11. Appreciation, Kisses, And Pie
Chapter 11
Appreciation, Kisses, And Pie
The next morning, Liliana slept until 9:37. Her first customer appointment, Janice Willoughby, was at 10 AM. The spider-kin groaned as she rolled out of bed, still in her torn tights and bloodstained leotard. She would have loved to take a very long, hot bath, but she only had a few minutes.
She showered off the lion-kin's blood as quickly as she could, but it still took quite a bit longer than it should have. There was no part of her body that didn't hurt. Her ankle was swollen. Her left arm was useless. She pulled on a clean purple leotard without bothering with tights or shoes, dropped a flowing homemade blouse made of scarves in multiple shades of lavender over it, she pulled on a skirt made of royal purple silk scarves with sequins sewn around their edges.
Another scarf, in red and yellow floral patterns, tied around her shoulder became a sling for her broken arm. Yet another scarf, a cerulean blue stretchy knit, made a serviceable wrap for her swollen ankle.
Her stomach rumbled, but she ignored it. She could already hear insistent knocking at her business door.
The spider-kin limped into the one room of her house that was set aside for her fortune-telling business so she could open the front door.
Janice held a covered serving dish in one hand. The other hand went over her mouth. "Oh, Madame Anna, what happened to you?"
"I was nearly killed by a big lion." Liliana didn't wait for Janice to come in, nor did she bow or do any arm flourishes. She just left the door open and limped over to her normal chair at the little round table with the crystal ball.
"How? I mean, didn't you see him coming? Couldn't you have avoided him?"
"Some lionesses asked me for help. They wanted to hire the Celtic wolf to fight for them, but I told them he was busy last night, so I would fight instead."
"You did that for ..." Janice's hand went over her mouth again. "You could have been ..."
"I had intended to cancel our appointment today, but I overslept. I didn't get a chance to call you."
"Don't worry about that. It's fine. I just wanted to thank you is all. You told me the red wolf would keep my Lou safe. You warned me to take my children and go visit family out of state so we would be safe, too. You were so right, but I guess you know that."
"Yes, I know that."
"Well, so, here. I made you a pumpkin pie." Janice set the pie on the little round table in front of Liliana. "I know it isn't anything special, but ..." She lifted the lid.
The spider seer's stomach rumbled again. "I like pumpkin pie." It was covered in a layer of whipped cream spread smooth, but with little waves in it from the knife.
Janice Willoughby was an excellent cook. Considering Liliana's current mobility issues, she might have to live on that pie for a few days. Standing up in her kitchen to cook was out of the question.
"A pie doesn't seem like enough. I mean, you've done so much for my family."
"You are my best customer. You always pay me well. Pete saved your husband. I only let you know that you could trust him."
"And fought a lion so that Pete would be there when my Lou needed protection."
"I gave you my word that the red wolf would be there."
"Oh, Anna." Janice blinked fast a few times, then threw herself at the spider seer.
Liliana almost punched her best customer out of defensive reflex but managed to stop in time. She grunted in pain as Janice Willoughby hugged her.
The rabbit-kin apologized so profusely that she stumbled over her words.
"It's all right. I am fine." Liliana managed to give her a smile. She patted her shoulder. "I had my own reasons for fighting the lion. My father was lion-kin. I am a child of the pride."
"You’re a lion’s daughter? If I’d had any idea how dangerous you were, I never would have come to you that first time. But I’m so glad I did.”
Liliana smiled at the tablecloth. “I am glad, too.”
“Is there anything you need? Anything I can help you with?"
Liliana inhaled the scent of sweet cream and pumpkin. She smelled allspice, too, with just a trace of the sweet bite of fresh ginger. "I'm not going to be able to cook for a few days."
The rabbit-kin patted her unbroken arm carefully. "Don't you worry about a thing. I'll make one of my chicken casseroles and bring it over right away."
"That would be nice." Liliana stood up. "I have to call my other customers to cancel their appointments, then I will go back to bed."
"Oh, of course, you poor dear. I'll get out of your way." Janice left, with several more expressions of sympathy and gratitude.
