“So what. Do you get off on people thinking you’re some terribly interesting mystery man or something?.. just tell me who you are!! ”

He flashed her a wicked grin.

“I am no man” his hands gestured to his body in a relaxed yet almost performative gesture.

She huffed a breath.

He kept walking and she had to increase her pace to keep up with him. He was a head taller then her, and his strides ate hers up.

Branches and leaves crunched under their feet as they moved through the dark trees.

“Fae, man, who cares. You helped me back there and I want to know who you are and why you did it.”

“So now I need a reason to help a lady in need”

He laughed softly while looking down at her.

His casualness about this made her blood boil.

Mere minutes ago they had been fighting back to back and she had seen him cut down 3 men practically on his own. And now he was laughing at her. She really hated fae males and their bravado…

Lux grew impatient and spoke again.

“I just don’t understand what the big deal is.. can’t you see I’m desperate for some answers here?!”

She had come to Archedon to find answers about her father and she found it incredibly suspicious that on her very first day in the city a group of men had tried to follow her back to her inn and attack her.

Even stranger was that this fae male had just happened to be there at the right time to aid her in fighting them off….

Fae we’re not unheard of in the city but they weren’t easy to come by either. Given most fae were of noble blood. They typically preferred posher cities with more amenities than Archedon.

He slowed and turned to face her. His deep set eyes reflected like gold in the light of the full moon. His hair as dark as the night itself.

“I saw your blade at the pub”

Her eyebrows scrunched low in confusion.

He continued.

“The tigers eye hilt and the markings…I’ve seen them before. On the hip of a man who helped me many years ago..”

“…My father.” She said quietly…

“I assumed.”

A few seconds past.

His face turned sympathetic.

“I owed him a debt and saw a chance to repay it, that’s all”

She still had many questions but for now she said,

“Okay, so I know why you helped me.. now will you just tell me your name?”

His cheek lifted in a one sided smirk and he started walking again.

“I am no one important Lux Leadian”

And as he stepped in front of her, moving again towards the lights and cobblestone streets outside the inn… she doubted that last statement was true at all.