“Really?” she asked.
“I haven’t fed on anyone else since I found you, and that has to be a record. I don’t plan on breaking that streak.”
Rose had changed so much in the past few days. She’d been such a pain in my ass, but now… Well, now I cared about her in a way that I didn’t really understand. Incubi weren’t supposed to care about anyone except themselves. It was against our very nature. Even a full-blooded fairy couldn’t sustain an incubus by herself. Not if he were actively using his power for more than feeding.
But a Queen might, and that’s what Rose was. A High Queen with more than enough energy to keep me at full strength. More than that, something inside me seemed to sing when she was close.
She sighed. “You know I’m a virgin, don’t you?”
“That’s why I haven’t pressured you. Even though an intelligent Incubus would have. It seems that you’ve brought out the idiot in me.”
“Can you give me a little time?”
I nodded and picked up another piece of venison. Meat, especially the rarer cuts, had the most power in them.
Rose picked up a piece of bread coated in honey butter and took small bites as she stared at the wall. “All of this is so much to take in, Sebastian. You. Magic. I’m a freaking fairy Queen. Everything. I don’t know what to think about it all. I was just an ugly girl going to college a few days ago, and now you expect me to be the ruler of half a world.”
“My life consisted of class, trying not to embarrass myself in front of my sorority sisters, and trying to spend an hour running through the forest. That’s about it.”
“I just don’t know if I’m ready or strong enough to be the girl you and everyone else thinks I am. I’ve nearly died so many times in less than a week. How does anyone do this?”
She turned to me, her eyes asking me the questions that I had no answers for.
“No one expects you to become Queen tomorrow. That’s why I brought you here instead of the Dark Court. You need training. You need time. You need to get your bearings.”
I groaned as I shifted. A pain in my back shot lightning through my body. “Eventually, you’ll need to make some decisions. They won’t be easy decisions.” I put my hand on hers and said, “But you’ll make the one that you feel is right, and everyone will just have to deal with it. Either way, I’ll support you.”
Rose gave me the best smile she could muster as she looked me over. I knew that look. She was trying to decide how badly I was hurting. I’d seen it enough times, though. Most of the time it was to determine if I was going to die anytime soon.
“Do you want to go out to the fire?” she asked changing the subject. “Enivyn said that they’re going to tell stories.”
“You’d like to listen to them?” I asked.
She nodded. “Enivyn sounded like they were the best part of the night.”
“They usually are. Unlike mortals, we don’t have all of your entertainment options. Our stories are told, not watched on television.”
“I think that might be better. Like a book with other people.”
“I’ll go to the fire with you,” I said, handing her the tray with shaking arms. “I can eat out there as easily as I can in bed.”
She set the tray down and stood up, reaching her hand out to help pull me to my feet. I took it gratefully, but when I pulled on her, she couldn’t keep her balance and fell on top of me, forcing us both backward onto the bed, her on top of me.
“I’m so so so sorry,” she said as she tried to roll off me.
“Wait.” The words came out as a whisper. Everything in my body ached, but having her weight on top of me felt incredible. Her warmth. My body buzzed with hunger, but it didn’t seem to matter. I stared into her eyes and couldn’t stop myself.
My hands went to the back of her head, and I rose up to meet her, my lips touching hers. Softly, tentatively. Nothing like in a dreamscape. Nothing like I’d ever done before. This wasn’t the kiss of a man who was giving a woman her fantasy. This was the first kiss between a man and a woman, and for the first time in my life, I felt nervous touching someone like this.
She gasped but didn’t pull away. My lips pressed against her harder, and my tongue found hers to begin the dance of lovers. A heady sensation ran through me as I stared up at her. Lust for another person. Not her power.
She pulled back, panting softly. “Not yet, Sebastian. Soon, but not yet. I’m not ready.”
I nodded to her and smiled, the sensation of her lips against mine still making my heart race. “I can wait.”
She climbed off me, and as she turned around, I looked at her, seeing those wings made of shadow made manifest. Then, my eyes ran over her body, and I felt a stirring between my legs. A stirring for her body and not her power. Even when I was starving.
She grinned at me as she faced me. “I can try to help you up again, but I think you’ll just pull me on top of you.”
“How else am I supposed to woo you, little fairy?”
“Most of the time, men are supposed to woo with dinner and a movie. At least that’s what I’ve heard since I’ve never been wooed before. Though, I guess rescuing me from an assassin, nearly dying to save me, and then taking me to meet all of your friends might work. And, I think I may enjoy stories around a campfire more than a movie.”
“I’m glad that sacrificing my body and power for your safety is at least as impressive