One thing Liliana liked about the rabbit-kin was that she never had to wonder what Janice meant when she talked. Janice was as skilled at social interaction as Liliana was deficient.
The spider seer ate pie with a spoon right out of the round serving dish while she made her phone calls. She put the remainder of the pie in the kitchen before limping back to her bedroom. She wondered if she could maybe get that long hot soak in a bath now, or if she would rather just go back to sleep.
Someone knocked on her front business door again.
Liliana sighed. She painfully limped back to her workspace.
She opened the door without bothering to look first. If it was an enemy, they could just kill her. She would feel better.
It was Marilyn Bradley, the brown-haired lioness. One hand held a large duffel bag slung over her shoulder. The other held her toddler son’s tiny hand.
Liliana tilted her head to the side. "Why are you here, Marilyn Bradley?"
"Oh!" The lioness covered her mouth in shock, just like Janice did when she got her first look at Liliana. For a long moment, the lion-kin stared at her.
The spider-kin hadn't had a chance to look in a mirror, but she suspected she wasn't looking her best. Liliana waited with something she wasn't used to, impatience. Her ankle hurt. She needed to sit down and put it up, preferably with some ice. "Why are you here, Marilyn Bradley?" she asked again.
"I just wanted to ... thank you. And introduce you to my son, Simon."
"Your son's name is Simon?" Liliana looked at the tiny lion-kin. The brown-haired boy glared back at her over his thumb stuck in his mouth.
"I thought you would want to meet him. He's named after my great-grandfather. My grandfather used to tell me stories that I thought he made up. But after what you told me the other day ..." she smiled. "Well, it seems likely that we're related."
"What was your grandfather's name?" Liliana asked.
"Petros Simonson."
"Oh." Liliana blinked as her human eyes watered. "He was my youngest brother." The spider seer extended a hand to the boy. "I am honored to meet you, little nephew. You have my father's name. It is a lot to live up to."
The toddler looked at her hand for a moment, then up at his mother who nodded encouragingly. He pulled his thumb out of his mouth long enough to squeeze Liliana's hand.
The little boy's hand was slick with saliva and possibly some snot.
Liliana wiped her hand on her skirt. Hopefully, the boy would gain better sanitary habits when he got older. "Was there anything else?" she asked Marilyn. "I am in pain. I would like to lie down."
"Of course. I'm sorry. It's just that we have our lives back because of you and well, we didn't even pay you."
Liliana gave a one-shouldered shrug. "I did not want another unworthy king of lions in Fayetteville. I am pleased that Daniel is king. He will be a good king. I am pleased I was able to help. I would like to lie down now."
"Right. Of course. But here." Marilyn set the duffel bag inside Liliana's door.
Liliana looked inside the bag with her fourth eyes. Money. The bag was full of transferable pay cards, many of them, some marked with large denominations. "Why are you giving me a bag full of money?"
"Andrew Periclum, the previous king, paid Tray a lot for ... for enforcement, I guess. Tray always hid that money away. He called it his retirement plan. Mostly, I think he was hiding it from the IRS. I didn't want any of that money, so I put it all in when we took up a collection to pay the Celtic wolf. The pride donated the rest. Everyone who didn't want Tray to be the next king, even the ones who weren't brave enough to say so in front of the pride, put in as much as they could afford. I thought you should have it."
"Why?"
"Well, you said we should pay you what we thought was fair. For what you did, for me, for Simon, for the whole pride, this isn't nearly enough. We owe you the rest of our lives, but ..." She shrugged. "This is what we have to give. Everyone trusted Arel, Kazi and me to use the money to help the pride. We think you should have it."
"Okay. I am going to lie down now."
Marilyn smiled. "You look like you could use some rest. Thank you, again."
"You're welcome." It was the correct social response, but it didn't feel right. For what she had done, the big bag of money was fair, yes, but at the same time, being paid made it clear to Liliana that the lions thought of her as an outsider. She’d been paid to do them a service. A pride-child serving her pride was not usually paid.
Yet, Marilyn and little Simon were her brother Petros' descendants. The pride was her family. She was now the pride-king's champion as well. She expected Daniel to give her duties once she recovered from the fight.
