Page 152 of False Comeback

Letting a small smile tilt my mouth, I nodded dutifully. “I see them. What are they?”

“The tall stones. An old portal to the human world.”

My brows shot up. “You haven’t always used the crossings you have now?”

“No, but the stones are from long, long ago.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Thousands of years ago. When we dealt directly with humans and they left us offerings and things.”

“Damn.” I chuckled and turned to face them fully, trying to get a better look. “Don’t think humans have ever liked us ghouls. Definitely wouldn’t have ever left us offerings and shit like that. They all just assume we like eating dead bodies.”

“Oh.” Ianthe’s hesitant voice had me glancing over to see her giving me a sheepish smile. “So… you don’t do that, then? We just don’t get to meet many other types of beings here,” she added in a rush.

I managed to give her a somewhat polite smile back. “No, we don’t eat human corpses. We also aren’t dead,” I tacked on, remembering what all those snooty fae had said back at the palace. “I think ghouls—back in the old days or whatever—used to be like… scavengers, I guess. Plus we naturally tend to be nocturnal. You know, if our jobs and stuff allow it.”

“I read that ancient ghouls lived in underground cave networks,” Crossbody piped up. “And that yes, they were nocturnal scavengers, so they would emerge at night to find food. But…” He flushed, flicking me an apologetic smile. “The books I read did perpetuate the consumption of human flesh myth, I’m afraid.”

I shot him a quick grin with a brow raised. “Been reading about ghouls, have you?”

His flush deepened and he averted his gaze. “Just in passing.”

Trying not to smile, I leaned over to kiss his cheek. He was cute. And now that his guard was no longer up around me constantly, I could see right fucking through him.

“I won’t keep stopping us, but do you see that tiny structure on the top of the hill there?” Crossbody leaned in until his cheek was almost brushing mine and pointed.

I squinted and nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“That is a very old henge with an altar in the centre.” He leaned back and smiled at me. “Where my ancestors would go to make sacrifices to the gods in thanks for their power as the monarchy.”

My brow quirked at the mention of sacrifices, then quirked again. “Wait, so your ancestors specifically? The royal family?”

“Yes.”

“Did… you ever have to do that?” I asked with a touch of trepidation.

He laughed. “No. We stopped making sacrificial offerings centuries ago.”

“When it got too risky to keep bringing humans over,” Ianthe added. “Suddenly there were so many more humans, it was harder for the old fae to lure a single one away without any others spotting them.”

I eyed the pair of them in alarm. “Your ancestors used to lure humans into Otherworld to sacrifice them?”

“Yes.” Ianthe smiled at me. “Fascinating, isn’t it?”

“Uh, I just…” I scrubbed my jaw. “I kind of assumed all the old fairytales about, uh, the fae being vicious and bloodthirsty and stuff were just… stories.”

“Oh no.” Ianthe shook her head. “I would say as a people, we are fairly vicious.”

“Vindictive,” Crossbody added.

“Yes,” she agreed. “And cunning.”

“We can be quite cruel too,” Crossbody said.

“Oh yes,” Ianthe agreed yet again with a big smile. Alarmingly, neither of them sounded like they thought these characteristics were bad. “Capable of extreme cruelty, actually. Except to the ones we love.”

A beat of charged and slightly awkward silence followed as Crossbody’s fingers twitched against mine. He started walking again, quicker than before, pulling me with him.

“There’s actually somewhere else I want to show you,” he said hurriedly. “Well, something I want you to try. If that’s alright.”

“Um, sure.” My voice was a little hoarse, and I had to push down the tangle of nerves that had risen from Ianthe pulling out the L word. Glancing over at Crossbody as he led me down the quaint cobblestone path, I squeezed his hand. “You seem to like it here.”