Free Forever Fae by L.P. Dover

the room quickly and see Merrick watching us.  His expression is one of pure anger and hate. Shit, I forgot to shield my thoughts.  How am I ever going to get out of this one?  I take a deep breath and pretend nothing i s wrong when I turn back to Ryder.  I’ll just have to deal with Merrick later.
    I move back from Ryder’s body so I can look at his face when I speak .
    “One thing about Xylia is that she doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut.  I love her though, and we’ve been best friends since birth. I spend most of my time in my library because I love to read.  Spaghetti is my favo rite food, and I’m shocked it’s yours as well.  The cooks here won’t fix it, so Xylia and I have to travel to the mortal realm to be able to eat it.  There’s this little restaurant in Italy that makes the best spaghetti.”  
    I look around the room to find her and I see that she is dancing with Ashur.  S he looks a little disappointed because I know she wanted to dance with Conall tonight, but the cut on his thigh is really bad.  I hope she can forgive Merrick for it .
    Curiosity p iquing, I ask, “Now what exactly do you know about my morning secret?”
    He smiles and leaves me stewing for a few seconds.  Xylia knows I don’t want word spr eading around about my training, and if she’s said something I might have to use her for a practicing dummy.
    “I hear you are quite the accomplished fighter.  You know, I could h elp you train in the morning so y ou can see how the Winter Court A rmy trains.  I saw how your warriors f ight , but we use a f ew different techniques, and I would be glad to show you.”
    My heart accelerate s with the thought of Ryder training me.  I would love for him to show me some moves and I would love to show him some, but I know Merrick would be livid if I asked Ryder to join us.
    “I would love for you to, but Merrick trains me and I don’t think he would appreciate you being there . I t would most likely end up you two fighting each other rather than training me .”
    A gleam sparkles in his eye and he gives me a wolfish grin.
    “I might show up anyway.  That sounds like a good time to me ,” he says.
    I smack his arm playfully and he twirl s me around the dance floor .  We both start laughing and I know we are drawing attention to ourselves, but at this moment I don’t care.  He’s an amazing dancer and I wish I could dance with him all night. 
    He dips me low and whispers in my ear, “Oh yeah, and I cook my own spaghetti.  You wouldn’t have to travel to the mortal realm to search for the best,” he says and winks.
    My mouth drops open.  I’m shocked that h e actually cooks his own f ood and best of all, he can cook spaghetti. I would love to be able to cook, but the brownies that prepare our food refuse to let me help and they won’t make anything from the mortal realm.  Brownies are very prideful and they consider it an insult if you try to help them.
    “I am amazed, Prince Ryder, of your cooking abilities.  I might have to take you up on your offer someday, but out of curiosity, what are your affinities?” I ask.
    He laughs .
    “I thought you would never ask.  I can control the weather and I can also,” he looks at me and smiles wagging his eyebrows . “ M ake myself invisible.” 
    Wow.  That’s a rare gift and I can only imagine the kind of trouble he has gotten into because of the capability.  I wo nder how many naked women he’s spied on.  A feeli ng of jealousy spikes in my gut, but I let it go quickly.   I do not want to know about him and other women.
    “Those a re some interesting affinities and I bet you thoroughly enjoy being invisible.  You better not try spying on me , ” I say playfully.  
    “I wouldn’t do that.  Contrary to what you might think I do have a little more respec t for women than that ,” Ryder says.
    I can tell he is being honest with his statement.  Maybe he doesn’t spend his time spying on naked women ,