Opened her eyes.
And received the greatest gift her heart could ever ask for.
Thaddeus, standing amidst the grotto in every overwhelming inch of golden glory. Thaddeus.HerThaddeus.
A knot instantly formed in her throat. Her jaw stiffened, ached. A sting crossed her eyes and he blurred for a brief moment.
“Thaddeus,” she murmured, finding the strength to lift her head from the marble. The tug of that cord in her chest stole her breath the moment it connected with its end in the man within her sight, but too far away.
The way he stared at her, his clear blue eyes gleaming with warmth, drinking her in like a parched creature on the brink of death. The chiseled cuts of his face were more prominent than she last recalled, but somehow softer than their first encounters. His snowy gold hair unrestrained by fancy hair adornments or bands, flowing free like an angel’s wing behind his shoulders, the ends curling around his waist in the breeze. He looked more Seelie than she had ever seen, dressed in a white robe enhanced by cream and gold embroidery and a burnished gold sash that highlighted his trim waist and made her mouth water.
The corner of his mouth curled, the first hint of a smile.
Only when his gaze broke did she realize another Fae stood beside him. The man from their arrival. The sinfully gorgeous dark Fae with rainbow eyes and jet-black hair, pulled back in a thick braid. His attention shifted slowly from where she’d forgotten Moira stood next to Rori.
The two men. Stark opposites. One light as the sun. One dark as night. Both intoxicatingly beautiful.
One second, she stared upon temptation unleashed; the next, they were gone.
Rori spun around when the air at her back hit a little harder, wrapping the very familiar scent of spice around herbody. Moira came up beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
“You make a liar out of me, Shaye. I told Rori you don’t like sifting.”
Shaye. This was Shaye.
Those mercurial eyes landed on her, mirth gleaming within the river of rainbow colors. “I don’t,moghrá.” Damn, did all these men have a voice like liquid sin and wicked desire? His mouth curled, his gaze lazily sliding to Moira. “Alas, three days of waiting is torture foranamcaras, aye?”
Moira scoffed, but her attention was on Thaddeus, not Shaye. Rori stomped down on jealousy’s ugly head. The woman didn’t look upon Thaddeus like she looked upon Shaye. Their love for each other was palpable, thick in the air and light on the heart. An energy that Rori understood, yearned to know in its entirety, craved to have.
“Speak for yourself,” she teased, breaking away from Rori to sidle up against Shaye’s side, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. Rori mused how fragile she looked in the arm of her Faery man. Did she look like that in Thaddeus’s arms? “You’re Thaddeus.”
Thaddeus lowered his eyes, his head dipping.
Rori’s back straightened when he dropped to his knee, his thick cape of hair falling over his face. Moira’s brow furrowed as she shuffled back, her gaze bouncing off Thaddeus to Rori, then Shaye. Shaye’s focus never deviated from Thaddeus.
“My most heartfelt apologies to you for the pain I’ve caused and the strife you suffered from my recklessness. ’Twas never my intention to bring harm upon you. Furthermore, you have my deepest gratitude for allowing us reprieve within your home. May the Goddess hear my words and bless you and your family for eternity.”
Moira’s lips parted, her cheeks flushed. She looked up at Shaye helplessly, her fingers curling in his fancy black robe. Rori stared upon the scene, a chill sluicing along her bones, ominous and treacherous. His confession rang with hidden messages that Shaye and Moira seemed to understand while leaving her feeling like a stranger eavesdropping on a private conversation.
“I, uh, I appreciate your apology and blessing, but you can really get up now. I’m not one who likes people kneeling at my feet,” Moira said, a tone of uncertainty underlying her last words. She reached forward and grabbed Thaddeus by the elbow.
Shaye’s hand had dropped to her waist, and Rori didn’t miss the way his fingers tightened at his wife’s hip when she connected with Thaddeus. Nor did her own flare of jealousy evade her notice. God, she wasn’t a jealous person, but when it came to Thaddeus, a possessiveness overcame her whenever someone came close. To her relief, Thaddeus rose from his knee and took a half-step back, bringing him a little closer to her, folding his hands behind his back. Oh, how her body hummed with the yearning to close the small gap of space between them, wrap her arms around him and never let him go.
He has secrets. Dark secrets.
Yes, he did, and she’d address those soon enough. Right now, all she wanted was him.
“I believe I’ve taken up much of your time this noon. I trust you know your way back to your room?” Shaye asked Thaddeus. Her Faery man nodded once. That mercurial gaze came to rest on her, a small grin appearing. “Should you need anything, all you must do is call. If you care to join us for dinner this eve?—”
“I’ll be more than happy to show you to the hall,” Moirainterrupted, her smile beaming across her face. Shaye chuckled and shook his head, drawing Moira closer to his side. “We’d love for you and Cassy to join us. The invitation extends, of course, to Cael and Thaddeus.”
“Thanks.” She cast Thaddeus a shaded glance. Did his shoulders stiffen a bit? “I’ll definitely consider it.”
“I hope you do.” Moira unhooked herself from Shaye and surprised Rori with a gentle hug. “Remember, everyone deserves second chances when earned.”
The whispered reminder brushed her ear before Moira returned to Shaye’s side. Shaye nodded once toward Thaddeus, who reciprocated the gesture, and flashed a smile at Rori before he guided Moira toward the stairwell and disappeared.
Leaving her alone in the corridor, turmoil and excitement warring with each other, and a sinfully delicious, wickedly beautiful Thaddeus turning the full power of his ravishing gaze upon her starved soul.
