were
still around.”
Jaime’s
dad had been the Hammond PD chief of police. He had died last year
in the line of duty, caught in the middle of a gang shootout.
Jaime’s mother passed away from a rare illness when he was in
kindergarten. Now it was only Jaime living in this big family house
that desperately needed a woman’s touch. Until I came
along.
“ I’d have loved to meet your dad,” I said sincerely.
From the
stories Jaime had told me, his dad sounded like a nice, jolly guy
to be around. Humans forged a closer bond with their children than
faerykin. I called my mother “my lady” and we never exchanged more
than ten words each time she summoned me to her palace. My father
had never made my mother his queen, only a consort. Since I was his
only heir, I got to live in the Midnight Palace right after I was
born. As a consort, my mother wasn’t allowed to nurse or raise a
royal heir. The regent of Five, a pantheon of dukes and duchesses,
was appointed to rule on my behalf until I came of age and could be
crowned as the Queen of the Court of Midnight. I hated it there.
Everyone I met was either stiff-assed or a brown-noser. I liked
humans and the human world better. Sure, there were some jerks and
assholes, but most I’ve met were good, decent people. Especially
Jaime.
“ He would have adored you.” Jaime wiped his mouth with a
napkin. “Dad always wanted a daughter. He bought a pink teddy bear
when Mom was in the hospital, thinking she was having a baby
girl.”
I leaned
closer. “Do you adore me?”
His lush
brows arched. “You know I do.”
“ But you won’t sleep with me.” Heaven and stars, just how many
times had I baited him into my bed, but he wouldn’t take
it.
“ Aine. I promised you I’d help you. I did all this not because
I want to sleep with you.”
“ But I want to sleep with you.”
Jaime
wrung his hands desperately. “We’ve been over this. You don’t
remember who you are and you look sixteen to me. The last thing I
want after we’ve slept together is your memory coming back and
realizing you’re a minor. I could get arrested for it and go to
jail.”
“ I don’t look sixteen,” I argued. Faerykin didn’t mature the
way humans did. There was no old-looking fae in the faery realm.
Prince Valerian was close to seven hundred years old, but he looked
twenty-five.
Jaime
shrugged. “Seventeen.”
“ I’m in my early twenties.”
“ How do you know? You have amnesia.”
“ I just know. Instinct.”
Jaime
shook his head. “I can’t take a chance on instinct. I prefer to
wait for a few more years.”
My eyes
wanted to jump out of their sockets. I couldn’t wait that long.
Seven sexless years since I came of age was more than a healthy fae
like me could take. If I had to wait until Jaime deemed I was ripe
enough to be fucked, I was afraid I would replace him with a
cucumber or zucchini.
Before I
met Jaime, I had contemplated losing my virginity with a few
candidates. I had been taught pillow art by my governess to prepare
me for my wedding night. Like any fae maiden, bedding was an
exciting and anticipated lesson. But each time I thought of who I
would bed, it put a damper on my lessons. I thought of Prince
Valerian and his cold, haughty eyes. He didn’t love me. He could
never love anyone. To him, I was nothing but his trophy of his
final conquest.
When I
was spirited into the human realm, I found a wonderful thing called
the internet. Of course, like the majority of people who surfed it,
I was immediately hooked on porn. There were so many types of bed
sport I’d never imagined. From the ordinary to what they called
kinky. Of course, I wanted to try some. Or all. Maybe not the
hardcore ones, but hey, I’m open-minded. I didn’t understand how
some people got a kick from being whipped as foreplay, but if they
did it, there must be some good in it, right?
Graeme
MacCuill didn’t parent me as I bloomed into adulthood. He fed me
and protected me from Prince