Kailan strides toward me, silver eyes flashing red in his anger. "If you don't stop making a spectacle everywhere you go, I'll be forced to torture you as any other Fae would."
I raise my chin defiantly. "If you would give me what I want, I wouldn't have to make a spectacle."
"Cara," he warns.
But the wine is making me tipsy, clouding my judgment. "Why do you keep refusing me? You give me what I want and then I'll give you my firstborn. After that, we'll never see each other again."
"That was never part of our bargain."
"I'm offering you my body in exchange for a baby. What sane man would deny that?"
He glances around as the Fair Folk begin whispering. Closing the distance, he grabs my arms forcefully, staring deep into my eyes. His voice, when he speaks, is soft as velvet. "Cara, I think you can dance all night, until your feet bleed."
The room falls into silent anticipation, the tension thickening with each passing moment.
A giggle erupts from my throat, ending in a hiccup. "You can't control me like that. Cara isn't my real name."
Kailan roars in anger, his glamour vanishing. Scarlet glints in his eyes as the ram horns sprout from his head and his teeth become sharp as knives. He gets right in my face and snarls, "Just because I can't use your name to control you doesn't mean there aren't other ways."
Fear shoots through my veins as the Fae cheer and clap, instantaneously sobering me up. Kailan releases one of my arms so he can pull me down a tunnel easier. My feet scuff and skitter over the packed dirt. While my mind is sober, my body is not, making it difficult to fight against him.
I have no choice but to shuffle after him, laughs from the antechamber echoing behind us, following us into the tunnel, and disappearing somewhere in the gloom ahead. Footsteps trail us too, for a short while, until Kailan turns and snarls at our curious pursuers.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask, hating how small my voice sounds.
He stops to glare at me for a solid ten seconds. I shrink back as he raises his hand. But it's only only to pull a root, the action causing a door to appear beside us. Kailan pushes me inside, quickly slamming and locking the door when he's inside too.
I glance around in a panic, noting the large bed with the dark silver comforter. There's a door to the left, slightly ajar to reveal a small bathroom. The walls are bare, revealing nothing of the occupant's character or interests.
"What are you waiting for?" Kailan demands. "Get on the bed."
"Excuse me?"
"You wanted to belittle me in front of a room full of Fae. You're lucky I'm not taking you on the center table." He arches a brow, the previous anger dissipating slightly. "It's what you want, isn't it? To bear my child and never see me again?"
"I--"
He steps closer, nearly pressing his chest against mine. "What? Have you changed your mind? You've seen the real me and now you want to bolt?" Another step, forcing me back. "Would you prefer a Fae who looks human? Your baby won't appear human at birth, did you know that? If you're lucky, they won't inherit my horns." A third step and my legs collide with the bed.
My eyes widen as I turn to look at the object, horrified at my predicament. As if sensing my thoughts, Kailan pushes me onto the bed, my knees bending backwards, my back slamming against the mattress. I try to get up again but he's already on top of me, his knees clenching my legs down to keep me from moving. I try to beat my fists into his chest but he deftly grabs my wrists and holds them above my head. I'm frantic, breathing hard, and squirming wildly. This isn't what I wanted. This isn't how I imagined my first time. It was supposed to be with love, or at least with a mutual respect.
Tears escape from my eyes as my body sags with defeat. What had I been thinking? He isn't human. He probably doesn't even have the same feelings humans do. Of course he wouldn't respect a lover. I was a fool, as Mother had told me repeatedly.
"Cara," he soothes. It takes me a while to sift through my terrified, tipsy thoughts. He hasn't made any further advances aside from laying above me. I turn back to him, the tears in my eyes making my vision blurry. His eyes are silver again but the horns are still on his head. He made his teeth look human again, all flat except the enlarged canines. "I can't take you like this. I don't bed women who are crying."
I sniffle, my muddled brain processing at a super slow rate. "But you were so angry."
"And you were terrified. Don't belittle me in front of the rest of the Fae. They're scared of me because I'm unpredictable. I can't have them thinking I let a human walk all over me."
"You're unpredictable?"
He grins. "Only because I'm unlike the rest of the Unseelie."