears. They seemed to change the braids every day.
“What are these for?” I asked, reaching up and tugging on one of Kheelan’s braids now that I was thinking about them. If he had done them himself, then he was competent enough to do mine.
“Elf braids,” Kheelan answered.
“That’s not what I asked,” I said with a harder tug.
Kheelan muttered something Fae, harsh and undoubtedly a curse. He put both of his hands on the counter around me and leaned forward until I had to either let go of his hair and catch myself or end up with my butt in the sink, or I could have wrapped my arms around to embrace him.
“Falin won’t be here to save you this time, Princess,” he whispered while staring at my lips.
I dry swallowed as he watched. “Did Aeric tell you about the handcuffs?” I asked.
“She has iron shackles,” came helpfully from the bedroom.
Kheelan pulled back an inch. Those ocean eyes were looking stormy.
“When Aeric didn’t do what I said, I burned his arm on my car yesterday, over and over,” I said with as much menace as I could manage. I hadn’t even had coffee yet.
“Brat, stop-”
I cut off Aeric before he could reveal my threat for a partial lie. “Did your arm get burned by my car? Yes or no?” I called out.
“Yes, but-”
“Did I do it? Yes or no?”
“Yes, but-”
“See,” I interrupted again. “I can deal with nasty Fae without needing someone else to spank them for me,” I said and smirked.
“Dain said-” Kheelan started and then paused, waiting for me and I rolled my eyes. “- we can leave you alone in the bathroom. It’s the front door he’s barricaded.” He pivoted and left the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him.
He let me waste some of my best threats for no reason.
“I need clean clothes,” I shouted through the door.
“I will procure them,” Kheelan answered. “Get showered because Dain didn’t specify how long we are to leave you alone and I’ve already started timing you.”
I hopped down from the countertop and kicked the door once for good measure. I didn’t want Kheelan pawing through my clothes, especially my lingerie, but I also didn’t want to waste time when he was counting down. Was it ten minutes? Five?
A quick knock on the door when I was in the shower was unexpected. I thought he would rudely burst in here.
“Put them on the c
ounter,” I directed.
“You will brush your hair and leave it for me to braid,” Kheelan ordered.
“Whatever, bossy pants,” I muttered. “Nobody’s going to see my hair in my hoodie, anyway.”
“You have five more minutes. If you aren’t dressed and your hair brushed straight, I’ll introduce your bottom to the brush instead. It hurts more than Falin’s hand.”
Did he really just threaten to paddle me with my own brush?
“Who put you in charge?” I vented, knowing I wasn’t going to really challenge his authority, but needing to hear him say Dain had to give him permission to order me about. It was petty and mean and the only weapon I had left.
“You did, Princess,” Kheelan softly answered.
I dropped my soap and cursed. He was out the door. What kind of answer was that?
The shower was over in record time. I tried to think of it as conserving water. I briskly towelled off and eyed the clothes Kheelan had picked for me. There wasn’t much variety in my shirts and jeans, so those were safe, dark blue wash and a plain, navy t-shirt.
The lingerie I owned never played it safe. The bra he picked was black with gold lace threaded through the full cups, cumulative in a series of stretchy, round, gold bands that gathered at the top and then spread out over my back in two fans ending at the back of my chest strap. Delicate black butterflies were stitched onto the gold bands, frolicking over my scapula. It was custom made and the matching, tiny g-string with a larger butterfly to cover my girly bits barely did its job. I had asked for naughty but cute.
Kheelan would have to imagine what the lingerie looked like on me because I dressed as quickly as possible. I was still running the brush through my hair when he came back in, knocking first.
“That was not five minutes,” I complained.
“Put the brush down and hold onto the sink,” Kheelan ordered.
I slapped the brush down on the countertop and grabbed my porcelain sink with a white-knuckled grip. I would make Kheelan’s life absolute hell today if he started out like this.
Gentle hands swept through my hair and then Kheelan began to sing, soft and lyrical Fae that I didn’t understand but it was so, so lovely. I hadn’t known his voice could sound like that when it normally had a harsh, Germanic accent, although admittedly, the guttural tones were more pronounced when he was swearing or yelling at me, or both at the same time.
He patiently divided my hair and began to braid. I closed my eyes and let his song wash over me, soothing my nerves. When I opened them again, I had a full head of ebony Fae braids instead of the few Aeric had given me. They were tiny, twisted braids in fishbone style that came tight to my scalp and then were collected at the nape of my neck, twisting in a bun that tucked into itself and left the ends free to trickle down my upper back. I turned my head this way and that to see the full effect, relaxing my grip on the sink.
I looked delicate and romantic, a faint blush touching my cheeks. What had Kheelan done to me?
“The Marks are beautiful on your skin,” Kheelan said, leaning over me to brush his lips against his own Mark. I felt it tingle with awareness.
“I have the nicest hickeys in town,” I said sarcastically, voice tighter than it ought to be when I was joking. I blinked at my image and the mocking tone disappeared as I added, “My mother would be proud.”
Keelan’s clear, blue eyes met mine in the mirror. “Stay still,” he told me, picking the brush up and setting it next to my hand before he walked out.
“I’m hungry for breakfast,” I said, holding my position and admiring the braids now that he was gone. Kheelan had hidden talents.
He was back quickly, a bow and a quiver of arrows in his hands. I turned around.
“Hands on the sink,” Kheelan ordered.