Getting paid like a hired hand hurt in a different way than her bruises and her broken arm. Clearly, they didn’t want a spider in the lion-kin pride.
She watched Marilyn and little Simon get back in the big SUV with Kazi driving.
Liliana blinked tears as they pulled away. Forgetting for the moment about her throbbing ankle, she stared after the car long after it disappeared.
Her fourth eyes and her memory both filled with a vision of the time she’d fallen from the trapeze as a child. She’d bounced too high on the net below. It threw her to the hard-packed dirt where she broke her arm, rather like it was broken now.
Her father dropped down onto the net, bounced perfectly, did a neat flip over the edge, and landed lightly next to her. “Let me see.”
“It hurts.” She sobbed, cradling her injury.
Her father engulfed her with his powerful arms. That warm, smelly place with her face buried in his sweaty leotard was safer than anywhere else in the world.
“I know it hurts, kardoula mou. But you are so very brave to want to fly with your family in the act. Sometimes, it hurts to reach for what you want most.”
He stroked her hair for a while as her tears and snot mixed with the sweat on his chest. After the storm died down a bit, he said gently, “Maybe you should wait a few years until you get bigger.”
Liliana sniffled. Her tiny face scrunched in frustration. Sometimes words wouldn’t come when she was this upset. While pain tried to make her mute, her anger forced words out in a tumble. “Other people get bigger. I’m always small. If I wait to get big, I’ll never do anything. I want to fly with you. I don’t care. This will heal.”
Simon of Nemea smiled down on her with such pride and love that his aura in her third eyes glowed like the blue-white heart of a welding fire.
Grown Liliana smiled to see that expression on her father’s face in her fourth vision. She couldn’t see the glow of his aura anymore, but she remembered how bright it had been that day.
I am a dome champion, now, Pater. I am the champion of the new pride-king, even though I never stopped being small. You would be so proud.
She’d fought for this pride to be led by a man of honor. She would fight again for her right to be part of it. Maybe she would have to remind Daniel that it was her pride, too.
When she felt better, she would go visit Daniel Magoro to discuss how she would serve the pride now that she was his champion.
Her nephew was his heir. She would have a hand in forging the next pride-king, too.
Liliana closed the door. She looked at the duffel bag full of money. It was a big bag. There was no way she wanted to pick it up right now. But it didn't seem like the best place to leave a bag full of money, right by the door of her shop.
She decided she would move it later. The wounded spider-kin limped back into her living space.
Someone knocked on her back door, just as she closed the door between the business room and the rest of her house.
Liliana sighed. The knock was on her home door this time. If it had been on the business door again, she might have ignored it, but very few people knocked on her back door. They were all too important to ignore.
She limped over and opened the door. "What?"
It was Pete. He looked puzzled. He had a split lip, and a nasty scratch on his neck. "That's the kind of greeting I usually get from Doc Nudd." He looked more closely at her face and whistled. "What happened to you?"
"I need to lie down." The spider seer left the door open. She limped over to her couch. She clearly wasn't going to get that hot bath today.
Pete followed her in. "So, what's the story?"
"I fought a lion-kin last night." She put her sprained ankle up on the arm of the couch. Leaning back, she faced the big, overstuffed armchair that Pete sat in the last time he visited her. "There is beer in the refrigerator," she told him.
"I'm good, but you’re not." He hovered over her a little. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"You could get me some ice in a towel for my sprained ankle, and maybe another one for my broken arm?"
"Sure, Lilly." He went into the kitchen. Puttering sounds came from the kitchen, but she didn’t bother opening any extra eyes to watch him. "Is that pumpkin pie?"
"Yes. Janice Willoughby made it. It's very good. You can have some if you want."
"No, thanks. I've got enough pie at home to gain twenty pounds." He came back into the living room holding two tied dish towels full of all the ice in her house in corn-based plastic bags. "Lou's wife made pie for you, too?"
"She was thanking me for telling her the red wolf would protect her husband, not kill him."
Pete grinned. "I appreciate that. It would have been a lot harder to protect Lou if he'd been trying to run from me and the Wolfhounds both."
