3. Different Kind Of Shovel Speech

Chapter 3

Different Kind Of Shovel Speech

Liliana's slept fitfully with strange dreams that she couldn't remember. She had the oddest feeling that the Fae prince was at the heart of much of her turmoil. He might, in many ways, be the solution as well.

A warm, tingly feeling lingered on her lips, as if Alexander had kissed her just before she opened her eyes. The faint scent of roses disoriented her for a moment until she saw the bud he gave her last night sitting in a vase on her dresser. The hints of red on the petal edges had spread overnight as the bud began to open.

Her father, Simon of Nemea, would have respected Colonel Alexander Bennet. He was the first man she desired that she could say that about, aside from her former crush on Pete.

She wished her father could meet Alexander.

The spider-kin smiled a little at the bittersweet thought. Her lion-kin father would have growled at the Fae colonel. He’d have threatened to rip him apart and eat his liver if he hurt her. Even so, he might have considered the land-bonded Sidhe prince to be one of the few men on earth good enough for his baby girl.

Ah, that would be a shovel speech!

Ben Harper, the Normal teacher Pete loved, taught her the term. Thinking of her formidable father being all growly at a man she desired made her chuckle. Now, she understood. Her father had loved her, so he would not permit any man to hurt her. A shovel speech was an expression of caring.

Her blood-fire time was coming in a few years when she must mate whether she wished to or not. She had to choose someone to father her daughter when spider-kin biology forced her hand. Alexander might be a good choice for that time, even if he wouldn’t make a good life mate since he didn’t love her.

Pete had advised her to give their relationship time and patience, though. Back when Alexander had kissed nothing but her hand, Pete said men often kissed women they didn’t love. But love could grow and develop, bloom into something far more beautiful in time, like the rosebud in the tall vase on her dresser. It was an intoxicating dream, that she might claim a man like that for life. An unlikely dream, but a heady one nonetheless.

Liliana touched her lips where the handsome Fae kissed her the night before. She wanted that to happen again, possibly she wanted it more than was safe for her heart.

There was one big complicating factor with the Fae colonel, though, even beyond the complicated prince himself. Alexander was involved with another man already. Her first suspicion had been that his relationship with the other man was the real relationship in his life and he’d kissed her only to manipulate her using seduction.

But that wasn’t true. She’d seen into his heart and soul. Alexander wanted her. He said he liked her. She believed him. He had proven before that he had the innate honesty of most Sidhe, but he also had the Fae ability to shade the truth to his best advantage. He was not pretending to want her just to gain her as an ally, but that was still a central motivation for pursuing her.

For now.

If she wanted him to be more motivated by desire and affection, she would have to give the relationship some time and have some patience. She wrinkled her nose. That course of action was no more appealing to her than it had been to Pete when she gave him the same advice regarding his relationship with Ben Harper.

She would also have to decide how she felt about the third person in their triangle. William Eliot III was handsome and charming on the surface. All she knew about the man, though, was that he owned a very big old plantation house just outside of town. He had a powerful azrai grandmother, a Sidhe water Fae who had long ago been bonded both to Elliot River in Scotland and to the Laird of the nearby town.

That and William Eliot was also involved with Pete’s friend, Sergeant Zoe Giovanni, in a way that was manipulative, not romantic and sweet. That part bothered her a lot.

Liliana pulled a long green velvet scarf from one of her drawers. When laid across her head with the ends twisted, she could make it into a turban. It would hide her fourth eyes while she checked on Sergeant Giovanni and William Eliot.

It would also look rather nice with that little green lace-up vest, and the pink chiffon bare midriff shirt under it with wide three-quarter sleeves. She matched the top with a skirt made of purple, pink, and fuscia scarves. A beaded belt embroidered with a green rose leaf pattern and pink rosebuds pulled it all together. She was delighted by her brightly-colored reflection in the mirror, twirling to let the skirt fly out. This would make a wonderful dancing outfit the next time her friends had a party.

She made breakfast, some oatmeal with cinnamon, walnuts, and blueberries paired with fragrant pear ginger tea. While she sat on her back porch swing, rocked, and ate her breakfast, Liliana opened her fourth eyes. A question would help her focus her sight.

How is William Eliot treating Sergeant Giovanni? Is he making her happy?

