He, as Sol, sat back on the pine needles and giggled a demented laugh. “I wondered how long it would take you to realize your mistake.”
“My mistake? Do you have Sol or not? Is this her body or are you using some poor woman to try and lure Fin into your disgusting game?”
She braced her hands behind her, jutting her small breasts forward, and stared me down. “Why are you so concerned with a woman you’ve never met? A woman who means nothing to you. A woman even your Fin would sacrifice you to save between heartbeats.”
It was my turn to get into the game, to draw him out. I leaned forward and braced my forearms on my knees.
“Why are you so concerned with my sex life?” I cast my gaze down her body and then met Sol’s eyes again. “Are you offering? I’m not super into women, but the skin you wore last time, Esteban, I could definitely get into.”
“Is that your type then?” her soft voice asked. “Masculine, rugged, dark?”
I shrugged. “When it comes to plain ol’ sex, I don’t really have a type. It’s more about how the person makes me feel.”
Admitting that truth didn’t cost me anything. What I wanted to know was why he cared so much about who I did or didn’t sleep with. He’d pressed me at the party too, that night, which felt like ages ago.
“And what does your fairy prince make you feel?” The question wasn’t asked with guile, but sincerity. He definitely had an interest.
I refused to look at Fin, who I could still sense standing behind Sol. Like my skin might catch on fire with one look. Like he knew exactly how to touch me to make me ignite even more.
I pasted on a grin. “He makes me feel...wanted. For who I am, not for who he wants me to be, or for whatever power my blood holds.”
She blinked a few times and cocked her head to the side. “Wanted. How novel. Is that what human women desire in a mate? To be coddled?”
“I’m as human as you are, or so everyone keeps telling me.”
Sol studied me closer. “You’re not human, no, but you’re also not fully mage. You’ve learned that too, correct?”
Fin and I hadn’t discussed my supposed fae side, but what I wanted to know was how Esteban knew that fact about me.
“It may be true, but I’m not in a place to analyze that right now. You won’t leave me alone long enough to let me consider my own path.”
She smiled and popped back over so she hunched across her folded legs. “You may not have considered your future, but I have. Join me and I’ll give your boyfriend back his sister. I’ll leave them in peace.”
“And me? What fate do you have planned in that dark brain for me?”
“Join me, come to my home, rule by my side, and you can do anything you want. Anything at all will be yours.”
I batted my lashes and clutched my chest. “Are you proposing? Seems a bit crass in someone else’s skin, while in a dream. Why don’t you show up yourself, in your own body, and ask me then?”
“So you can try to kill me? I’m not an idiot, Zoey.”
I dropped the act and met Sol’s eyes head on. A nasty grin I’d learned from Hawk spread across my lips.
“And neither am I. You want me for some dark end, that I believe. But I know damn well a person in absolute power would never share it with someone else. Why would you, especially if my own power is some kind of threat to you?”
My mind rolled as my enemy studied me. He pretended as if he wanted me for a relationship. Sex? Not that I would consider such a thing, but what did he get out of it? My submission? Fin’s embarrassment if he stole the woman Fin wanted?
Was this fight more about them than about me?
More to consider once I got out of this weird sending. First, I needed to learn if he really had Sol, if he’d ever had her.
“Do you want to make a deal?” I asked him.
The bond between Fin and me twisted, as if he warned me not to do this.
Sol’s eyes sparked, and he smiled, a genuine smile, not the sickly sexy thing he’d been trying to feign.