Liliana hissed a breath in through her teeth as Pete placed the ice packs. The ice was very uncomfortable, but it would bring the swelling down on her ankle and numb the pain in her arm. She wished she could use over-the-counter medicines like Normals could. "Can you do something else for me?"
"Sure, Lilly, whatever you need."
"Can you get the duffel bag sitting by my business door and put it in my bedroom closet? I don't want to lift it right now to put it away myself."
Pete got the bag. He hefted it curiously as he brought it in. "What's in here?"
"A whole lot of money."
Pete hesitated for a moment, then walked into her bedroom to set the duffel bag in her closet.
Liliana watched him with her fourth eyes this time, amused.
Pete gingerly picked up the blood-soaked clothes she’d discarded on the floor earlier. She hadn't had the energy to take the blouse and slippers to the trash recycler. They were beyond any hope of laundering. She should turn on the room-bot to take care of it for her.
He came back into the room, looking concerned. "Lilly, why do you have a bag full of money?"
"The wife of the lion-kin that I killed gave it to me."
Pete ran his hand through his thick red hair. He scratched the back of his neck. "Um, Lilly, did you murder a man last night and get paid for it by his wife?"
Liliana grinned, amused by his discomfort. "Are you going to call Detective Jackson to arrest me?"
"I won't, but I'm wondering if I should."
"Some lionesses asked me for help. The new pride-king was chosen last night. A very unworthy man would have become king. He would have killed many people, including those three lionesses, sparking a pride war that would have killed hundreds more."
Pete's pale skin paled a little more. "Yikes. The pride war in South Carolina in the '20's killed over three hundred people, and a couple thousand were injured."
"They wanted to hire my friend, the Celtic wolf, to kill the unworthy lion to prevent that."
"Why didn't you send them to me, then?"
"I promised Janice Willoughby you would protect her husband last night."
Pete got an "aha!" kind of look on his face. He pointed at her. "I can't be in two places at once."
Liliana smiled at his boots. "I watched you and Doctor Nudd fight the Wolfhound pack. You were magnificent."
Pete knelt beside the couch. He squeezed her uninjured hand. "I had an excellent teacher."
She felt warm in spite of the ice on her arm and her ankle.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"I will be fine, Pete. I am tired now. I would like to sleep."
"Okay, I'll let you rest." He leaned in and kissed her forehead.
Liliana closed all her eyes, smiling.
Pete left.
Liliana dozed.
Another knock on her front shop door woke her. She looked, thinking she would just ignore it, but got up instead. It was Janice Willoughby with enough casserole for the spider-kin to eat for days.
Liliana ate some of the delicious warm casserole, then lay back on her couch, not really sleepy anymore, but not interested in doing anything. She didn't even want to open her fourth eyes. She was afraid she might see something important and feel compelled to do something about it.
The spider seer wondered if it might be nice to have a holovision set, or one of the communication centers people had now instead. She had enough money to get one now. She should at least turn on her room-bot so it could pick up her soiled clothes and clean the dirty dishes she’d left in the sink, but even getting up to turn the robot on seemed like too much trouble. If she had a communication center, she could tell her house AI to turn on the room-bot, but that seemed lazy to her any day other than today when half her body was throbbing with agony.
Someone knocked on her home door before she got settled back on the couch with new ice packs. She looked with her fourth eyes. Doctor Nudd and Siobhan. "Come in!" she shouted. The door was not locked, and she did not want to get up again.
Doctor Nudd and Siobhan brought her medicine. She’d forgotten she had some already. That would have helped. Doctor Nudd brewed chai tea to mix with the powder to hide the bitter flavor.
Liliana drank the medicine-laced tea gratefully.
Doctor Nudd and Siobhan helped themselves to a craft beer each. Once settled on the armchair and the couch arm respectively, they asked her for the story.
By the time she’d explained the essentials, the pain in her wounds had faded to insignificance. She felt rather delighted with everything.
I wonder if this is how my venom makes people feel?
"Thank you, my friends," Liliana said. "You are the best friends in the world, the best friends that anyone ever had."
Siobhan giggled. "Sure, Spider Girl. Glad to see you're feeling better."
