Chapter 8

With shadows all around him, Rian put his hands on the table and leant across it. When he laid his blue eyes on me, I saw that the flirtatious sparkles that were there earlier disappeared and were replaced by pure anger. "Listen to me carefully," he ground out.

"I'm all ears, your highness," I said, keeping my eyes on him. I knew it was wrong to irritate him on purpose but I couldn't resist it. He deserved it.

Unaffected by my words, Rian went on, "You've come here out of nowhere and seem to know everything about us. But how is it possible that you have no idea how to address us? If you think you can make such remarks freely, then you're wrong. You are in no position to make them."

"Oh, but I am in such a position," I interrupted him. "You insulted me, I insulted you. Simple." Standing up and putting my hands on the table, I eyed him with distaste. "You're not a god to me. You're merely an ordinary man with some magic tricks and an enormous ego. I wonder if the Bone Carver had foreseen that you would be a prick."

The heir to the Night Court stood up slowly and, leaning across the table, drew closer to me as if he wanted to kiss me. I held my breath unconsciously and my lips felt tingly for a while. But his words weren't an invitation to taste his mouth. No. They were like pouring cold water on me. "Well, at least I'm not the one standing naked in front of strangers," Rian whispered and moved back, smiling.

Taken aback, I looked down to see if he really meant it and I gasped.

Trying to cover as much of my naked body as I could, I sat on the chair and squealed, "You fucking–"

Rian and his siblings, except Meleri who covered her eyes, started laughing and drowned out my swearing.

Had I not been frantically attempting to hide my boobs and bum, I would surely consider Rian's laugh sexy like hell. I knew that under different circumstances I would have just watched him laughing and enjoyed doing it. But now I wanted to murder that bastard.

"That was good," Cerys exclaimed, wiping her eyes. "Really good."

I gave her a murderous look and then, glaring at that muppet, I demanded, "What have you done, arsehole? Give me my clothes back."

"Oh, lovely Alexandra," Rian said. He stopped laughing but was looking at me with a grin. "I don't have your clothes. They've just…" he hesitated for a moment, "disappeared."

"Disappeared," I repeated. "Nothing can just disappear."

"Unless you have certain abilities to make things disappear," the twin brother said.

"Abilities?" I asked. "Stop joking. I want my clothes back, you idiots!"

"Rian, move over, please." Rhysand entered the study with his wife and slowly approached the table. Still naked and covering my boobs, I blushed and felt more embarrassed than before. Good God, it's not happening.

Without saying a word, Rian sat on another chair and gave me a wink. I wanted to poke my tongue at him but somehow managed to overcome it. I'm better than this, I thought.

"Do forgive our son for such behaviour," Feyre addressed me and flashed an apologetic smile. "Rian can sometimes joke to excess, doesn't he? But he's a good young male." She caressed his hair and then sat in the chair right in front of me. "I thought you might need some clothes so I brought you a bathrobe. Meleri and Cerys will later help you find something else."

Indeed, a white bathrobe appeared next to me on the table, so I put it on immediately. It was soft and smelt like flowers. And thanks to it, I stopped being naked. "Thank you," I said.

Feyre nodded.

"We are all here so let us begin," Rhysand said, sitting next to his wife and holding her hand. "First of all, we would like to hear your version of events. Meleri showed us hers in details, starting with her bargain with Bryaxis and bringing you here." He sent his daughter a condemned look. "Please, tell us what happened in your land."

"Well, where should I start?" I asked and regarded him.

"Maybe from the beginning," Rian cut in.

Glaring at that handsome muppet, I said, "I'm not talking to you, Tinkerbell. In case you didn't realise, I insulted you. Tinkerbell was a tiny blonde elf with a hair knot and fluffy shoes."

"What an ideal description of Rin," the twin brother giggled.

"Ciaran, I don't want to hear you for the next ten minutes," Rhysand said quietly, not looking at his younger son. "Go on, Alexandra."