Sergeant Giovanni sat behind her desk on base. A fancy thin gold box full of confections sat on her desk, open. She offered Pete one of the little chocolate-covered candies inside. “They’re amazing,” Giovanni said.

Pete grabbed one at random and popped it into his mouth. Nodding, he said, “Can’t argue with the guy’s taste in chocolate. Or, women, for that matter.” He winked at his friend. “I’m happy for you, Zoe.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Dr. Peter Teague?” Zoe said, her face scrunched suspiciously. “I know you don’t like William.”

“I said to go slower. Check the guy out a little more. He shifts from being all business with logistics and spending all his time with the Colonel to suddenly wanting to take you out. It just didn’t feel right.”

“But now, he’s okay because…chocolate.”

Pete chuckled. “Well, chocolate never hurts.” He stole another confection and popped it in his mouth, making happy sounds about the melting goodness on his tongue.

“Hey, watch it.” Giovanni swatted at his hand. “That’s a small box and it’s already half gone. The rest are mine. Tell your boyfriend to buy you your own chocolate.” Her face split in a very wide grin as she looked past Pete’s shoulder to the door of her office. “William!”

A handsome, dark-haired young man who wore sunglasses even inside leaned in the doorway, a bouquet of flowers in his hands. “Hello, there, lovely lady. Any chance I could steal you away to get some dinner?”

“I’d be delighted. Perfect timing.” She grabbed her uniform hat and strolled out of the building arm in arm with the handsome wizard.

Pete watched them go, his face unhappy now that Giovanni wasn’t looking.

The vision was barely shaded as past. It probably happened just yesterday, maybe at the same time that she and Alexander Bennett were walking hand in hand behind his house.

Liliana wondered if anything more had happened. She worried about the bespelled locket she’d seen in previous visions.

When will the wizard give her the locket?

She saw a fancy dinner with even less past shading. A delighted smile lit Sergeant Giovanni’s face as William Eliot fastened the locket chain around her neck.

Ah, he gave it to her last night. What happened next?

Giovanni blinked for a moment, as if confused, then smiled at William Eliot with an even greater warmth. “Thank you.” Her fingertips touched the gold hesitantly. “It’s …” she blinked, as if fighting tears. “I don’t think anyone has ever given me anything so wonderful.”

William Eliot popped a fried mushroom in his mouth at the fancy restaurant. “Well, it should make things a lot easier.”

“Easier?” she asked, voice dreamy.

“Yeah. For me, at least.” He waved down a waitress. “Can I get the check?”

When the waitress came and left again, he wiped his lips with a cloth napkin, then asked, “What do you know about Pete’s sword?”

“Pete’s sword?” Giovanni’s brows knit in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

William snapped his fingers under her nose. “Just give me the details on his sword. That’s what I want. You want to make me happy, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” Giovanni took his hand and laid her cheek against it. “I’ll make you so happy.”

William Eliot pulled his hand away with a disgusted look. “Well, I’m not very happy now because you haven’t told me what I asked.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” She seemed on the edge of tears.

“I’ll be a lot happier when you tell me everything you know about Pete’s sword.”

Giovanni brightened only a little, looking worried. “I don’t know much about Pete’s sword, though. Just that his mother gave it to him before she died when he was a kid. It’s ancient. Is that enough?”

“Where does he keep it?”

“It’s usually in his van somewhere, but oh! I remember. Ben mentioned that someone stole it. Is that what you were wondering about? I mean, his sword isn’t something Pete and I discuss a lot.” Giovanni’s brows knit as if concentrating on pulling something from the depths of memory. “Why do you want to know so much about Pete’s sword?”

“Just because I do, and you’re not going to tell anyone I asked about it.”

Giovanni shook her head as if to clear her vision. “I’m not?”

The wizard answered, “I wouldn’t like that.”

Giovanni’s knitted brows smoothed back to a look of besotted joy. “Of course. I would never do anything you wouldn’t like.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” He stole a grape off her plate.

She pushed the whole plate over to him with a smile.

“Now, do you know anything about Alexander that he doesn’t want anyone else to know?”

“You mean Colonel Bennett?”

Liliana knew Giovanni was fiercely loyal to her commanding officer. She would never answer that question.

The military police sergeant scrunched her eyebrows in deep thought. “Well, you know his dad was murdered when he was a teenager. At first, the authorities thought he did it.”

