Part of me thought I might wake up to find the events of the day had been a dream, but my body's aches and injuries—soothed as they'd were by the healing bath—were too real to give me much hope. When I opened my eyes and saw the gilded candlesticks by the bed and vines crawling on the walls, I sighed and rolled to my back, finally accepting I was truly in another realm. Stuck for at least another month with a Fae King determined to make me choose him over the only home I'd ever known.

Somehow, it was all so much better in the books.

A familiar blue hawk coasted into the bedroom through the ever open window. Perched on the edge of the bed, she let loose a harsh cry that sounded very disappointed, and then in a burst of blue, she returned to her Fae form.

"I did not expect to find you in your bed this morning."

"I played hard to get," I lied, pushing myself into a sitting position and wincing as the pressure on my hand irritated its wound. My palm now had a heartbeat.

"What is this?" Niamh cried out, taking my hand and clicking her tongue against her teeth. "I wanted you to be ravished not ravaged. What happened?"

Calix happened. True, he hadn't anticipated that I would grab his sword, but if he hadn't been poking me in the face with it, I wouldn't have reacted so foolishly. Something about this place brought out the reckless parts of me I'd worked very hard to suppress.

"Did no one tell you what happened last night?"

"No one tells me anything." She put her hand over mine and warmth suffused my skin. The relief was immediate. "What did happen?"

"Lorcan took me to a platform in the trees, and while we were up there, someone shot at us." I left out the part about falling and being rescued by her other brother.

She jumped up, the pearls in her braided hair clacking together as she paced the room. "I knew something like this would happen. Eira showing up when she did only confirmed my suspicions."

"If me being here is so terrible why did Lochlan risk answering my call?"

The princess exhaled. On anyone else I might have called it dramatic, but her distress was genuine. Crossing her hands over her stomach, she licked her lips and blurted, "Because he would like to start a family."

Blood rushed out of my face. The male did not hide his wish to marry me, but I'd been so caught up in his allure and the wonders of Faerie, I hadn't questioned why he actually wanted to marry me.

"Can he not find a nice Fae woman to settle down with?"

"It is not so easy as that for us." Sorrow curled her shoulders forward. "Fae can only bear children with other Fae if they share a soul bond, and even then we are not particularly prolific. Over the centuries, we've mated with many creatures, and humans are the most compatible. You're very fertile, and your human blood seems to almost strengthen the magic in our blood."

"B-but what about the humans that are already here?" I was grasping at straws. "You mentioned Faerie born humans, and surely there are many who carry human blood at this point if you've been mixing with them for centuries."

Niamh wrinkled her nose. "Fae breeding is very complex."

"Please don't call it breeding."

She shrugged. "I won't go into all the details but there are ratios and such that are considered. As for the Faerie born humans..."

"What?" I pressed. The princess had the look of someone who just realized they'd said too much.

Cupping a hand over ear, she craned her head toward the door and listened for almost a minute. Then, she came close and whispered, "They've all but disappeared. Some say the Autumn and Winter Courts have a few hidden in the palace, but three centuries ago, they all disappeared."

At the same time compulsion and glamour were forbidden. Surely, that wasn't a coincidence.

"Please don't be angry with my brother."

The sudden shift to what started this conversation unsettled me. "You can't think I'll agree to stay here to be used as a brood mare."

Niamh frowned. "It isn't like that. If it was, you would not be in your own bed right now. My brother would have used every trick allowed to sow his seed in you."

"Ew."

"Do males and females in your world not come together to make children? Do they never make it known that is why they wish to mate someone?"

"Yes, I suppose," I said, trying to put a modern spin on her words. While not every couple intended to have children, many did, and more than one of my friends said they knew it was time to settle down because they wanted children.

"Then what is so different about what my brother has done? You wanted something, and so did he. He is not forcing himself on you. And look at the risks he has taken. There will be many who want what you can offer. The Summer Court will be on high alert until you leave or choose to stay."

"You're right I suppose."

She was. Lochlan could have easily taken me to his bed last night and—I grimaced—bred me. But his parting words to me suggested he wanted something more to be between us than just children. Otherwise why would he care why I slept with him if it achieved his purpose?

"Of course I am. Now, let's get you dressed."

She clapped, delighted at the idea of playing dress up again. My stomach had other ideas. It grumbled loudly, remind me I hadn't eaten at all yesterday.

"Niamh, why do you look like that?" I asked frantically in response to her panicked expression.

"I've just realized I don't even know what to feed a human."