You Bet Your Banshee by Danica Avet Page B

the prophecy, why didn’t she have me killed when I was under her influence? Why wait until I came to Earth?”
    Ryvan was silent so long I didn’t think he’d answer. My stomach twisted. She either hadn’t known about the prophecy because there was no prophecy and Ryvan was lying, or Queen Tamsyn had hidden the prophecy to protect me. That didn’t make me feel any better. I knew next to nothing about the fairy queen. I’d never gone to the Fairy Court because I had no reason to go there, not that I’d ever wanted to. The dangerous waters of the Wailing Court hadn’t given me a lot of confidence in the Fairworld rulers.
    “Queen Tamsyn did hide the prophecy from Queen Melosia. She knew what would happen if it was discovered you were the rightful ruler.” Ryvan jostled me lightly in his arms as he picked up pace. “When it was decided enough time had passed, that you might have passed from Queen Melosia’s mind, she sent me to search for you.”
    He waited for a car to pass and took off again, lightly jogging. “It took me a while to track you down. We only knew you’d surfaced somewhere in Michigan. You never kept a steady job which made it harder to find you. Every time I got a lead, you were already gone.” He shot me a hard glare. “Like the dwarf you left with a few broken ribs and a broken nose. I found him three days after he accosted you.”
    I frowned. Dwarf, dwarf, dwarf. “Oh, I remember him now. He gave me a ride and expected me to give him one in return.” I shrugged. “I didn’t want to and when he tried to force the issue, I uh, handled it.”
    Ryvan grunted. Just like a man. “If you had stayed in one place, you wouldn’t have been subjected to that, or ended up dancing in that club.”
    I couldn’t believe he was still harping on that. I threw my hands up. “It wasn’t because I like being on display! Besides, I didn’t know you then, or any of this. It happened, it’s over, and I won’t ever dance again, happy?” Breeze shifted on my chest with a yawn, giving me a perfect excuse for getting out of Ryvan’s arms. Plus, my legs were falling asleep from having the blood flow cut off. “Let me down, I’m rested enough.”
    He stopped next to a corner grocery store. He let my legs slip off his arm, but kept the other around me until I found my footing. Once I gained my balance, I went to pull away only to find both his arms wrapped around me. Breeze was squished between us, but with the way he purred, I don’t think he minded.
    Ryvan cupped my chin and tilted my face up to look at him. His eyes blazed with some strong emotion that made me wish I could read his mind for a change.
    “You will dance again, Magda,” he murmured with a brush of his lips against mine. My breath quickened at the contact that sent a bolt of sensation from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.
    “I–I will?”
    I had no idea what we were talking about. I’d done my best not to think about what we’d done in my room before the attack, but now it all came back to me. My knees buckled. Luckily his big hands cupped my ass to keep me from falling.
    “I saw you at that meeting looking so prim and proper,” he whispered against my lips, nipping at the bottom one sharply. “I put you in your bed after you were attacked and left you there although part of me wanted to join you.” His hands kneaded my backside. He really seemed to like my ass. “I hoped you would stay there, sleeping and looking like a perfect little angel. But you didn’t. I tracked you down to that club, thinking it had to be some kind of mistake.”
    My breathing sped up even more and for the first time since I’d found him, I cursed Breeze’s size. My nipples were hard and achy. I wanted to press them against Ryvan’s muscled chest. I wanted to rub against him and—
    “Then you came out on that stage looking like a sexy devil.” His voice had grown deeper and he’d somehow tilted our hips so they rubbed together. I purred.