Liliana pressed her lips together in anger. That was an ugly spell. And William Eliot wasn’t just using it to get information on Pete’s sword like Alexander asked him to. He was using it to dig up any dirt he could on Alexander himself.

I hope Pete gets the locket away from Sergeant Giovanni soon.

A vision flashed into life with the vividness of current time. Right this moment, Pete held up a frosty cup to a moon-eyed Giovanni at her desk. The locket was prominently displayed on its short chain, even though visible jewelry wasn’t acceptable for an MP in uniform.

“It’s not candy, but this milkshake is deliciously rich chocolate.” He had two cups with lids and paper straws. Pete took a long draw from one straw, expression blissful. “You know you want it.”

Sergeant Giovanni eyed the cup greedily. “Yeah, yeah, you know my chocolate weakness. Now, shut up and hand over the cup.”

Pete held out the cup. “Here, now we’re square.”

“It’s no big deal. I told you. I’m sure William will buy me many more—ah, ah! That’s cold!”

The lid popped off the cup just as Pete held it toward Giovanni, spilling sludgy brown icy mess on the front of her uniform.

“Zoe! Oh, no, I got it on your new locket, too. Here, let me clean it off. You run some water on your uniform before it stains.” Pete ducked behind Giovanni. He unhooked the locket before she could protest.

“But, I … I promised I’d never take it off.”

“Not a problem. You didn’t take it off. I did.” Pete ran down the hall to the nearest bathroom while Giovanni still seemed to be considering if that counted. He dumped the necklace in the sink like he thought it might bite him and turned the water on full blast.

He opened the locket under the water as Liliana had advised him to, rinsing out a bit of crusty brown inside, probably the wizard’s dried blood, odd bits of hair, and a tiny color pic of his face. Pete left the water on for a few minutes washing every trace of anything but metal away.

Liliana checked on Sergeant Giovanni.

For a moment, the military police sergeant looked lost, wandering after Pete, one arm raised as if to stop him or call him back. Then she stopped, blinking as if just waking up. She looked down at the mess of chocolate ice cream on her shirt, and ran back into her office.

She dug out a spare uniform blouse from a bottom desk drawer before running to another bathroom, unbuttoning as she went.

By the time Pete satisfied himself that the locket was clean and emerged from one bathroom, Giovanni had long since come out of the other one wearing a clean, dry uniform blouse. She held the rinsed blouse in her other hand.

When Pete emerged, she held out a hand imperiously, her foot tapping. “Give.”

Pete placed the locket back in her hand. “Um, you can have my milkshake?” he offered, sheepishly.

“Oh, that’s not going to cut it, buddy. You owe me big time for that mess.” She hooked the chain around her own neck while she spoke, the locket settling back in place. She tucked it under her uniform blouse. “When I get off duty, you owe me pie.”

Pete grinned. “Pie it is. Never let it be said I don’t pay my debts.”

She punched him in the shoulder playfully. “Jerk. I have no idea if this stain will come out.”

Liliana let out a sigh of relief. She stirred honey in her now perfectly brewed tea. Sergeant Giovanni was out of danger. Again.

The spider seer sat back and looked around her garden, enjoying the faint scent of rosemary from the bushes by her back sidewalk. A neighbor child bounced a basketball in their driveway. Liliana loved her little house in her quiet neighborhood. Having fought to keep it made home feel all the more precious.

I wonder how this will affect William Eliot’s plans?

Her fourth vision shaded into a slight touch of the overbright future, probably later today. Pete and Giovanni shared dinner at a dining facility on base, laughing. Pete, with great ceremony presented her with a huge slice of chocolate cream pie with plenty of whipped cream on top. “Apology pie.”

She dipped a spoon in with delight. “Apology pie is pretty good. Not as good as fancy chocolates, but it’ll do.”

Pete reached for a fry on her plate. She smacked his knuckles with the spoon she’d used on her cream pie. “My food. Eat your own fries.”

Pete chuckled, licking whipped cream off his knuckles.

Sergeant Giovanni kept looking down at her wrist as multiple text message notifications flashed on her wrist phone. Her expression twisted in annoyance.

“Eliot?” Pete asked.

“Yeah. I’m not sure what bee got in his bonnet, either. He’s acting weird. Said he’s coming here. But not for dinner, just to pick me up. He won’t even say where he’s taking me.” She grabbed her cover and got up with a sigh. “I’ll have to see what’s up with him. Maybe something bad happened.”

