I wrestled with that for a long moment. It made sense for me to be half dark fae. I knew it had made sense. And if I wasn’t dark fae I was–

Samael was suddenly next to me, and I was impressed that he’d held himself back for so long. “Don’t force me to break our alliance already, Finvarra.”

Finvarra merely laughed again, and I almost shivered. Samael’s hand wrapped around my upper arm and a ball of fury settled beneath my ribs, burning through my chest as it grew larger by the second.

These men were two of the most powerful beings on this planet. And yet all they cared about was their pissing contest.

“I have another question,” I purred. Fivarra’s eyes narrowed on my face and he nodded.

“Why is it that you only care about the high fae? Where is the same interest for the rest of your people?”

“Excuse me?”

I merely smiled. “You heard me.”

Finvarra’s eyes turned cold, and dark power radiated from him. I stood my ground, but the temperature in the room plummeted. My breath began to fog.

“Would you care to repeat that, human?”

11

Danica

I ignored the unspoken threat in the unseelie king’s voice. He wouldn’t dare kill me now. It’d be bad optics.

“One of your people was attacked and almost killed a few days ago. So far, there has been no dark fae interest in this attack. His store was a crime scene and left unlocked by the Mage Council. Truthfully, I don’t blame them. They’ve made it clear they don’t give a shit about anyone but mages and humans. But I thought your job was to protect all of your people— even lesser fae?”

A muscle twitched in his cheek. His beautiful face was hard as stone, and he was no longer amused.

“You’re correct. That is my job. I was not notified of this attack, nor were any of the high unseelie responsible for protecting lesser fae.”

“Excuses are like assholes,” I began. A hand clamped over my mouth and I jolted. “Everyone has one,” I mumbled against Samael’s hand.

“That’s quite enough, I think,” he growled. The fae king stared at me. Then at Samael.

“You have a hellion on your hands,” he said, and my eyes shot daggers at him.

Samael pulled me away, removing his hand from my mouth and curling it around my arm once more.

“What was that, hmmm?” He steered me toward a balcony and I followed, distantly aware that every person on that balcony immediately vacated it, giving Samael privacy.

“I’m glad I’m not dark fae,” I muttered, kicking out at the stone wall with my stupid stiletto. “Although you’re just as bad. All of you paranormals who call yourselves ‘high whatever’ while naming those less powerful as ‘lesser.’”

Samael stiffened. “Be careful, bounty hunter.”