Doctor Nudd downed the last of his beer. He patted Liliana's uninjured shoulder. "I'll come back to check on you in a few days to make sure you’re back on your feet." He grinned down at her. "The new pride-king's champion will, no doubt, have duties."
Liliana grinned back at his left ear. There was gray and brown hair growing out of it. Doctor Nudd understood. "I'll have duties in the beast-kin court." She giggled. "Just like the Fae prince's Merlin has, and the Fae court Guardian!"
She raised a hand toward Siobhan, two fingers up and crooked.
The sprite hooked two fingers with hers, then pulled.
Liliana pulled back, straightening her fingers as the sprite did. They pointed them at each other and said, "Pow!" at the same time.
The spider seer found this new social ritual as odd as all the other ones she’d learned, but this one was satisfying in the moment. It was nice to have someone else understand how fundamentally her life had changed.
"Later, Champion," Siobhan said on the way out.
"Later, Guardian," Liliana said back.
She asked Doctor Nudd to leave the door open a crack so that whoever came next could just come in. That way she wouldn't have to get up.
Liliana had never in her life had so many people in her house in one day. She felt like she sort of had a party, just not all at once. She giggled to herself.
She closed her eyes for a moment, then looked up, confused by the odd change in light. Her clocks said it was past eight. Her windows were dark. She must have dozed off for a while. Doctor Nudd's medicine was still going strong. She felt no pain and no inclination to move.
A deep voice said her name, "Liliana?"
"Yes?"
Alexander Bennett stood in her entryway holding a gun while looking around her house.
She sighed. "I thought we were past the gun pointing thing."
"Your door was open. I thought something was wrong."
"Nothing is wrong. So many people have been in and out of my house today, I got tired of opening the door."
He closed the door. The lock clicked. "Who was here?" He walked into her living room, still looking around warily as if he expected something dangerous to pop up out of her cupboards.
"Nearly everyone I know."
The spider-kin watched him scope out her living space. He was so tall and his shoulders were so broad that her living room seemed cramped in comparison. Strange that Doctor Nudd was even taller and Pete was just as broad-shouldered, yet neither of them seemed to fill up space like Alexander did.
He relaxed after another moment. Apparently, her bookshelves weren't going to attack. He looked down at the spider-kin stretched out on the couch with her bad arm snugged against her belly and her ankle propped on the couch arm. "You look terrible," he said.
Liliana giggled. "I don't think you're supposed to say that, even if it's true. Isn't there a social rule against it?"
"Undoubtedly." He put the gun in the holster at his hip.
"Why are you here, Alexander? Even spider-kin don't heal that fast."
He chuckled. "I wanted to see if you needed anything. It looks like I was last in line."
"I have pie. And a big bag of money. And good painkillers. I am glad you came, though."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"You could kiss me again. I like it when you kiss me." Liliana pushed the melted bags of ice and the dishtowels on the floor. She held out her good arm to him, making grabby motions with her hand.
The prince smiled at her, one of his tiny, real amused smiles, not his broad fake politician's smile, or the hungry shark smile he gave her after she killed Tray Bradley. "Those must be some really good painkillers."
"I like your smile, too, when it's real.”
The prince looked around her living room for a place to sit. He seemed to consider the chair where Pete and Doctor Nudd liked to sit.
He took off his coat and dress uniform jacket. A myriad of colorful ribbons set off the dark blue woolly fabric. He laid them down on the big chair with his hat on top of the neat pile.
His strong arms slipped under the spider-kin's shoulders and knees. Alexander swooped her up off the couch like she was light as a feather. He spun her around and sat on her couch where she had been a moment before, but now her body fitted comfortably against his chest in the crook of his arm.
Liliana giggled. "I like this, too." She snuggled in closer to his broad chest. Her broken left arm was safe in the sling in her lap. Her right hand rested on his chest. She flattened it over his heart where it seemed to belong.
"I'm glad to hear that." His hand stroked her hair back from her face, fingertips gentle on the swollen bruises on that side.
"Are you going to kiss me now?" She looked up at his full mouth with just her human eyes, licking her lips.
"Definitely."