"All right then." I looked at my hands and tried to focus on the whole thing. "Well, I was sleeping in my bed when suddenly I woke up, feeling that something wasn't right. It must have been between one and two o'clock but I didn't see the clock. That wasn't important back then." I raised my head and flashed him a faint smile. "First, I thought that I forgot to lock the door but it turned out that I did. Then, I saw a bright light in my garden so I followed it. I was sure it was a burglar who turned the lamps on, however, outside I just saw the light. And it was hiding behind our old ash tree."

"Did you see anything else?" Rhysand asked.

"No, I didn't." I shook my head. "It was just the light. After touching it, foolish me, I was sucked into it and the next thing I remember is opening my eyes and seeing you."

"I see. If I may… what were you doing before you went to bed?"

"Did you spend the evening with someone special?" Cerys asked with a grin, genuinely interested.

"A girl like that spending the evening with someone special? Please." Rian snorted and sipped the reddish liquid from his glass. Apparently, he had summoned it again.

I gritted my teeth. "I spent the evening with my friends… Something you surely don't have, Tinkerbell." I flashed him a crooked smile and went on, "We were watching the lunar eclipse. To be specific, the blood moon eclipse."

"That's interesting." Rhysand rubbed his jaw, thinking.

"Do you have any rituals connected with such eclipses?" Feyre asked. "I mean rituals involving… blood and… mating."

"Mating?" I repeated, feeling a bit confused. What did she mean by that? Suddenly, I realised. "Oh, you mean having sex?" I laughed. "No, we don't have things like that anymore. Hopefully." I bit my lip. "Well, it was just an astronomical phenomenon, watched by millions of people on Earth."

"Earth? Your land is called Earth?" Rian asked doubtfully, turning his now empty glass in his hands.

"Not land, our planet," I answered. "You know, a round thing with continents and oceans on it that is floating in space." Seeing their blank expressions, I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, the land I live in is called the United Kingdom."

"Ah, then maybe you are a princess," Ciaran beamed.

Ciaran. I have finally managed to remember his name, I thought.

I shook my head and, looking at Rian, I said, "I'm just an ordinary girl."

"That's a shame," he murmured, keeping his eyes on the glass. "I would like to get laid with a princess someday."

With my cheeks turning red, I said under my breath, "You must be really sex-starved, Tinkerbell. You keep talking about it."

Rian lifted his blue eyes and fixed them on me. "And you keep noticing it."

Then, he smiled.

It was his first genuine smile I had seen today. It lit his whole face, touching that wonderful mouth and striking eyes, and making him look breathtaking. Good God, I had never wished for a book character to be real but this time I had to make an exception. Despite the fact that he was rather nasty to me, I really wanted Rian to be a man I could meet and look at in real life.

Rhysand grunted. "Has it ever happened before? Has anyone from your… planet travelled to another court?"

"Not quite," I said. "In fact, I come from a land without magic."

"Really?" Meleri sounded surprised. "I thought there is magic everywhere. We have it."

I shook my head. "There were rumours and stories about magic on Earth but they were just made up. There was never magic in my world. And answering your question, I don't know how I got here and how was that possible."

"No one's asked a question," Cerys said, exchanging looks with Ciaran.

"I've said it just in case you've wondered," I murmured.

"How do you know about us?" Feyre asked.

That was a dangerous question. I didn't know how much I could reveal to them to seem truthful and at the same time not freak them out. Well, I had to tell them the basics.

"Are you hesitating, lovely Alexandra?" Rian asked.

Ignoring him, I confessed, "I read about you."

By their confused looks, I realised they didn't expect to hear something like that. But if you have said A, you must also say B.

"The stories were mostly about you," I added and looked at Feyre, "and what happened underground with that red bitch and afterwards. I read also about the Cauldron and your sisters. Obviously, about your court." I looked around at the beige walls. "And I hope we aren't in the underground Court of Nightmares… or another weird place I read about."

The silence wasn't a good sign, but I went on. It was time to say C. "There was also information about the war with Hybern and getting rid of that old geezer, the king. About you destroying the Cauldron, saving Prythian and…" I glanced at Rhysand. Swallowing hard, I said quietly, "You dying and being resurrected."

"Holy. Burning. Hell," he concluded.

Upsy-daisy. I knew I said too much.