Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“Maybe don’t announce our plans,” he said with a grim look.
Kerrigan laughed. “As if that barrier didn’t read our minds.”
He grimaced. “Right.” Then he took a breath and offered her his arm. “Shall we, my lady?”
Kerrigan set her hand in the crook of his elbow. “Together.”
They moved down the pink marble hallway toward the sounds of a soiree. Kerrigan kept expecting something to jump out at them. She was ready for an attack, but nothing ever came. Perhaps it was worse that they had entered the sleeping bear cave. The trap had already been sprung.
At the end of the hall was a large, open room, filled to the brim with food and drink. The display made the boar that the Erewan Fae had roasted last night look like nothing. Platters were heaped with a dozen different kinds of succulent meat, fruits like she had never seen, bread so soft that it looked like pillows with slabs of sweet butter. The desserts were elaborate, ranging from tiny little macarons to the multitiered cakes. It was as if she had entered another world, and she wanted to try everything.
Kerrigan’s stomach growled noisily at the display, and her mouth watered. She could see the hunger painted on Fordham’s face as well.
“Welcome,” a male said, stepping out of a side door.
Kerrigan jumped before she could stop herself, but the man smiled and offered her a golden goblet on a platter.
“Drink?”
Fordham eyed it skeptically. “What is it? And who are you?”
The man ignored the second question entirely. “We have punch, red and white wine, and sparkling. Though if you have a preference, I can consult the cellar for your specialty.”
“Where are we?” Kerrigan probed.
The male looked at her and offered her the platter. “Drink?”
“Can you hear me?” She waved her hand in his face. “Where are we? Who lives here? Who are you?”
He moved the platter to the other hand and put it in front of Fordham. “Drink?”
“I don’t think he can answer our questions,” Fordham said.
“What if we don’t want to eat or drink anything?” she asked, even as her stomach cramped at the thought of ignoring the food.
The Fae male bristled at that comment. “You can eat until you’re sated and then enter the party. Otherwise, you may leave the way you came.”
Kerrigan frowned. “We’ve heard the faerie tales. Once a human has eaten in the halls of the Fae, they can never leave.”
Fordham scowled. “That was a long time ago.”
“When do you think this place was built exactly?”
“Then, you shouldn’t eat or drink anything. You should go back. He said you could go back.”
Kerrigan glared at him. Then, she snatched up the closest goblet and took a long drink of the punch within. Once the cool, fruity liquid touched her lips, she couldn’t seem to stop drinking. She downed the glass as quickly as she could. The red liquid ran out of her mouth and down her chin, staining the white of her dress.
She clunked the goblet down onto the platter. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
She reached for another glass. She had never had anything so delicious. She simply couldn’t get enough of whatever that was. It tasted like the nectar of the gods. Something a mere mortal should never have been able to taste.
“No,” Fordham said, lunging for the glass.
“Let go,” she snapped.
“One drink is enough.” He wrangled it out of her hand and took a sip of it. Instantly, his face fogged over. Then, he poured the rest of the contents down his throat. “That is …”
“The best thing you have ever tasted?”
“Yes,” he breathed.
Their eyes moved to the food on all the many platters. They could indulge here. They could devour the entire contents on display. It would be so easy and still never be enough. Kerrigan tried to shake the feeling, to clear the fog settling in her mind. But the food was right there. It somehow looked even more delicious than before they tasted the wine. The hog glistened. The enlarged fruits looked bursting with flavor. The desserts were twice the size. Everything made her stomach physically uncomfortable because she wasn’t pushing it into her gullet.
“Fordham,” she groaned, holding her stomach. “I’m so hungry.”
“Then, we’ll eat.”
He took a step forward, and she grabbed him.
“Wait.”
“I can’t wait.”
He tried to rip his way out of her grasp. She doubled down and held him tighter.
“Were you hungry before this?” she asked, fishing in her memory. “We ate. We ate, remember? Before we came in.”
“What are you talking about?” Fordham asked. “We’ve been here for hours. We’re starving, Kerrigan. We need to eat. Let me go.”
She pushed her body in front of his. She was hungry. She wanted to eat the food more than anything in her life, but this also felt wrong. Something was wrong.
“Look at me.”
Finally, after a harried few minutes, he met her gaze. His pupils were blasted out so far that his eyes almost looked black. But the longer he looked at her, the more his eyes settled back to their thunderstorm gray. His breathing relaxed, and his shoulders dropped.