Free The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning

thought acerbically (stoically refusing to ponder, for even a moment, its offer of unlimited sexual fantasy that was making her stomach feel kind of sick, but not in a sick way at all), it would forget about her in a heartbeat. The moment it was its impervious, all-powerful, immortal self again.
    But she’d be willing to bet no
other
fairy would. If it was, indeed, Aoibheal herself who’d punished it, barring it from the Fae realm, wouldn’t she want to know exactly how Adam Black had gotten back to Faery without her royal consent?
    And that would lead the formidable queen to Circenn Brodie (assuming this Brodie person didn’t just immediately hand Gabby over) and ultimately to Gabby herself. And then the Hunters would come thundering down on nightmarish hooves to steal her away and—if they no longer killed mortals as it claimed—she could look forward instead to a lifetime of servitude to a host of arrogant, cold demigods.
    That was
so
not going to happen.
    “What if I don’t?” she asked stiffly, bracing herself for the worst.
    It arched a dark brow. “What if you don’t what?”
    “What if I don’t help you?”
    “Why would you not aid me? Such a small thing I ask of you. Merely to speak to someone.”
    “Oh, please. Betray myself to more of your kind and fling myself on Fae mercy? As if
that’s
not an oxymoron. Believe you’d just let a
Sidhe
-seer walk away and live out her life in peace? I’m not that stupid.”
    It leaned forward, elbows on its knees, all amusement vanishing from its features, leaving its chiseled visage quietly regal, dignified. “I give you my word, Gabrielle O’Callaghan,” it said softly. “I will protect you.”
    “Right. The word of the blackest fairy, the legendary liar, the great deceiver,” she mocked. How dare it offer its word like it might actually mean something?
    A muscle leapt in its jaw. “That is not all I have been, Gabrielle. I have been, and am, many things.”
    “Oh, of course, silly me, I left out consummate seducer and ravager of innocence.”
    Its eyes narrowed. “I have not ravaged yours. Though I smell it on you. And though I could with little effort, as I am twice your size.”
    Oh! Surely it couldn’t smell that she was a virgin, could it? A mere technicality, at that. Flushing, she snapped, “And what guarantee do I have that you won’t?”
    A dangerous smile sparked an equally dangerous glint in its eyes. “None. In fact, I guarantee you I will. But I’ll grant you this pledge: When I do, it will be because you’re asking it of me. Standing in front of me. Asking me to fuck you.”
    Its words slammed into her like a brick wall, almost knocking the breath out of her, as it had meant them to. It had masculine intimidation down to a fine art. She inhaled sharply, preparing to snap back, to deny, to insist it would be a cold day in hell, but it surged up from its chair and stood, towering over her.
    “Enough. Do you intend to aid me or not, Gabrielle?”
    Gabby swallowed hard, sifting frantically through her meager options. Damn it all, if she helped it, she just
knew
she’d end up taken by the Fae. There was no way they’d let her walk away free. No way. They hadn’t spent thousands of years hunting down and destroying the
Sidhe
-seers, only to let one go now. Especially not one young enough to spawn a whole future line of
Sidhe
-seers.
    And what if they decided to take her mother too? What if they refused to believe Jilly truly didn’t possess the vision she’d bequeathed to her daughter? Happily remarried with three stepchildren, her mom would never forgive her! Not that they had the best relationship as things stood, but she had no desire to make things any worse.
    And what if, discovering that
she’d
eluded them—that they’d been wrong about the last of the
Sidhe
-seers being wiped out—the Fae began to hunt them again in earnest. Gabby had no doubt that somewhere in the world there were others like her, hiding, keeping their