seen the punishment that their Alphas would mete out to those who didn’t follow the rules, and it was enough incentive for them to fall into order as they’d never before done. No one who was a solitary wanted to be given to a court, and no one who chose a life in the desert wanted to be sent to the Winter Court’s abode.
After they had all left, Rika and Sionnach sat on a porch, backs to the battered building, silent and watching the crowd as the sky darkened. A coyote crept across the desert in shadow, and stars blinked to life. There were dozens of things that Rika considered saying, chastisements and compliments, but this wasn’t the time. He was her partner, and they’d found ways to set things to rights in their home. She wasn’t about to forget that he’d manipulated her, and he wasn’t liable to ignore the fact that his co-Alpha was also subject to a queen.
“Are we all right?” he asked softly.
“We will be.”
They exchanged a smile and looked out together over their kingdom.
Not long afterward, Rika walked through town alone, letting the faeries see her, making eye contact with them. She smiled; she nodded. She
Finally, she turned and walked into the open desert. Here were the even less-human-looking faeries; they, too, were watching her. Rika moved purposefully, knowing that by now scores of faeries were trailing her at a distance. They walked, crept, and strolled across the expanse of desert like a mismatched platoon of troops marching to battle.
EPILOGUE
TWO YEARS LATER
Rika watched Jayce talk to other students after his class. He didn’t know she was visiting; she’d wanted to surprise him. It was a strange feeling, looking at him this way. He seemed to laugh more freely when he was at his university campus, and as she watched him, she wondered if this was where they’d been meant to be all along: him living his normal life, the sort of life she never had, and her learning to let him go.
“He still loves you,” a voice said.
She turned to see the faery she’d been friends with longer than Jayce had lived. Sionnach’s smile was sad, but he didn’t have pity in his eyes.
“I know he does.” Rika glanced back at Jayce. “He’s not going to be content to stay in a cave in the desert though. He hasn’t left me yet, but he doesn’t visit much any more. He wants his own family, to travel, more and more things I can’t give him. We talked about it last week again. That’s why I came to see him.”
“Mortals,” Sionnach murmured. “Such confusing creatures.”
“Says the faery who can’t seem to stop dating them,” Rika teased. “What’s the latest one’s name?”
“I’ll let you know after the next party.” Sionnach draped his arm over her shoulders.
Together they watched Jayce. He looked older after only two years, and his interests were changing so quickly. He’d been her first relationship in decades; truth be told, he was her first healthy relationship despite her having lived for well over a century. What she’d had with Keenan was a cruel game: he’d merely played a role so he could steal her mortality, and she’d spent years convincing other girls not to love him. Admittedly, the whole thing was because of a
After several more moments of comfortable silence, Sionnach asked, “What are you going to do?”
Rika shook her head. “Miss him, I suspect. Hope he meets a mortal girl who makes him happy.”
Sionnach nodded. “Sometimes, their changes are enough to make a faery stop wooing mortals.” He shot a sideways glance at her that she pretended not to see and then added, “I think about it, too.”
“What?”
“A family,” he murmured. “Things are calm now that the courts aren’t all in a mess.”
“Someday, maybe.” She’d grown used to feigning ignorance with him.
Of course, he’d grown just as accustomed to trying to be as blunt as possible without overtly saying what he really intended. “
“True,” she agreed blandly.
He laughed and flicked her with his tail.
“Shy?”
Once he looked at her, she asked, “When you first pushed me toward him, did you have another reason? Aside from luring me out of hiding?”
Sionnach removed his arm from around her shoulders, but that was it. He was silent. More than a minute passed before he answered, “Most foxes mate for life, but sometimes a fox faery has to use a bit of . . . strategy to help his mate get ready for that.” He stepped in front of her and looked directly at her. “You were still mourning your mortal life, and I didn’t know how to give you what you needed to heal. Then, I saw Jayce. I watched you become more alive, and I knew that what you needed was to be with a mortal, to be the mortal you should’ve been if Keenan hadn’t picked you.”
Rika realized that her lips had parted on a gasp. She’d known for a while that Sionnach had feelings for her, but not like this. “But you date mortals. A
“I like them, and I got lonely while I was waiting for . . . my plans to work.” He looked strangely embarrassed then. “It took ages just to get you to see me as a friend, then finally as my partner as Alpha. If I’d walked up to you years ago and said, ‘Hello, do want to have a litter of my kits?’ you’d never have let me any closer.”
There was no way to argue with that. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to run
“Because I chose my mate a very long time ago,” he corrected gently.
“Oh.”
He started to step away from her, but she grabbed his arm.
“Wait,” she said. “I can’t do this now.” She took a breath before adding, “Not
The hurt in his expression was replaced with his familiar mischievous grin. In a falsely solemn tone, he asked, “Tuesday? Or maybe Wednesday? I could wait a bit longer. Really, what’s a few days after
Rika shook her head at him, but she was smiling. “And here I’d planned on trying to convince you to . . .”
“To?” he prompted.
“Distract me with your wit and charm,” she offered.
“
And Rika laughed before admitting, “For starters.”
“Finally getting started sounds good,” he said as he caught her hand in his.
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