tendency to hide behind pretty masks and to shape the appearance of things to suit themselves, She had placed them under an enchantment of sorts. According to Anu’s wishes, while the Fae might continue as masters of Illusions, that great power would be balanced by a great vulnerability: Love’s Truth. From the day she first commanded it, each Fae had to recognize that at the moment he mated with his true love, their hearts would be irrevocably bound and the Fae’s power of Page 29
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Illusion would never again deceive his heartmate. Even if all the rest of the world believed in the Fae’s spells, his heartmate would see through the magic to the truth.
It made a romantic story to tell the little ones, but it wreaked havoc on Luc’s plans. If Corinne was his heartmate, he wouldn’t be able to charm her into helping him, nor would he be able to leave her with a peck and a thank you when he was finished. She was his now, and leaving her—ever—had ceased to be an option.
He turned to say something, and got a mouthful of denim. Corinne had snagged his jeans from the floor and flung them at his head, probably wishing they were something more like a rock.
“Put something on,” she snapped. “If you’re planning to give me a long-winded explanation about how you didn’t do anything wrong by lying to me and luring me into sex under false pretenses , I’d really rather neither of us was naked.”
She pulled her T-shirt on over her head and yanked her shorts up her legs, leaving her bra and underwear on the floor. He swallowed a groan. Right, like knowing about that wasn’t supposed to distract him.
He tugged on his jeans anyway, buttoning up without taking his eyes off her face. “I really don’t think either of us has time to—”
“It’s either start with the truth-telling, or go straight to the apartment-leaving and my-life-getting-out of.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, and he couldn’t help thinking that expression about glaring and daggers might have some basis in fact. He had to stop himself from checking for puncture wounds.
“Fine,” he said, gesturing for her to take a seat on the sofa, “but get comfortable. This is a long story.” Chapter Seven
The story wasn’t that long, but it still left Corinne with the same feeling she’d had after reading War and Peace —the one that went something like, “Du-huh?” She understood the part about his reasons for coming to…well, he kept calling it “Ithir,” but since she wasn’t quite ready to deal with any “alternate realities” stuff, she’d just stick to saying Manhattan. The part about him being a personal Guard to the Faerie Queen and having been assigned to come here and fetch the Queen’s nephew back to…where he’d come from…made a sort of fantasy-novel sense, but after that, he lost her.
“I still don’t get why you didn’t just tell me why you needed my help in the first place.” He rubbed his hand around the back of his neck and raised an eyebrow. “And you would have immediately leapt to my aid and made everything all right?” Page 30
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Her mouth twisted. “Well, no. But I probably wouldn’t have hit you.” I wouldn’t have fucked you, either , she thought, but she left that part out.
“I couldn’t risk it. I really do need your help if I’m going to find Seoc before he causes any more trouble.”
Seoc—pronounced “shock” as near as she could tell—sounded like he’d gotten a bum deal from his relatives back home. All he’d apparently done was take a tour of the city, and where was the harm in that? “What’s so dangerous about him being…here? I mean, you’re, er…Fae…and you’re here. The world hasn’t come to an end yet.”
“I’m not trying to make it come to an end. Seoc might be. The problem really
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Illusion would never again deceive his heartmate. Even if all the rest of the world believed in the Fae’s spells, his heartmate would see through the magic to the truth.
It made a romantic story to tell the little ones, but it wreaked havoc on Luc’s plans. If Corinne was his heartmate, he wouldn’t be able to charm her into helping him, nor would he be able to leave her with a peck and a thank you when he was finished. She was his now, and leaving her—ever—had ceased to be an option.
He turned to say something, and got a mouthful of denim. Corinne had snagged his jeans from the floor and flung them at his head, probably wishing they were something more like a rock.
“Put something on,” she snapped. “If you’re planning to give me a long-winded explanation about how you didn’t do anything wrong by lying to me and luring me into sex under false pretenses , I’d really rather neither of us was naked.”
She pulled her T-shirt on over her head and yanked her shorts up her legs, leaving her bra and underwear on the floor. He swallowed a groan. Right, like knowing about that wasn’t supposed to distract him.
He tugged on his jeans anyway, buttoning up without taking his eyes off her face. “I really don’t think either of us has time to—”
“It’s either start with the truth-telling, or go straight to the apartment-leaving and my-life-getting-out of.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, and he couldn’t help thinking that expression about glaring and daggers might have some basis in fact. He had to stop himself from checking for puncture wounds.
“Fine,” he said, gesturing for her to take a seat on the sofa, “but get comfortable. This is a long story.” Chapter Seven
The story wasn’t that long, but it still left Corinne with the same feeling she’d had after reading War and Peace —the one that went something like, “Du-huh?” She understood the part about his reasons for coming to…well, he kept calling it “Ithir,” but since she wasn’t quite ready to deal with any “alternate realities” stuff, she’d just stick to saying Manhattan. The part about him being a personal Guard to the Faerie Queen and having been assigned to come here and fetch the Queen’s nephew back to…where he’d come from…made a sort of fantasy-novel sense, but after that, he lost her.
“I still don’t get why you didn’t just tell me why you needed my help in the first place.” He rubbed his hand around the back of his neck and raised an eyebrow. “And you would have immediately leapt to my aid and made everything all right?” Page 30
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Her mouth twisted. “Well, no. But I probably wouldn’t have hit you.” I wouldn’t have fucked you, either , she thought, but she left that part out.
“I couldn’t risk it. I really do need your help if I’m going to find Seoc before he causes any more trouble.”
Seoc—pronounced “shock” as near as she could tell—sounded like he’d gotten a bum deal from his relatives back home. All he’d apparently done was take a tour of the city, and where was the harm in that? “What’s so dangerous about him being…here? I mean, you’re, er…Fae…and you’re here. The world hasn’t come to an end yet.”
“I’m not trying to make it come to an end. Seoc might be. The problem really
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