The Dark Fae

CHAPTER 3

He took a ragged breath, then rose from his seat. “Ladies, business calls. I will drop by later to see you.”

The female fae said, “You will not, Deveron.”

Alicia’s brows rose in amusement as he glanced at her. So the tough, ever-in-control Deveron could be ordered about by a female royal fae?

He pulled two twenties from his wallet and dropped them on the table. “Enjoy lunch.”

“You don’t think you can return after you take care of your business?” Cassie asked. She looked terribly disappointed.

Alicia sighed, deeply relieved the dark fae was leaving.

Micala kissed Cassie’s cheek, and she smiled. “Later,” he said, echoing Deveron’s sentiments.

Deveron grasped Alicia’s hand and squeezed. “I will know all about you, my faery princess.” His dark eyes gleamed with mischief, warning her he wouldn’t be trifled with.

“In your dreams,” she said, her voice icy.

“I never sleep.” His lips curved up at the corners slightly, then he hurried out of the dining area with Micala and the other two fae males.

The female remained behind and studied Alicia. She ignored Cassie, but Alicia assumed this was because the faery was of the royal house and only Deveron’s interest in a particular human female would raise the dark fae’s ire.

Was the fae his girlfriend then?

“Insipid human,” the fae snarled.

“Jealous faery,” Alicia responded back. Then her whole body warmed as the faery stared at her with her mouth partly dropped open. The golden rings around her dark brown eyes weren’t glowing yet though. She must have been in shock to hear Alicia speak to her, and certainly Alicia was shocked that she’d let the words slip off her tongue.

Whatever had made her speak to the faery? And particularly those words. Envy? Nah. Why should she care if Deveron had the hots for his own kind? Certainly not when he thought he’d tell Alicia what she would and wouldn’t do. And then he’d terminate her.

Alicia did what she should have done in the first place, ignored the haughty faery. “That was awfully nice of Deveron to pay for our lunches, Cassie. But I was thinking maybe we ought to save some of our money and return home early.”

“Do not ignore me,” the faery said to Alicia, fisting her hands on her hips.

“You’ve got to be kidding. We worked all year at the Pizzaria just to earn enough to take this vacation,” Cassie said, then sipped her water.

Alicia nodded, knowing there was no way she’d ever convince Cassie to leave the resort early. She certainly couldn’t tell her about the fae.

The faery growled when Alicia continued to pretend she didn’t exist. When the waitress set chips and salsa on the table, took Alicia and Cassie’s orders for beef fajitas, then left, Alicia said, “Do you want to go to a movie following lunch?”

The fae smiled an almost malevolent grin, then vanished.

Now what?

Cassie dipped a chip in hot sauce. “Yes, I’d like that.”

A movie would keep them away from the hotel for a while if Deveron and Micala returned to their room to see them. But what was the female fae up to? She’d cause problems for sure.

Was she going to report back to their queen now that Deveron had entertained a human female who could see the fae kind? Would she issue the order to terminate Alicia sooner?

Maybe she should have spoken with the faery.

She glanced at Cassie. No. Cassie would have wondered who Alicia had been talking to.

When the steaming hot platters of sizzling beef strips, onions and green and red bell peppers arrived, so did the royal female fae.

Only this time she was visible and sported a hot pink halter top, faded blue jeans, and a pair of golden sandals. Must have been her favorite as they were the same she’d worn with her fae costume. Her brown hair hung down to her hips in satiny curls now, but the clips with the sapphires still pulled the strands out of her face.

Alicia could see how Deveron could be smitten with the beautiful fae.

She smiled at Cassie, ignoring Alicia and said, “Micala and Deveron sent me to keep you company. Deveron said he’d left enough money that I could have lunch on him also. I sure am famished.” She turned to Alicia and smiled, but the look wasn’t entirely friendly. “Aren’t you?”

***

Deveron stood before his mother as she gave him one of her you’d-better-mind-me looks.

She wore her royal gowns of deep purple with an embroidered golden sash draped diagonally across her body. She only wore the sash when she administered court. He imagined he’d pulled her away from her duties to dispense justice in the fae realm.

Which meant she was peeved with him.

“I understand you have been entertaining two female humans at a beach resort.” Her voice sounded cold and irritated.

What he wanted to know was who ratted on him?

“It doesn’t matter how I know, but that I do.” She couldn’t read minds, but she came awfully close to it. “What did I tell you, Deveron?”

Don’t mess with the humans. But the fae traditionally played games with them. Why stop what had been a satisfying ritual for many millennia?

Should he tell her he had a most important mission? Discover how the human could see them? Or would his mother put someone else in charge of the investigation?

Most likely.

But if she caught him having anything further to do with the human girl, his mother might go through with her threat to turn him into a human for a time. That would end his desire to be with them.

That’s what she’d said anyway.

“Yes, my lady mother,” Deveron acquiesced.

“I mean it, Deveron.”

He bowed his head. “I understand.” But he had no plan to give in to his mother...not when the girl needed to be thoroughly investigated. And he had every intention of doing the job.

Did others like her exist? It could lead to the downfall of their people, couldn’t it?

If nothing more, it definitely put a crimp in his playing tricks on the humans when one knew what he was. But it was a challenge he couldn’t resist.

“I must return to court, but I have an important errand for you to handle,” his mother said.

The old errand-to-run trick that would keep him from returning to the beach resort.

Well, whatever it was, he’d either get someone else to handle it, or he’d take care of it quickly.

“Yes, my lady mother. What is the task you wish me to accomplish?”

She smiled and the look was pure wickedness.

Definitely, not good.