She opened her third eyes as his lips touched hers. He was worried about her. He had been thinking about her all day, both how beautiful and how tiny she was. She’d been so badly injured. He worried that he left her here alone, that if she needed help, no one would know. He should have insisted she go to a hospital. He was both relieved and disconcerted to find she didn't need anything from him.
His concern made her heart soar. Her stoic prince had a heart that she had begun to win.
"You don't need to worry. My friends have been taking good care of me."
"You must have some very good friends."
"I do." The truth of that struck the spider-kin again. She had been alone a long time, long enough that she would never be able to take having friends for granted. "I didn't have any friends at all until I met Pete. I also didn't have to fight widow spiders and really big lions, but I like my life better now."
"Was Pete here?" His body tensed a little. His expression and voice became bland and bored.
"Yes. He moved the bag of money. He put ice packs on me, and he kissed me before he left."
"Pete kissed you? Does Pete kiss you a lot?" His voice still sounded like the answer was unimportant to him, but Liliana wasn't fooled.
She giggled. "You're jealous of Pete."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "You told me you wouldn't look in my head unless we were kissing."
"I didn't need to look." She tapped him on the nose with her fingertip. "I just know."
"You didn't answer my question." His lips pursed in annoyance bordering on anger.
He was so quick to anger. She didn't want him angry with Pete. Her prince could be a very dangerous man. "He doesn't kiss me like you do."
"What do you mean?"
Liliana gave his unscarred cheek a sisterly peck. "Pete kisses me like that."
"Ah, I see." She felt his body release tension, snuggling her closer. His face lost its hardness.
Liliana smiled at him, wide and wicked, showing him her fangs. "Normally, jealousy is a problem, but I think I like that you were jealous."
"Why would you like that?” He wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Jealousy is an emotion I try hard to avoid."
"You wouldn't be jealous if I wasn't important to you."
He drew up with a blink. "That's ... true."
"You like me because I always tell you the truth." Liliana's hand wandered over the planes of Alexander's chest. She could feel the shape of his large pectoral muscles through his button-down shirt. She loosened his tie until the short end came out of the knot, then tossed the useless piece of fabric on the floor.
He watched, bemused as she struggled to unbutton the old-fashioned buttons on his uniform shirt one-handed and uncoordinated from intoxication. "That's not the only reason I like you," he said, voice so soft it was almost a whisper. He kissed her forehead, but it didn't feel the least bit like Pete's kisses. His lips trailed to her cheek on the side that wasn't bruised, then to her ear.
Liliana wondered if kissing that was not on the lips qualified as kissing that would let her look into him. "I want to know the other reasons. Can I look?"
He chuckled, tickling her ear with his warm breath. "You could just ask."
"I don't always understand what people mean when they use words. When I look inside people, I understand them."
He drew back enough that he could look at her face. "You've already seen inside my head."
"I have seen who you are." Enough of his buttons were undone that she could slip her hand in to feel the heat of his skin through his thin t-shirt over his pounding heart. "I have seen your soul." She ran her hand up his neck to his face, cupping his scarred cheek. "But I only see what you think and feel in the moment when I look. You would have to think about why you like me while I’m looking at you with my third eyes for me to see."
Alexander swallowed as she touched his scars, her fingers careful so as not to hurt when she caressed the bumpy slick skin. His eyelids fluttered closed.
He held her hand against his face. "What is inside my head isn't always pretty. Some of it is dangerous for you to know."
"I already know a great many dangerous secrets, my very dangerous prince, including some of yours. I have never betrayed your secrets. I never will. I try very hard not to betray anyone’s secrets."
He opened his eyes. They were filled with some intense emotion, some longing she couldn't identify.
"Let me in," she asked. Her fingertips delicately touched his scars. She wondered what made permanent scars on a Sidhe who could heal nearly any injury. But she didn’t look. He would tell her when he was ready.
He nodded. “You can look inside me whenever you wish.” Fear flashed in those fathomlessly deep brown eyes.
She looked. He was afraid that each time she looked inside him, she might find something so ugly, so dark that she would no longer want him. But that fear was balanced by a longing, a hope that someone could know him, all the layers, all the secrets and hidden dark corners of his soul, and still want him.
