“Nice fangs, Fancy Face. Sexy as fuck,” Adrian said, stepping closer.
I smiled and wrinkled my nose. “Mine will go away.”
“That's too bad. They really are fun.” He smiled, showing off his own.
I blinked at his words and shivered as the whole room faded to nothing. I was once again back inside the candle-lit room with Ryder, biting him for the first time. I blushed profusely at the memory, and swung my eyes back to his, where he stood behind Adrian. His mouth turned into a sexy smirk as if he knew exactly what had just flashed through my mind.
“I'm glad you made it through Transition in one piece,” Adrian finished, Vlad moving in beside him and the tension built inside the room.
I tilted my head, listening as Ryder's heart rate increased and the brands started to pulse violently across my arms and chest. “It's the call of the blood,” Vlad said from beside Adrian.
“What?” I asked, feeling Adam's hand slip inside mine.
“The blood flowing through the veins of those in the room. The hearts beating to a tempo. You hear it all—use it. You will always know when someone is lying, or scared of you.”
I blinked at Vlad. “That's creepy.”
He laughed, wickedly. “It comes in handy. Trust me.”
Chapter Thirteen
We spent some time with Ryder, Z, and Ristan, going over what Adam and I should and shouldn't be able to do, while the rest of Ryder’s men sat around us listening. I had to laugh when Ryder gave us the snippet of Fae advice, ‘just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should.’ Most of the Fae adopted a ‘don’t use magic unless absolutely necessary in the human world’ attitude to help cut down on a lot of the suspicion and hate that the Fae were encountering from some of the more right-winged and prejudiced groups that had been cropping up. All the information was daunting, but I could manage it.
What a relief! Food was still on the board for us, as it turned out the Fae can and do eat; it just didn’t have the same nutritional properties that the emotional feeding gave the Fae. Zahruk let us know that the old stories about humans eating the food of the Fae and becoming bound to the Fae who tricked them was very true, as this was the old way that the Fae used to lock humans into staying with them forever. I had to raise an eyebrow at Ryder for this revelation, as the giant fink had fed me in Faery, and I had forgotten that little tidbit of Hades-Persephone-esque lore of the Celts. A little smirk from Ryder confirmed my suspicion that he had indeed fed me ‘food of the Fae’. I rolled my eyes at his sneaky attempt. That this was one more way he had tried to lock me into being his pet while I was still human.
Ryder had insisted that no one else would teach me how to sift, since it could create an appetite. It was part of Transition, so he was within the agreement of the contract to demand it, just like he did everything else.
Ryder insisted we all retire to the mansion as soon as our little class-Fae 101—was done for today. There was still a lot more to learn, and a great deal more that they were hiding from us. Adam and I were hanging out in the room I’d been in the last time I’d stayed with Ryder—he may have assigned the room to me again, but I wasn’t staying here long term. The minute I could, I was going home.
“You don't think it's weird that Ryder isn't a little more pissed that Arianna wasn't the Light Heir?” Adam asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. Arianna had been a Witch who’d ended up killed by Joseph, and used against the Fae in a deadly game of cat and mouse. We’d discovered she’d been nothing more than pieces from several victims, sewn into one body.
“I find it weird that he's pretending to be something he isn't. I also think there's more going on around here than we can see, or what they are telling us. Ryder isn't the type to let something like being engaged to a fake heir go unpunished, and I have a feeling we're going to end up in the middle of a flipping war.”
“You actually think the Light Fae were in on the deal with Arianna and the Mages?” Adam narrowed his eyes as I smiled in reply.
“I can’t help but think they were. It’s the only way she could have gotten close to the Dark Prince, and both castes seemed really eager for an alliance of the Dark and Light Heirs. I think these guys are messing with each other, because, Adam, some of what I have seen and heard doesn’t add up. I don’t think Ryder is the Dark Heir—I think he’s something else.”
“No, I am not the Dark Heir, but Adam is,” Ryder said from the doorway making us both jump like naughty children with their hands in the cookie jar.
“What?” I asked, hiding my shaking hands.