“It’s a spell,” I told him, though I wasn’t sure that’s what it was.

What good was it to know the rules of a dimension when none of them seemed to apply? We hadn’t had anything to eat or drink. We hadn’t thanked anyone or accepted any gifts. Certainly the room couldn’t count as a present since we were being forced to stay under the terms of the king’s agreement with me. I didn’t know if the fae had lawyers, but that couldn’t be a loophole, could it? I doubted Calliope would send us off without saying whatever you do, don’t stay at the castle, if it was a sneaky backdoor way to entrap us.

But what, then?

By simply entering into the arrangement with him had I opened myself up to being played? He’d said he wanted to observe me, and I’d agreed. Maybe he hadn’t planned to observe me like I was a creature at the zoo. Maybe he wanted to see how I did in action, like a mouse navigating a maze under the watchful eye of scientists.

If this was a test, I didn’t know what the goal was. Did he want me to give into my deeply felt urge to make love to Holden, something I’d been fighting against for over a year? Or was I supposed to fight against the spell and reject the sex?

Weighing the different options was making my already addled brain fry itself worse than ever. I no longer knew if there was a way to logic my way out of this. Applying human logic to the fairy world was like trying to solve a quadratic equation using a Shakespearean soliloquy as your guideline. Iambic pentameter could only take you so far in solving for X.

“We need to get out of the room,” I told him.

“I don’t want to.”

“It’s a spell,” I repeated. “We need to get out of the room.”

Holden licked the palm of my hand, and I shuddered, struggling to remember what I was trying to do. “I don’t care if it’s a spell.”

His phrasing nagged at me. “You do care.”

“I don’t.”

“Holden.” I pushed his face away. “You don’t want to be sloppy seconds, but you can’t wait to jump on me because of a spell? Think.”

“I don’t—”

“Shut up and think.” I pulled my hands and face out of his reach and got to my feet, putting distance between us. I still wanted to launch myself on him and taste every inch of his skin, both his blood and body. I trembled and took another step away.

“Come back here.”

“This won’t work,” I hollered. “You’re going to have to come up with a different test.”

Holden got to his feet and came close. I countered his advances by stepping back until I was against the wall. He continued to come towards me until I was braced between his arms and his nose grazed my jaw.

“I remember the first time I kissed you,” he said.

So did I, but I didn’t want to admit it.

“This won’t work,” I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper.

“I think it will work very well.” He laid a gentle kiss on the corner of my mouth. I shivered.

“No,” I said. “No.”

“Oh, you’re no fun,” said the wall behind me a moment before it vanished completely.

I collapsed on my back with Holden heavy on top of me. Heavy and hard. Rolling him off me, I scrambled to my feet and nearly tripped into a woman so small she made me feel bulky.

“We were led to believe you’d yield easily to lust,” she said.

“Who are you?” My voice bubbled with rage. I’d just fallen through my bedroom wall after nearly being bespelled into screwing a vampire. My patience was wearing thin to say the least.

“His Majesty—”

“I asked, who are you?”

She frowned at me and shook her head. “I am of no consequence. I was simply sent to collect you should the first test be unsuccessful. I have clothing for you to change into, if you’d please.”

“No, than—” I stopped speaking abruptly before I let my politeness lead to my ruin. “No. What we’re wearing will be fine.”

The woman sneered at our wardrobe and Holden’s bloody shirt. “I think you should reconsider.”

“I think there’s nothing you can say or do that will convince me to take clothing—or anything else—from you. If you’re going to take us somewhere, you might as well take us as is.”

“Very well.” She tapped the wall behind her, and it opened onto a huge, brightly lit ballroom.

As soon as we stepped through I understood why she’d suggested we change, but I had no regrets about dismissing her hospitality. The room was filled with over a hundred wide-eyed fae of different kinds—primarily fairies, though—staring at us like the circus-sideshow freaks we were.

Holden, shaken out of his lusty stupor, came to stand beside me as we gawked at our bewildered audience. The room was lit by moving bulbs that resembled giant fireflies casting their glow onto long banquet tables groaning under the weight of huge platters of food. The array of roasted meats, candies and fresh fruit would have been hard to resist for most guests. Even to me, who didn’t need it to live, the proffered goods looked irresistible.

