He snorted. It was a slow move and rattledhis nostrils entirely too much. “I’m not going anywhere, princess.From now until the day you inevitably break the contract and diehorribly, I’ll be by your side, protecting you from… shall we say,the unsavory side effects of being a seer.”
I had exactly zero idea what the “unsavory side effects of being a seer” entailed.I concentrated on one fact – one super important fact: thisScottish brute was here to stay.
I paled. “No – you can’t stay! I don’teven know who you are!” I protested as ifthe fact I hadn’t been formally introduced was the most pertinentfact here.
He snorted again. Somehow, he managedto make the movecharming, not vile.“Max.”
I blinked. “That’s your name?”
“Aye. Max. I’m contracted to protect you from the magical worldwhile you use your abilities as a seer to protect people. You see,if you don’t satisfy the terms of the curse and use your powers forgood, monsters will come after you, lass. Horrible ones.But me? I can keep most of ‘em back, because I’m a fairy,” he added proudly as he patted a largehand to his large chest.
I cleared my throat. I blinked. Ifrowned.
My every interaction with this massiveScottish magician up until now had filled me with equal parts aweand fear. Now? Now I kind of got stuck on the fact this brute wasa fairy.
“Ah, hold on,” I could barely push my words out; they felt lodgedin my throat as if I’d tried to swallow a stone, “you're afairy?”
He shot me a look. A very specific kind oflook. The kind of look that told me I was an idiot for taking thatfact alone out of what he’d just revealed to me.
Then he went and crossed his arms again.His incredibly impressive, boulder-like arms with biceps that looked as if they'd been carved outof marble.
“Yeah, I'm a fairy. But I think maybe youshould go back to the part where you’re cursed and if you don'tsatisfy the terms of that contract,” his voicebottomed out low and shook with that unmistakable brogue, “you willbe killed. Violently. By monsters.”
I’d been doing a seriously good job ofignoring that fact until now. But there was something about thecombination of his crossed arms and that very specific, kind ofhateful, judgmental look in his eye that made it impossible for meto turn away now.
I actually yelped, cramming a hand over my chest and pressingmy fingers hard against my sternum. “This is insane. This can't behappening.”
He uncrossed his arms and flicked a handtowards me. “Getting upset isn't going to changeanything.”
“Upset?” My voice shook with indignation. Which was kind ofnice, because at least it wasn't belly-shaking fear.
Still, indignation didn't last. It gaveway rather sharply and violently to a sinking feeling that felt asif it would take my stomach through the very center of the Earth.
I sat there, right on the edge of thecouch, one hand locked over my stomach as if I were afraid it wouldsplit open and spill my nerves all over the ground.
Max continued to look at me as if I were the worst example ofhumanity he'd ever come across. “Well, at least you're taking thisseriously now,” he commented under his breath.
Again, I felt a flare of indignation athis cold, cold words. What an absolute prick. He had the bedsidemanner of a brick to the head.
I plucked a hand off my stomach, and nowit was my turn to cross my arms. Slowly. Angrily. “Just who thehell do you think you are, anyway?”
He snorted. I thought I'd plumbed thedepths of his derisive moves,but clearlyI hadn't. This one honestlymade his nostrils rattle. Which shouldn't have been an attractivemove, but somehow on the great big lug, with his half charmingsmile, he could pull even that off. Which made me even more pissedoff.
My shock was passing. And the only reasonit could was my natural fight. I was my mother’s daughter, afterall, and Maylinever ever backed down fromconfrontation. If she’d suddenly found out that she was the heir toa magical curse and she’d inherited the true powers of a seer, shewould have just sat on the couch, crossed her arms, pressed herbottom lip in, and snapped at this Max to get her sometea.
Okay, so my world had literally beenpulled out from under my feet only to be replaced with magic,fairies, and the lying mistakes of my forbearers – but I had tostop letting this situation control me. No, scratch that – I had tostop letting this Max control the conversation.
For the first time since this harrowingconversation had begun, I pushed to my feet. “Well I don't care whoyou are and what you say – I'm not scared. I don't believe in thiscurse—”
I didn't get a chance to finish mysentence, because he was upon me.
He’d drifted back towards the fire, butsuddenly that didn’t matter. Don't ask me how he crossed the space in between. Butsomehow, in the blink of a freaking eye, he went fromstanding acrossthe other side of the room, tostanding right in front of the couch. I fell back against it,breath rattling in my chest as I sucked in a wheeze. “What…what are you goingto do?” I went straightback into fear mode, forgetting everything my mother had evertaught me. Because, hello, I couldn’t forget that this guy hadchased me around my house with a knife!
For a fraction of a second, his hardenedexpression softened. But not by much. Enough to tell my brain hewasn't about to reach for the fire poker and skewer me. But notenough to promise that he'd drop this.
He seemed to take several seconds tofigure out how he should reply. That, or he was enjoying everysingle moment of my fear. It was probably the latter, consideringhow much of a right royal prick this fellow was.
Still, while I could insult him in myhead, that was the furthest thing from what I could do in reallife. I was suddenly struck by the fact that until last night, I'dnever experienced true fear. Now it goaded at my heart, plucked at my spine, and threatened to make meblack out.
I held on,