“I’ll pay up. You can meet him out back.”

The sleek electric sports car with a silvery metal rose hood ornament pulled up in the parking lot behind the dining facility, away from the prying eyes of most of the people there.

Wiliam Eliot got out. He stalked toward Giovanni. “Get in the car.”

“Why?” she asked. “Did something happen?”

“Because I said so.” He grabbed her arm. “You wouldn’t want to make me unhappy, would you?”

“Seriously? What’s going on with you?” Giovanni asked, not budging.

William Eliot looked confused for a moment, then looked at her throat. “I told you not to take off the locket.”

Giovanni pulled the chain to reveal the locket that had been tucked under her uniform blouse. “I didn’t. What does your gift have to do with you acting so weird?”

“Get in the car, you simpering cow. I told you my behavior is perfectly normal.” He yanked her arm hard enough that she stumbled forward.

As Pete stepped out into the parking lot, Giovanni twisted her arm out of William Eliot’s hand, yanked off the locket, and threw it in the wizard’s face. “How about you get in the car, asshole. Keep right on driving.” She turned on her heel. “Men,” she grumbled as she stalked back across base toward her own car.

William Eliot stood next to his fancy sportscar, holding the locket, looking dumbfounded.

Pete said, “Huh, strange that she wouldn’t put up with you being an ass to her, even after you gave her that bespelled piece of jewelry.”

Eliot’s hand clenched around the locket. Even with the dark glasses he always wore, his glare at Pete could wither plants. “You did this.”

Pete showed Eliot a lot of teeth. "I won't bother with the 'if you hurt her,' part, because I know what you tried to do. So, let's get straight to stay the hell away from Zoe, or I'll bury you so deep, no one will find the body ."

Oh.

Liliana recognized that this was a shovel speech. But she did not think everything Pete said was figurative. He might be genuinely threatening to kill Eliot.

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." William Eliot sneered at the wolf-kin. "I gave my girlfriend a gift. That's hardly a crime."

Pete’s vicious smile gained sharper canines. "Hell, if I rip you apart, I can bury you in pieces. I won't have to dig as big a hole." The wolf-kin stalked towards the wizard. Pete stayed in human form, but his muscles were loose and his attention focused, all predator even in his pale human skin.

“Fine. Let’s do this.” William Eliot tossed the locket into the open window of his car. He pulled an amulet out from under his shirt. “You don’t scare me.”

Liliana bit her lip, her knuckles white on her teacup. Pete did not have his legendary sword with him and the wizard had serious power. Asrais were not creatures she would want to tangle with. The wizard was only one quarter asrai, but that was enough to give him considerable power.

The two men moved more behind the building by silent accord, out of the sight of passersby in a blind spot of the base surveillance cameras.

William Eliot touched his amulet with one hand. He held the other up toward Pete as if asking him to stop. He snarled a word in a language Liliana didn’t recognize. An odd distortion of light appeared in a large disk about six feet across, protecting the wizard from attack.

He pulled a small flask from his pocket, poured a tiny amount of clear liquid, probably water, into his hand, and pulled it up like taffy into a long, clear blade. He shifted to a low fencer’s stance, smiling back with the same hunger, if fewer teeth. He beckoned Pete closer. “Come on, wolf. I thought you wanted to play.”

Pete looked a little non-plussed. He circled William Eliot, hesitating. He tried to find a way around the magical shield, but it shifted as the wizard turned to keep the red wolf in front of him.

Liliana wondered if Pete had ever fought a wizard before.

The red wolf picked up a piece of gravel from the pavement. He tossed it at the shield. It bounced off with a rippling shimmer like the surface of a pond. Eliot’s smile widened under his dark glasses. He also moved like he knew what he was doing with a sword.

He lunged toward Pete.

The red wolf slipped to the side, far faster than a human could have. Pete’s leg shot out, under the wizard’s shield. The wolf-kin swept across his ankle while most of the man’s weight was on his front leg.

Liliana smiled. She’d taught Pete that foot-sweep technique.

Eliot fell, but rolled back to his feet, the shield covering him so Pete had no way to take advantage.

Pete circled again, looking for a way past the wizard’s defense.