My stomach rumbled in spite of the fact I wasn’t hungry for food.

Aubrey emerged through the heart of the crowd, a sea of silk and satin suits and gowns parting to make way for him. “Please help yourselves to anything here.”

“Is Kellen here? If so, I’ll take one of her.”

The king winked. “Do you worry we have her locked away in some ivory tower?”

“Do you have an ivory tower?” It wouldn’t have surprised me.

“No.” He swept his hand outward and directed my attention across the ballroom. When my gaze came to a rest, it was on a beautiful couple, and my breath caught.

Kellen was wearing a gown the color of early twilight—deep purple blue—and her hair hung in long brown waves down her back. She was smiling up at a handsome blond man who was looking at her like a precious gem. His hand was tucked possessively at the small of her back, and they spun across the floor with more grace than I would have imagined a human girl could dance with.

After my experience in the bedroom, though, it didn’t matter how pretty the window-dressing was, I wasn’t buying it. Kellen had been here long enough, brought against her will. She had definitely been drinking the Kool-Aid.

“So you see, your friend is quite happy.”

“I can see my friend is alive. I don’t believe she’ll be happy until she’s back where she belongs.”

The crowd merged back around Kellen and the fairy who’d kidnapped her, leaving me to focuse on the king once again.

“You don’t take anything at face value, do you?”

“Of course not. Care to explain what that bullshit in our room was?” I stayed next to Holden, not wanting to get too close to the fairies. They’d begun to mill about, pretending not to watch us but doing a poor job of hiding it.

“What happens in my guestrooms is not something I try to make my business. Why…? Were there issues?”

The woman who had collected us chose that moment to wander off. “I think you know perfectly well what happened.”

“Not a clue. Of course if I did, you would have been well forewarned that everything you do here would be under scrutiny.”

“I didn’t think that meant you would attempt to force things to happen.”

The crowd stopped talking, and everyone stared at me and the king. I had no shame about my outburst, considering the guy had tried to make me do…things.

“Secret, walk with me, will you?”

“I’d rather not.”

“I’m sorry, you interpreted that as a request, which may have been due to a politeness of my tone. What I meant to say was, Secret, you will walk with me.”

Holden began to argue, but I grudgingly said, “Fine.”

“Alone,” Aubrey added.

“Naturally.”

The king offered me his arm. After a moment’s hesitation where I wondered if taking it would count as accepting a gift, I placed my hand lightly on his forearm and let him guide me to the center of the dance floor.

“I think a dance is in order,” Aubrey suggested.

“Would it matter if I didn’t agree?”

“You’d look awfully silly with me dragging you around the floor. I think it better if you went along with it.”

I blew my bangs out of my eyes, and when he placed a hand on my waist and another on my shoulder, I fell naturally into a waltz position.

“You know how to dance,” he said with an impressed flourish.

“I’m a queen, you know.”

“Indeed.”

The music picked up, drowning out the eerie silence that had filled the room. I let Aubrey take the lead as he swirled me across the floor, but I kept pace with him, never allowing him to show me up.

“Tell me something,” he began. “Why is it you seem to dislike me so?”

“Do you want me to answer that?”

“I never ask a question I don’t want the answer to.”

I laughed coarsely. “I doubt you’d say that if people were always honest with you.”

Aubrey’s grip on my waist tightened, pulling me closer to him. “Why don’t you let me get used to your honesty, and we’ll take it from there?”

“You asked for it,” I warned.

“I did.”

“Overlooking what you did to me and Holden in the bedroom just now, I came here with an already negative view of your court.”

“How so?” He spun me out, then twisted me back into a half dip, cradling my back and dropping himself into a kneel so we were close to the tiled floor. Standing, we resumed the standard waltz steps.

“One of your people is killing in my territory.”

“There are fae in your world who do not listen to the rules of mine,” he replied.

“No. There is a pure-blood fairy stealing aura energy from teenagers and leaving them dead.” I thought using the plural would hold more weight rather than telling him only one boy had died. “So you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t come here with the best opinions of you and your people.”