I suck in a deep breath and fix my skirt. Bash is warm and solid at my side.
Vane regards me with cool indifference and I know he wants me to cry or beg.
So I do the opposite.
“Are all of you allergic to shirts?”
Bash snorts and buries a laugh.
Vane simmers.
He’s not going to get to me.
He’s already underestimated me.
He gives me one more snarling scowl and then turns and walks away.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” Bash says.
“Why?”
“Because Vane doesn’t walk away from anyone. He punishes. He dominates. He does not relent.”
“First time for everything, right? I mean, this is my first kidnapping so we’re all having firsts.”
He laughs again and shakes his head. “Where did you come from, Winnie Darling?”
“As if you don’t know.”
He narrows his eyes as he sizes me up. “Even if Pan doesn’t find what he’s looking for, I will be glad you were here. Shake things up. The gods know we could use it around here. Everyone is so damn broody.”
“I guess I will take that as a compliment.”
He winks at me. “It’s certainly intended as one.”
While Bash makes the food, Kas shows up with Cherry in tow. They’re carrying matching wood-slatted crates. Inside, glass bottles clink together.
“More liquor?” I ask as they set the crates on the table. “You have an entire bar in the other room.”
Cherry grabs a tall, skinny bottle with a deep red liquid inside. “The bottles on the bar are from your world and they’re Pan’s personal collection.” She shows me the bottle in her hand. “This is faerie wine.”
I’ve read stories about innocent young things drinking faerie wine and being trapped or corrupted by it. Some of those stories said once you’ve had faerie wine, you have no hope of ever going home.
But Cherry is human and she seems okay.
“Can I try some?” I ask.
Kas opens a cupboard and brings out several glasses, sets them on the counter. Down below, on the back patio, the party is already well underway. Music and laughter filters in and it reminds me of all of the high school parties I’ve attended over the years. And if I don’t look at it too closely, I can almost pretend that this is a normal night, in a normal life.
Kas pops the cork from the bottle with nothing but his bare hands and then tips the bottle over the glasses. The wine makes a glug-glug sound.
Cherry takes two glasses and hands one to me. “Go easy on it. It’s a strong blend.”
Bringing the wine to my nose, I inhale deeply. I’ve been drunk before, but usually on cheap vodka we drank straight from the plastic pint bottle. Me and Anthony and several of his friends.
I can smell cinnamon and cloves and maybe oranges in the wine.
I look up and find them all watching me.
“What? Is this a trick?”
Cherry laughs and shakes her head. “It’s just that it’s been a long time since we’ve had someone here from your world and I promise you, you’ve never tasted anything like faerie wine.”
Well, here goes nothing.
I take a long sip and let the wine roll around on my mouth.
And it’s…wow. Flavor blooms on my tongue. I can taste the oranges and the spices, but there’s something tart, maybe cherries or maybe cranberries. It’s a riot in my mouth as the alcohol brings heat near the end and I swallow it down.
My eyes are wide. The twins laugh at me.
“Holy shit,” I say.
“See!” Cherry raises her glass and takes a long drink from hers.
Kas and Bash tip their glasses back and empty theirs in one swallow.
Already I’m warm all over.
Cherry refills us all, then, “Come on. Let’s go down by the fire.”
“Careful with our Darling,” Kas says.
Cherry sighs. “Of course I will.”
Our Darling.
Am I theirs?
Just the idea ignites a strange sort of flame in my gut. I’ve never been anyone’s. Not even my mother’s. She might have birthed me and did the best she could putting a roof over our heads, but she was never capable of being a mother.
The thought of belonging to someone is foreign and oddly gratifying.
Cherry clasps my hand in hers and pulls me out the double doors to the balcony. The ocean glitters with more color as the breeze lifts the hair from the back of my neck. The balcony is high off the ground and sits above the lower lying trees while the palm trees stand higher but are sparser.