As Eliot rolled to his feet, he slashed at Pete. His sword of water passed through the distortion of the shield without resistance and cut a slash across Pete’s sleeve as he brought his arm up in an instinctive defense. If he’d had a shield, it would have been a good counter. Without a shield, it might have gotten his arm sliced open to the bone if the cut had been an inch or two closer.

Pete growled low, looking at the slice in his shirt, then leaped on the wizard without warning.

The wizard held up his hand with confidence.

Pete ignored it.

He landed on the wizard, hands and feet passing through the visual distortion of the shield without resistance, tackling him onto his back.

The look of shock on William Eliot’s face was comical.

Pete looked just as surprised as William Eliot to land on the wizard instead of the shield.

The wolf-kin held William’s wrist down, so he couldn’t use the water sword while he punched him in the nose hard enough to smash his dark glasses. The shimmer of the shield vanished as Pete’s fist went right through it.

The red wolf bared teeth that were far sharper than possible for a human. He grabbed Eliot’s collar. “Stay. Away. From. Zoe!” He punctuated each word with a hard shake.

Slamming Eliot’s hand against the pavement made the water sword dissolve into a puddle.

Liliana let out her breath in relief, returning her mind to the fine morning where she sat rocking on her porch swing. Her vision of the future reassured her. Pete would be fine when he fought the wizard that evening. There was no need for her to intervene in any way.

She went to take a sip of her tea, discovering the cup was empty. She had appointments coming up, but she still needed more information. Now that the young wizard was no longer a threat to the sergeant or to Pete, she could focus on learning what sort of man he was.

The relationship between him and Sergeant Giovanni had been unpleasant, but William Eliot did not initiate it for any reason of his own. His behavior when he believed her bespelled told Liliana that Eliot didn’t have any real interest in Sergeant Giovanni at all.

Colonel Alexander Bennett instigated the ugly situation by asking the wizard to retrieve information on Pete’s sword or retrieve the sword itself.

What will happen when William Eliot tells Alexander about the fight?

Her fourth vision shifted, a few hours further into the future, later that same evening. The sun was set, the sky filled with stars and swiftly blowing clouds. The wizard stumbled to Colonel Bennett’s home, limping on one ankle. He held one bloody scraped elbow. He let himself in through the back fence gate and the glass patio sliding door, neither of which were locked.

Colonel Bennett sat on his couch reading an actual solid, paper book. Liliana thought she was the only one who still read paper books. As his patio door opened, the prince placed a satin marker between the old yellow pages and stood.

Liliana couldn’t resist tilting her fourth vision to get a look at the book title. Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness . An excellent story. For some reason, even relaxing in his home, Liliana expected to see the Colonel reading something like Sun Tsu’s Art of War or going over mission reports. It took some mental gymnastics to think of Colonel Alexander Bennett not at least thinking about his job.

Eliot stumbled into the prince’s embrace. "He nearly killed me." Tears were thick in the wizard’s voice, though none fell.

The prince put gentle hands on the younger man’s face, studying his injuries. He had a split lip. Blood crusted around his swollen nose where it had stopped bleeding, but a dark stain of drips showed on his synth silk shirt. “I think you’ll live,” he said with an affectionately amused tic on the corner of one lip.

Alexander wrapped his arms around the younger man, stroking his back.

"My magic didn't work on him,” the wizard whined, sounding like he had a bad head cold. “I’ve spent most of my life honing my magic. It just rolled over him like rain on an umbrella. He punched me in the nose right through my shield.”

“Who did this?” Alexander asked. “Not many have that level of magical immunity.”

"That damn dog of yours,” Eliot wrinkled his swollen nose. “Teague." He said the name like it tasted bad.

The hand stroking Eliot's back stopped. The Colonel's jaw tightened. "Celtic wolves are immune to many forms of magic. I told you to get the sword without getting Pete involved. What happened?"

"Don't worry, I didn't hurt your precious red wolf. He broke the spell I had on his sergeant friend, though, somehow. I’ll have to spell his pretty boyfriend instead to get more information.”

"I see." No trace of emotion leaked through the prince's voice or face. "Did you get the sword?"

Eliot shook his head against the prince's broad shoulder. "No, before that damn red wolf messed up my spell, Giovanni said it was gone, stolen." He squeezed a little tighter into the prince's embrace. "Damn it. I won’t fail you. I think there are a few other angles to pursue. I won’t give up, I promise."

