The Dark Fae (The World of Fae #1)(13)

Alicia removed her shirt and then her sandals and jeans. She pulled the purple satin gown over her head while wispy sheers of the same color of purple attached to the gown floated down to the mattress. Now she felt like a faery princess.

“I wouldn’t tell you my plans,” Deveron said to Ritasia.

“I’ve already kept your secret.”

“She did,” Alicia said from behind the bed curtains. She figured they needed all of the alliances they could get. Though on the other hand, she wasn’t sure she could trust either of them completely.

“I have to return to fulfill my duties escorting Princess Lorelei,” Deveron said.

Ritasia laughed. “But what about Alicia? Surely you don’t intend for me to attempt to hide her here.”

“She will be our dear cousin…a sixth removed and will accompany me.”

“But I don’t have dark hair.” Alicia pulled on a sandal.

“Some of our distant cousins are blond,” Deveron remarked. “Most don’t live here. Aren’t you dressed yet?”

“I feel as though I’m moving in slow motion.”

“From transporting her,” Ritasia reminded him.

“Oh.”

Alicia pulled the curtain aside.

Deveron considered the way her gowns shimmered over her form. His expression indicated deepest admiration. Did he prefer her wearing the dress of the fae? It appeared so. But she reminded herself he was her enemy as much as she wished in an instant of madness that he wasn’t.

Ritasia socked him in the shoulder. “She needs some of my clips for her hair, if you’re going to pass her off as one of the Denkar fae of the minor royal branches. And pull in your tongue. It’s dragging the floor.”

He frowned at Ritasia.

She shook her head and vanished.

Alicia sat on the edge of the bed, not trusting her legs to hold her if she stood.

His lips curved up in that same mischievous way he had before that totally disarmed and warmed her throughout.

“You know, you have the most charming smile,” she said.

“It’s one of my most gifted dark fae qualities.”

“And you’re terribly conceited.”

He grinned. “Now there’s my Alicia. I thought I’d lost you.”

She made an annoyed face at him.

He chuckled under his breath.

Ritasia appeared next to him. She reached over and fastened golden clips decorated in sparkling amethysts to Alicia’s hair.

“Thank you, Ritasia. I will always be in your debt.”

“Yes, you will be,” the girl said, and Alicia was afraid that didn’t bode well.

“Come, we must go, Alicia, before we’re discovered here,” Deveron said, pulling her up from the bed.

“Wait.” Ritasia slipped a gold medallion, dangling from a gold chain, over Alicia’s head. “Now you are officially a sixth cousin of the dark fae of the kingdom of Neferon.”

Alicia glanced down at the medallion that pictured an embossed turtle. “Turtle?”

“They live by the sea and revere the power and steadfastness of the giant sea turtle,” Deveron said.

“Ah.” It just didn’t seem half as proud and strong as the lion, the Denkar’s symbol. Alicia took Ritasia’s hands and leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Ritasia. I’ll never forget this.”

Ritasia’s eyes widened and her lips parted. Then she turned to Deveron who grinned.

He said, “You’ve made my sister speechless, which believe me, rarely happens.”

He took Alicia’s hand and pulled her close. So close she could feel his breath on her cheek. And then he kissed her lips again.

She thought she heard Ritasia say, “So that’s how you’ve done it.”

And the room faded to black.





CHAPTER 7





When light replaced the dark, Alicia breathed in the delightful fragrance of lilacs dripping in purple grape clusters over sandstone walls. And red roses gathered at their base. Grape hyacinths nestled at their feet making the place smell like a bit of fairyland. It was a fairyland. The Venician kingdom of fae.

“Venicia,” Deveron said, holding her arms to steady her. He moved her to a stone bench and sat her down. “I’m to escort Princess Lorelei at her whim to wherever she wishes to go, but I will have to take you, too, as frail as you are. You need your cousin’s assistance in your delicate condition.”

She rolled her eyes. Though she did feel slightly incapacitated with fae travel again. Not as bad this time. Was she adjusting to it?

He smiled. “Despite how becoming you look in Ritasia’s gowns, your cheeks are as white as the clouds above. You appear ready to faint.”

“I’m not faint,” she said, firmly. Though if she stood…

Footsteps closing in on them caught their attention, and they turned to see who approached.

A blond-haired male, tall and thin, wearing a highly embroidered dark blue tunic, bowed low to Deveron. “My lord. Princess Lorelei has been unduly concerned that you left so all of a sudden.” The elder man looked at Alicia with disdain, then turned his attention again to Deveron. “Have you returned to take over your duties where she’s concerned?”