No, not just someone.
Her.
Inside Alexander's mind, Liliana saw herself looking back with exotic eyes like wise and magical jewels. Her head cocked sideways with eyes on the floor, thick wavy dark hair framing an elfin face as she asked him if he would send Wolfhounds to kill Pete. She soared through the air, the essence of grace and power, as if gravity didn’t apply to her. She walked out of a cage, splattered with blood, head high like a queen. She trembled and went pliant in Alexander's arms as he kissed her, right after she danced the deadliest lion in the pride to death.
A tender seriousness filled her face as she told him she desired all that he was. She fully intended to risk her life to fight for him. The raw truth of that still shook him to the core.
This man wanted Liliana. He wanted to possess all that power and beauty, unselfconscious grace and honest desire. He wanted her so much he could hardly think of anything else but her.
Liliana had a hard time believing it was true, but she could see it with her own eyes. She couldn't tell a polite lie to save her life, was prone to sudden violence, and had strange eyes that she hid so they wouldn't make people uncomfortable. He liked all those things. Quirks that others saw as odd or disturbing, he saw as desirable.
Liliana slipped her hand up to pull him closer. The fine short hair on the back of his neck tickled her palm. For the first time, rather than just letting him do the kissing, she gave her prince a proper kiss.
As the kiss deepened, she filled her third eyes with the hot red of his desire. She pulled him hard enough against her lips to hurt, and didn't care. She kissed him like she would die if she couldn't, like she needed his lips and tongue to breathe, to live.
He groaned into her mouth, kissing her back with the same desperation. His hand moved up her bare thigh under her skirt until it cupped her bottom.
She ripped the rest of the buttons off his shirt, so her hands could explore his chest. Her fingernails raked against the thin t-shirt material, wishing she could claw it off him so nothing would separate them.
He crushed her tight enough against his hard body to make her cry out involuntarily from the pain. A shock of horror/disgust ran through him like a bucket of ice water over all that fire. He pulled away from the kiss, breathing hard.
"It's all right," Liliana said. He had hurt her, but between the painkillers and the spectacular need inside his head, she was so drunk she didn't care. No one had ever wanted her that much. It made her feel giddier than any drug.
"No, it isn't." A shuddering revulsion doused his passion. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out, regaining control. She caught a flash of memories, nothing clear enough to catch more than the impression of pain and sex mixing in a very bad way to make something ugly, before he slammed that mirror of shielding over his mind, shutting her out. "I'd better go."
"I really want to bite you," Liliana said, disappointed. She knew she wasn't thinking clearly with the drugs in her system, but she wasn't sure she’d ever wanted anyone so badly either. This prince of shadows and secrets was the most fascinating man she’d ever met. Waiting until her body healed to claim him seemed like a form of torture.
He raised an eyebrow at that. "You want to bite me?"
"I want to share venom with you very much." She nibbled on the strong column of his throat down to the prominent collarbone that his open shirt revealed. He had so much muscle, she could bite him almost anywhere.
"That's not what I had in mind," he said. His body tensed against her. He would have pulled away from her if he could have without dumping her injured body on the floor. As it was, he took a firm grip of the hair at the base of her neck so he could pull her head away from his skin.
Liliana giggled. "I know exactly what you had in mind. I want that, too. But it would hurt right now, so can I just bite you?" She stroked the short, rough dark hair on his unscarred temple where gray hairs mixed with the black, one of the first signs that he was no longer young. If he let her bite him, he would be hers. The gray would soon fade away. If she had her way, his hair would stay dark forever.
"What would your venom do to me?" His voice returned to unconcerned boredom, hiding how he felt from her.
Since she had permission, she looked. He was afraid. His knowledge of her species was limited to rumors and legends. He thought she wanted to poison him or bind him against his will like William Eliot’s spell.
He didn’t know that spider seer venom extended life. Now that she thought about it, Doctor Nudd, his advisor on all things Other, had only known of the healing effects. There were few people left on earth who knew the full truth.
She blinked for a moment, considering. Alexander wanted her, even though he had no idea that she could make him immortal. He didn't want her venom; he just wanted her. That was...wonderful.