The prince hugged him, but Liliana saw the Colonel’s eye roll at Eliot’s histrionics. Then, he pushed the younger man to arm's length so he could study his face. "This spell you used on my sergeant, and intend to use on Pete’s boyfriend, what are the effects?"

The wizard shrugged. "It makes them think they’re crazy in love with me, do anything I tell them to.”

Alexander’s brows knit. “I can see where that would be a useful strategy, especially with Giovanni. She seems to fall in and out of love every other week. But don’t use it on Ben. Pete and Ben are too close. It could cause serious repercussions.”

Eliot waved a hand. “Oh, don’t worry. When they’ve done what I need, I’ll just tell them I don’t want them anymore, and they’ll kill themselves. With them dead, no one will ever have a chance to tie anything back to us."

“That’s not how I do things and you know it.” Anger hardened Alexander’s square jaw. His hands dropped away from the other man.

The young wizard chuckled. He snuggled up to Alexander’s broad, unyielding chest again. “I know you’d rather keep things civilized, but those spells only affect Normals. It wouldn’t hurt anyone important.”

Alexander’s arms did not lift to embrace the young man again. Instead, he twisted his body out of Eliot’s arms, disengaging. His voice went blank and bored as he turned his back to the wizard. "You said the spell on my sergeant is broken. You haven’t put it on anyone else yet. Correct?"

William Eliot nodded. “Yeah, but I will.” He straightened his back. “I swear I will at least get the details of what happened to the sword. I’ll get it for you if at all possible. If Aurore wants it bad enough to send her pet assassins, it must be important. Just leave it to me."

He turned a cold stare on William Eliot. “I think you’ve done enough.” The ice in his voice could cause frostbite. "Despite your failure, I will arrange for the payment we agreed on to be sent to you.”

Liliana shivered as all emotion leeched from the Fae prince’s previous warm reassurance. She would hate to be in the wizard’s shoes. Gone from warmth and welcome to ice and rejection in a moment.

“I will no longer be needing your services, in any capacity,” Alexander turned his back again on the handsome, wounded man whose eyes filled with genuine tears this time.

"I don't care about the money. I just..." Eliot wrapped his arms around himself.

Liliana recognized the look on the man's face. He had no reason to seduce Sgt. Giovanni, hurt Ben Harper, or fight Pete. Eliot had done all the cruel things he did for only one reason, for love of Alexander Bennett. He had tried so hard to impress the prince. Liliana suspected he genuinely didn’t understand what he’d done wrong.

"I’ll inform my superiors that your services are no longer needed.” Alexander sat down. He picked up the book he had been reading, opening it to the marked page as if Eliot were already gone.

Liliana was appalled. There was no sympathy, no gentleness to the end of a relationship that had seemed well established just moments before. She had seen how calculating Alexander could be, but had no idea he could be so deliberately cruel.

"But we're the same, you and I, a mix of royal Fae and human. I thought we were forever.” A tear rolled down, streaking the dirt on the wizard’s cheek. “You said ..." He stumbled to a stop.

Alexander Bennett looked up from his book, his face devoid of any emotion. He looked bored, as if breaking someone’s heart was a routine task for him. "What did I ever say that led you to the conclusion our arrangement was permanent?"

"I just ... I thought you loved ..." Another tear dripped down the wizard's face. It ran over his sharp cheekbone and dripped off his jaw.

Alexander gave him a blank, bored look, one eyebrow raised as if wondering why the man was still standing in his living room.

"I see.” Eliot nodded, took a deep breath, and straightened his shoulders. “I was wrong." He limped out the same way he'd come in.

As Eliot left, the pain on his face quickly transformed into fury. His puffy, tear-filled eyes flashed red like hot coals without his dark glasses to hide them.

The spider-kin snapped the handle off the cup she had been drinking tea from.

Liliana despised Eliot. The more she saw of William Eliot III, the less she wanted to have anything to do with him. But at that moment, she felt heartsick for the handsome young wizard.

She had begun to consider the Fae prince as a potential life mate. Now, she wondered if she should reconsider her previous decision, and let Alexander Bennett die. His heart was as cold as the obsidian stone of his Fae form.

Anyone who loved the unseelie prince would be setting themselves up for heartbreak the moment they made a mistake.

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