This was a dream come true!
Hannah didn’t even care that he was technically her enemy. She flung herself at Taryn without warning, blurting excitedly, "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Taryn froze on the spot. Not just because the hug came out of nowhere, but because he was utterly confused by her reaction. He had given her this room specifically to piss her off, not make her happy.
The Fae loved colors, but when Lilarin designed the princess suites and one of the brownies suggested giving one a pink theme, she had vehemently rejected the idea.
According to Lilarin, Violet hated the color, and most humans would rather die than be caught living in that shade once they reached adulthood.
So Taryn had practically been vibrating in anticipation, waiting for Hannah’s lips to twist in disgust and her eyes to light with righteous fury at the violently pink room.
Instead, she was hugging him with excitement, her softness and warmth wrapping around him completely.
Then her delicious scent wafted into his nose, and the beast in him rose. No! Taryn pushed her away before he did something he would regret.
Hannah let out a startled yelp as he shoved her roughly.
"What the—!"
She was ready to curse in a full outburst when a dangerous growl rumbled from his throat, and he bared those enormously large canines at her.
Damn, he was indeed a beast through and through.
The curse died on her lips when she realized she was playing with fire.
Instead, she pouted. "Fine, I won’t touch you again." Then she added immediately, "You’ll be the one doing the touching, then." She laughed.
It was a harmless joke, but Hannah had no idea what that did to the lion shifter barely holding himself together. His imagination had seized on the word "touch", and none of the images were innocent.
Taryn cursed his life. He should never have agreed to this. He couldn’t have another male around his mate—no, he would not acknowledge that.
If only she had agreed to return to the human realm, then he could deal with these feelings alone. Now he didn’t know which was worse: having her around every day or losing her life if the gods rejected her.
Hannah giggled as she ran to the bed and flung herself onto it. She bounced and let out a scream of delight. This was pure heaven, it was so soft it felt like lying on a cloud.
She gathered the sheets into her arms and sniffed them. She moaned; they smelled like pink peony, light and floral with a sweet, airy freshness that reminded her of spring mornings.
She giggled again, kicking her legs in excitement. If her family could see her right now, they’d die from anger and embarrassment overload.
Although the color pink was not outright forbidden in Angus’ household, every one of them would rather die than own a pink item. To them, pink was a girlish color and symbolized weakness. They were raised to be soldiers. Showing even an ounce of softness was enough reason to be picked on by the other siblings.
Hence Hannah had kept her fascination to herself. Her room back home had been painted entirely black—an intentional effort to appear more intimidating, especially since she was often looked down on as a half-breed.
But inwardly, all she longed for was to throw on a pink dress, maybe something with tulle, and just let herself be a girl for one day. Even the romance movies she watched, she had done so secretly.
The only person among them who hadn’t been afraid to express her femininity was Rose. Not one of them had complained, because Rose was simply Rose. Everyone liked Rose. She had that aura that drew people to her. But in the end, her softness had been her downfall.
But now, Hannah didn’t have to worry about any of that. Here, she could wear the most cringe-worthy girly outfit and no one would bat an eye.
As if on cue, her gaze drifted to the wardrobe and she sprang off the bed with the excitement of a four-year-old.
Taryn, on the other hand, watched her like she was some alien creature he couldn’t decipher. The instant Hannah opened the wardrobe, a loud scream tore from her lips. Taryn winced, clapping his hands over his ears.
The gods save him from this disaster.
Hannah couldn’t believe her eyes. There were pinks, yellows, creams, whites—so many colors. The dresses were stunning, of course; the Fae were exceptional fashionistas. Hannah was so overwhelmed with joy that tears slipped from her eyes.
She lifted a hand to her mouth and turned to Taryn. "Thank you. I mean it, thank you so much."
Taryn frowned at her reaction. He had intentionally assigned her this room to annoy her, and yet she was thanking him? For the first time, he sensed there was a story behind her reaction, and he softened just a little.
He cleared his throat. "You should get some sleep. Tomorrow, you’ll meet the priestess so your trial can be arranged."
But Hannah chuckled, "I doubt I’ll be able to sleep with the excitement bubbling inside of me."
"Don’t care," Taryn shot back immediately, feigning indifference.
Of course he didn’t care. Hannah snorted, though she had no idea why that bothered her. She looked around and asked, "Where are you staying?"
"Why?" Taryn tilted his head. "So you can sneak around again and try to murder the princess?"
Hannah rolled her eyes, unimpressed. "You are insufferable."
Taryn didn’t care. He added, "At the moment I stay next door, which means I have my eyes on you, so don’t even get ideas..." He stepped forward, filling the space between them and towering over her, "...because the next time I catch you in my paws, I’ll snap you in two."
Hannah instinctively leaned back from his intimidation. "Alright, I’ve heard you, Mufasa. Calm down a little bit."
Taryn growled at the title, but he stepped back and walked away, the door closing behind him.
As soon as he left, Hannah released a long breath of relief. If only he wasn’t so handsome, she would have gotten over this toxic attraction.
She slumped onto the bed with a sigh.
Well, first things first, once the gods approved her stay, she’d find herself a handsome Fae and bam! Permanent residency secured.
Suck on that, Ziva! Haha!
Meanwhile, as soon as Taryn stepped into the hallway, one of the Fae on duty was already waiting for him.
"BeastLord Taryn," the Fae bowed his head, "we have a problem. It’s the Queen."