“That didn’t come from Walmart,” I said to the mirror.
“I brought back the materials yesterday and Aeric helped me fashion them to your measurements,” Kheelan explained. He strapped a leather quiver to my back, reaching around me to fasten it at the front, close to my hip. The bow he attached to the quiver.
“I can’t work with this strapped on me,” I said, slightly regretful. I liked the feel of them on my back. I was excited to try out the bow that Aeric had made for me.
“We will glamour it,” Kheelan said. “The bow and arrows are spelled to not move from the quiver without your hand.”
I turned around and admired the slim profile of the quiver. If nobody could see it, I could get away with wearing weapons. I just had to be careful and if I did bump anything accidentally, I would blame my butt for getting in the way. It was curvy enough.
“How?” I asked.
“Another charm for your keys,” Kheelan suggested.
I turned around and held my hands out. “Did Eloden make it?”
“No. I made it,” Kheelan said, sounding disgruntled.
He handed me a little charm that looked a lot like Eloden’s, but it was red. “Is that blood?” I asked, holding it lightly.
“It’s dye,” Kheelan said with a huff. “I don’t do blood magic for something as simple as a don’t-look-here glamour.”
“A what?” I said, confused. I sniffed the charm and it smelled harmless. Nothing decaying, at least.
“Don’t-look-here,” Kheelan repeated. “The glamour makes the spelled object or person unnoticed even though it is still there.”
“How does it work?”
“It’s magic,” Kheelan said, not clarifying.
“Just say you don’t know,” I muttered, walking out of the bathroom with my new charm and archery set.
“I don’t know how to explain it to you,” said Kheelan from behind me.
“Can you still see my quiver?” I asked, grabbing my keys from next to Lady Antebellum’s cage and attaching the new charm.
“Yes. The charm isn’t activated yet.”
“Where’s the on button?”
“Feed your pet and I will show you how to activate it,” Kheelan said. It was an order and offer all-in-one. Still super bossy. That was a family trait.
I ignored him and fed my rat. I was going to do it, anyway. Not wanting him to think I was dying of excitement to activate the charm, which I totally was, I coolly walked over to my fridge. Only milk remained. I closed the fridge. I’m pretty sure I had ramen noodles, walking over to the electric kettle to fill it with water and flick it on.
I didn’t really want to be nice to Kheelan but eating in front of him seemed too rude even for me. I don’t even know the last time he ate. I got out two packs and added both hot pepper packets to his bowl. I wasn’t that nice.
The kettle clicked off. Thank goodness for modern conveniences. I was starving. Pouring the water onto our noodles I turned around to see him hovering.
“Sit at the table,” I ordered him.
Kheelan sat. I tried not to react.
“Can you use chopsticks?” I asked.
He looked at me blankly. I pulled out chopsticks for myself and mimicked eating.
“Yes,” he said. “They’ve been around longer than you, little Mouse.”
I remembered that Aeric said it was rude to ask Fae their age. I decided to give Kheelan a little push to see what would happen. “So, were you around for the invention of the wheel, oh-wise-one?”
“Dain said whoever puts you over their knee next gets to give you twelve hard swats to start. I am curious where that little string goes on your underwear.”
I almost sloshed his bowl of spicy soup as I clunked it down in front of him. The plate on top for the steam kept it from leaking.
“There’s more than one string but surely you can do the math,” I innocently said, laying his chopsticks beside the bowl.
“There’s barely enough material to cover the rosebud of your arse,” Kheelan commented, taking the plate off his soup.
Rosebud? I blushed and hid it in the steam coming off my own soup. I guess that was exactly what that spot would look like if you wanted to use flo
wery language.
“My rosebud will remain a bud, covered or not,” I said. This was not a breakfast topic.
Kheelan took his first bite of the spicy soup. I saw the moment the spice hit his tongue, his eyes widening in surprise, but he chewed and swallowed.
“Do you want some cold water?” I asked.
“No need,” Kheelan declined. “Do you make it so spicy because it’s old or to disguise your terrible cooking skills?”
“What skills?” I admitted. “I boiled water and even for that I let the electric kettle handle the hard part.”
“Orin will prepare our meals from now on,” Kheelan decided. “You need some vegetables that don’t come from foil packets and some meat would help strengthen your bow arm.”
“I only have one pot,” I told him.
“He’s used to cooking over a fire. It will make do as long as it isn’t iron.”
“I think it’s steel,” I admitted.
“You need copper pots,” Kheelan advised. “We will procure some today after your work is completed.”
He was quickly putting his soup away despite the spice. I wondered again how long it had been since he’d eaten. Falin and Aeric had stuffed themselves at my parents’ house, although my parents were used to feeding oversized boys, so they hadn’t remarked on it. I added grocery shopping to my list of things to do. I hope I could afford to feed them properly.
“I get paid at the end of the shift, so we can go shopping,” I offered.
Kheelan glanced at me awkwardly. It was a strange look on him. “We will not have you providing for us for long.”
“I can take some more shifts at the restaurant,” I said. I had been thinking about doing it, anyway.
“If you were in Faerie, we could easily provide for all your needs.”
“I’m not leaving,” I told him, grabbing both of our empty bowls and chopsticks and taking them to the sink.
“Aeric talked to me about your mother,” Kheelan said out of the blue.
I dropped the bowls in the sink. Thankfully, they didn’t crack.
No Faerie Tale Love (Faerie Series Book 1) Page 25