See Me (See Me #1)(58)

Khalistah looked me up and down, amused. “I thought McKale might find your moment together more enjoyable if you appeared this way.”

I bit back the obvious retort that he’d been enjoying himself just fine. I planted my feet a foot apart and squared my shoulders, refusing to cower, even though I couldn’t help but be petrified on the inside.

I must have come off as aggressive because the stupid pixie came flying at me and grabbed a handful of my hair. He made little yipping sounds like a barking squirrel while I screamed and tried to slap him away. My head felt like it was on fire. Khalistah clapped her hands and he flew back to her shoulder. He flung his hands to try and rid his fingers of my loose hairs. I rubbed the tender spot from where the strands had been pulled.

Khalistah clucked her tongue and sighed. “Pixies are such beastly little things, aren’t they? No manners whatsoever.”

Another smaller burst of magic made me flinch, but it was just McKale. He stood now, normal-sized, but he gave himself distance from us both, creating a triangle. His tan pants were slung low from the weight of water, revealing a happy trail of red hair between the V-line of his hips, heading downward. I wasn’t the only one to notice.

“Mmm.” The FFG looked McKale up and down with fingertips fluttering above her throat.

Nobody was going to Mmm my guy but me. She needed to get those glacier eyeballs back in her head.

“Will you please unglamour me?” I asked through gritted teeth.

She slowly turned her eyes to me. “I have seen the way you look at me. In awe. Admiring the sort of beauty humans can only obtain in dreams. But if your pride is so great that you prefer the less attractive appearance, then so be it.” She waved a finger and the glamour disappeared. I felt lighter.

“Khalistah,” McKale said. I tried to ignore the way his voice softened and his eyes still held a small amount of awe as he looked at her. “I’m glad ye’ve come. I wish to speak with ye.”

“How long were you going to wait to speak with me? Moments before your mockery of a binding, or afterward?”

“I… I’m…”

She glided toward him and pressed a finger to his lips. He flinched then shivered.

It took all my willpower not to snatch that finger and snap it.

“I’m not angry with you, precious one. You are not to blame. I know she has pursued you with persistent forwardness.”

Give me a break.

He blinked and looked at me. I crossed my arms over my chest and he pulled his face back from her touch. I think he recognized he was turning to a pile of mush like he always did in her presence.

“I wish to speak with ye alone, Khalistah. Please allow Robyn to return to the village.”

“I think not. I know what you wish to say. You are but a man and you have been led astray from the one thing you have always wanted. Does she know how you feel for me?”

McKale’s forehead creased and his eyes flicked to me. The FFG never glanced my way as she moved forward and began petting his face like she’d done in the trees that night. This time she even placed her hands on his bare chest, where my own hands had been minutes before. His breathing went ragged, but I had to give him credit because he stayed very still and appeared otherwise unaffected, allowing her to touch him for that brief moment before closing his eyes and stepping back from her again.

I, on the other hand, was having a difficult time retaining my fury. McKale pushed his hands hard through his hair as a shudder tore through his body. He began to pace with his hands behind his head, putting more space between Khalistah and himself. The FFG stood firm and calm, fueled by confidence as she spoke to him.

“Does she know about the years when you yearned for my presence and followed at my heels with childlike devotion? I had never met a living thing like you. Brave enough to seek me, yet too shy to touch me. Such a refreshing change from the arrogance of Fae males. I am here now to tell you that your years of dedication have paid off, McKale of the Leprechaun.”

“Khalistah.” He closed his eyes to muster courage before facing her again. “I was but a boy. I was reckless to seek ye as I did. I’ll always be grateful for yer years of kindness, but my future is here, in the village with my clan, bound to Robyn.”

Her eyes flashed hard with anger before smoothing again.

“Will you discard me so easily? Your first love?”

I nearly gagged at her crooning voice.

“What we had was no’ love.” McKale said it with extreme gentleness but I froze as I awaited her response to those strong words. The FFG blinked twice, the only sign that her composure was not solid.

“I know this notion of love that humans search for and abuse. It is easy to speak of lifetime loyalty when your lives are so bitterly short. If you were Fae you would become bored with Robyn and come crawling to me in less than a thousand human years.” Though she appeared unruffled, I had a bad feeling she was about to throw a major hissy fit.

“But I am not Fae,” McKale said. “And I cannot pretend to be. Neither of our people would accept a union betwixt us. What would yer friends say in the courts? And yer father? The Summer King will no’ be havin’ it.”

The Summer King? Excuse me? Holy crap! The FFG was a friggin’ princess? I covered my mouth, afraid I might be sick as the weight of the situation crashed around me, dimming like the evening sky.