"Liliana," he said, pulling her back from where her mind had wandered. "What affect does your bite have?"
"I don't want to poison you, my prince. My venom would make you feel a little bit like I feel from the painkillers. No pain, no worries, only peace and pleasure. And it would help you heal if you were hurt. Spider seer venom is meant to be shared with a lover."
"Would it affect my mind?" This was the question that mattered to him. His greatest fear was being powerless in another's control. He would never risk doing something that would put him in that position.
He trusted her to tell him the truth. She knew he wouldn't like it, but the truth is what she would always give him. "For a few minutes, you would answer me, no matter what I asked, even if the answer were a secret. Also, you would do almost anything I asked. Almost. Your will is strong enough, you could still refuse me if it were important to you."
"What were you planning on telling me to do when I was under the influence of your venom?" His face had blanked into boredom, but his soul roiled with a kaleidoscope of conflicting emotions. Fear fought with disappointment and betrayal for dominance.
"I just wanted to share venom, to taste you and watch the euphoria fill your soul. I hadn't planned on asking you to do anything, but ..." She considered what she would say to him right now if he were under the influence of her venom. She grinned, touching his lips with her fingertips. "I want you to kiss me again."
His lips twitched in amusement under her fingers, so she felt as well as saw the little smile. In his mind, she saw sparkles of relieved and delighted laughter bubble to the surface, wiping away the darker emotions.
“Only you, with a landed Sidhe prince in your power, would ask for nothing more than a kiss. I’ve never been with someone who had no hidden agenda, who wanted nothing from me beyond myself.” He gentled his strong hold on her hair, tucking her head under his chin. For a moment, he just held her, one hand stroking her cheek as his soul’s colors softened to a relieved, contented peace. He let out a long breath. "I have a serial killer to catch. I’ve already stayed longer than I intended. And I think you need rest, Little Spider."
Liliana let her head fall back over his bicep. "I guess so. I don't want to rest, though. I want to bite you and drag you to my bed."
Alexander chuckled as he stood, lifting her effortlessly with him. "I may never let you bite me, but I promise that I will let you drag me to bed another time."
He hated the thought of being controlled by someone else. If she ever wanted his permission to share venom, she should tell him that her venom could extend his lifespan indefinitely.
Liliana said nothing as he carried her to the bedroom, watching the beautiful, shifting red layers of his desire, the sparkle of his amusement, the acid green undercurrent of his fear which was not completely gone.
Alexander wanted her, not her venom.
His mother, Queen Titania, and his sister, Princess Aurore, were both immortal. Many Fae held mortals in contempt. That had stung him his whole life. His own mother ignored his existence because of his human lifespan. Immortality might be an irresistible temptation. If he knew that her venom could extend his life indefinitely, it could change everything between them.
Yet, even under the tongue-loosening influence of Doctor Nudd's wonderful painkillers, she kept that information behind her teeth. She gloried in how badly Alexander wanted her for herself. His calculating mind might find immortality an irresistible plus, a solid, logical reason to keep her at his side forever. But it wasn't his mind she wanted to win. She wanted his heart.
"You don't want me to tell you what to do?" she teased him.
"I don't want anyone to tell me what to do.” His half twist of a smile made the words a tease aimed at himself.
Liliana giggled. “You are a stubborn man.”
“And you need to go to bed and heal.”
“You are bossy. Very bossy.”
He huffed a laugh. “I don’t think anyone ever called me that before, but I can’t deny its accuracy.”
He tucked her in bed, just as he’d done the night before. She could get used to that. "You said I can look inside your head, even when we aren't kissing." She stroked his face with her fingertips, tracing his features, both smooth and scarred. His cheekbones were as sharp as blades.
"That's not the same as allowing you to manipulate my thoughts and actions."
"Not so long ago, you threatened to shoot me if I looked inside you. Today, you gave me permission."
He quirked one side of his mouth, showing that little dimple. "You have me doing a lot of things I never thought I would."
He kissed her once more, a promise as much as a farewell, and left, locking her back door behind himself.
Liliana smiled as she drifted to sleep.
His heart is well-guarded, but I am good at getting past guards.