Drayce’s face tightened. “Until Ailill escaped and the last of her druids died.”
“What did she do to you after—”
“Neara.” He placed a finger on my lips. “Please tell me why you have the Dagda’s broken staff.”
Despite the dread weighting my insides, despite the fear that fluttered in my heart like a trapped moth, the love and warmth in his eyes kept me from turning away. I had fought for Drayce, risked my life and magic to bring him back. If he rejected me, I would fight to regain his love.
The story spilled from my lips, starting with Nessa’s seer eye telling me that only Drayce’s mate could break the curse and ending with the ring I slipped on his finger and the dagger I slipped in his heart.
“Neara.” He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. “I’m sorry to have caused you so much trouble.”
My throat dried. “It’s me who should apologize. I didn’t stab you in the heart until it was too late.”
“Neara,” he said my name like an exasperated sigh. “I lied to you when we first met and several times after that. But we’re mates, now. Please give me your trust.”
I bit down on my bottom lip. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you…”
He cupped my face in his large hands, and his dark eyes stared deep into my soul. “What, then?”
“Part of me wondered if the Fear Dorcha was trying to trick me into killing you.”
Drayce’s brows drew together. He was probably about to remind me that he was the King of Death, but I pressed my fingers onto his lips.
“Maybe poison won’t kill you and you can survive having your cursed skin thrown in the fire, but I had no idea what an iron dagger would do to your body.”
He stared into my eyes for several heartbeats, seeming to consider my words. With each passing moment, guilt tightened my chest until I could barely breathe.
“If your father could die, so could you.” I placed my hand over his. “And I couldn’t do something so terrible to you when I still felt awful about nearly burning you to death.”
Drayce drew back and examined the ring I’d placed on his finger. “So, this is how Melusina reduced my father to a husk.”
I lowered my lashes. “Are you angry with me?”
He pressed a kiss on my forehead. “No. Besides, if the Dagda said we weren’t mated, then the curse must have broken our bond. “We’re lucky that he gave you the ring.”
All the tension left me in an instant, leaving me lightheaded with relief. Drayce? He was the most loving and forgiving person I’d ever known. Tears welled up behind my eyelids, and I swallowed, thinking about the years of loneliness, torture, and abuse he must have endured, living in hope that Father would one day return with me to set him free.
I blinked, loosening the tears from my eyes. That terrible Samhain night when I was fourteen, I had ruined everything by leaving the house and encountering Queen Melusina. Because of me, the village was slaughtered. And when Drayce used Father’s magic to hide him from the queen, she had cursed him with scales. Despite this, Drayce still forgave my mistakes.
He wiped away my tears with a thumb. “The Fear Dorcha will have to wait. We need to save you from becoming enslaved to the Dagda.”
“Is he really a demigod?” I asked.
“The children of Dana are gods.” Drayce gave me a crooked smile. “The Dagda and my father were brothers.”
My mouth fell open, and my lungs let out a shocked gasp. “I bargained with a god? Why didn’t Aengus tell me about his father?”
Drayce’s lips thinned. “Didn’t those soul-stealing faeries deal with him in the Summer Court?”
“He’s a good friend.” I slapped him on the chest.
His brows rose, and a tiny smile played on his lips. It was part amusement, part skepticism, all thinly veiled disapproval. “I’ll have words with your… friend about leading you into danger.”
I pulled out of his arms and frowned.
“Neara?” He tilted his head to the side.
“It was my idea to get the harp from the Dagda, and Aengus came along to make sure I didn’t get into trouble.”
Drayce narrowed his eyes. “He must have a different definition of trouble, seeing as he got you imprisoned and cornered into wielding your blood and sword for the Dagda.”
Annoyance tightened my skin. Aengus was innocent. Why couldn’t Drayce see that? The only difference between the aggravating faerie who had abducted me from Calafort and the man standing before me was the lack of scales.
“You were far less annoying as my sleeping beauty,” I said.
Drayce threw back his head and roared with laughter.
I gave him a hard shove in the chest, but ended up with two handfuls of taut, tight muscles, reminding me of the last time I rid his body of moss.
All the moisture evaporated from my throat. “A week of sleep hadn’t improved your sense of humor.”
His grin widened, and he stared down at me with sparkling eyes and white teeth. It was like being caught in the mesmerizing snare of the gancanagh.
A pulse of longing pounded through my heart, and warmth spread across to my chest and crept up to my neck. The corners of my lips twitched with the beginnings of a smile. If I stayed one heartbeat longer in his presence, I would melt.
I turned on my heel and walked to the foot of the bed.
“Where are you going?” he asked from behind.
“While you’ve been resting on feather beds, I have crawled through millennia-old tunnels made of bone, been splattered by the essence of countless Dearg Due, and engulfed by a cloud of green dog. I’m having a bath.”
I continued around the four-poster toward the bathroom.
Drayce’s footsteps prowled after me, and my insides tightened with excitement.
When I placed my fingers on the door handle, his larger hand covered mine, sending a spark of lightning down my spine. I turned around,
