I had to admit, the food smelled divine, and my stomach began to rumble in agreement. Whatever, I wouldn’t be tempted. At least one of us had to stay strong, and clearly, it wouldn’t be Alden.
“Then eat it, old man. But don’t you come crying to me if you turn into a brownie or worse, a redcap. Those little suckers are nasty, and I won’t hesitate to pop a cap in your ass if you so much as wink at me as one.”
“Pop a cap in my ass?” Chuckling, he accepted a glass filled with an amber liquid from one of the servers, held it up to me in mock cheers, and downed the drink. Great. Now he had eaten and drank from a fae-tainted meal.
“Yeah, it means to shoot you, duh.” I rolled my eyes and turned to Adam, who had a half-eaten plate of food sitting in front of him and was currently shoveling more food in his mouth. “You too? We don’t even know which caste has us, and you’re both throwing caution to the wind and eating and drinking whatever you want. Have you both lost your damn minds?”
“The horde,” Ryder answered, and I sat back, staring across the table at him.
I’d begun to suspect as much, but his words created a rapid beat in my chest, and my palms began to sweat. Of all the castes of fae in Faery, the horde was the most ruthless and bloodthirsty of them all.
Ryder was watching me, looking for any sign of weakness or fear. A normal person would probably be afraid of the horde. Scratch that, they should definitely fear the horde. But I was not a normal person. I was an enforcer, and I refused to give this asshole the satisfaction of seeing any panic on display.
“And has your king returned from prancing around the countryside?” My tone was flippant, and I smirked wickedly. I was daring Ryder to argue that his king wasn’t out, ignoring his duties as his people flooded into our world unchecked. Someone needed to find the Horde King, stick a flower up his ass, and plant him back on his throne.
“Indeed, he has, Syn.” Why did he look like the cat that had just eaten the canary? “He recently returned and took a wife soon after he ascended to the throne.”
“My name is Synthia. Only people I like get to call me Syn, and I definitely don’t like you.”
Heat filled Ryder’s eyes, and I glared at him as his attention dipped to my chest. I brought my middle finger up against my breasts, flipping him off. His mouth twitched in amusement, and his eyes rested once more on my face.
“So, Syn, what do you like to do for fun?” Taking a bite of meat, he chewed slowly and licked his lips before cutting another piece of meat and repeating the process. I sat mesmerized as I watched his mouth. He leaned forward and grinned, and just like that, the spell broke.
“I like to kill fae, especially horde fae. They’re so fun to hunt.” I squared my shoulders and refused to break eye contact. Two could play that game. “If your king has returned, where is he?”
I wasn’t actually sure I wanted to meet him, but who could say they’d truly seen the Horde King? None of the guild elders had seen him, minus Alden. Now he would see him for the first time, with me.
He waved his fork in a circular motion. “He’s around.”
“Around where?” I leaned forward and batted my thick lashes at him. In the guild, we learned seduction early so that we could use it on the fae.
“Close by.” He mirrored my pose, resting his elbows on the table to study me. “Would you like to meet him?” The corner of his mouth tipped up just a bit like he was in on some great secret and would share it with me, probably for a price that I wasn’t willing to pay.
“Actually, I would,” I challenged through trembling lips. What the fuck was I doing? He could sift in, and I’d be a fucking goner! I had no weapons. They’d even taken away all my silverware except for my spoon because I’d tried to stab Ryder with my fork the moment he’d sat down. “Produce him.”
There was a loud thunk, like the sound of an umbrella opening as wings expanded from Ryder’s back. I screamed, pushing away from the table, knocking my chair to the floor to hide behind. There was a moment of silence, and then the entire room burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Holy fairy-fucking buckets!” I shouted, peering over the chair as power erupted through the room, and Ryder’s body grew.
I swallowed a girly scream and looked down, realizing I had food all over me. I lifted my head, gaping at the creature across from me, then stood on shaking legs as I stared at the enormous wings his chair seemed to accommodate surprisingly well.
“Would you like some gravy to go with the potatoes on your breasts?” Leaning forward, he looked at me as if he was starving, and I was a four-course meal. “I’d be happy to lick it off if you’d like.”
“No…not an issue. I love potatoes!” I backed up, scooping a bit of the potato from my chest and flicking it to the floor. I glanced at Alden, and he was still eating. “Alden, why aren’t you freaking the fuck out?” I hissed.
“Because you married the Horde King, and he’s a friend now?” he answered in a dry tone before pushing more food into his mouth and chewing it.
“You guys are way messed up! This explains so much!” I said, staring at the wings.
“Do you want to touch them?” Ryder asked, noting where my gaze remained locked.
“Yes… No!” I amended quickly. “This is so fucking weird.” I went to sit and missed the overturned chair, causing everyone to laugh at me again. I stood and frowned, glaring at Ryder. “I need to use the ladies’ room.”
“No, you don’t. You are not sneaking out the window and looking for a portal.”
“You can read my mind?” I started to sit again, only to remember the chair wasn’t up right. I fixed it, sitting carefully, staring at him from a safe distance, several feet away from the table.
“Hmm, wouldn’t that be interesting if I could?” He shrugged as he pushed a dessert ball between his lips and chewed, studying me.
I pictured myself stabbing him a thousand times and eating the pieces of his corpse. His mouth turned up in the corners, sinfully sexy. He sat back, watching me as I crossed my arms, lifting my chin in defiance.
“You’re picturing me naked, little one? I can make that fantasy your new reality.”
“I am not!” A blush covered my cheeks as I glowered at him. Whew, at least he couldn’t read my mind because that was the last thing I was thinking.
“Now you’re stripping, too? Damn, you’re a dirty girl for a seventeen-year-old.” His eyes were hooded, and his voice dripped with sex. “Take it all off, little one.”