Excerpt from the Eternal.

Now clean shaven and his glorious walnut hair cut short, he is a stranger to me. The flame in his eyes I recognize, from our time in the Mountain.

He is stripping me naked.

I raise my chin, a different Fae meeting those hungry eyes. Tattoos bare, my pale skin is now tanned, numerous freckles lining my arms from the intense sun. Captain’s hat is atop my free flowing lilac hair, the tendrils healthy and sprawling around my wide hips.

I must be a sight. 

Pan dismounts the beast, drinking me in for one more moment before rushing the distance between us. Callused hands grab my cheeks and he kisses me with such intensity, I might faint. 

The kiss lasts only as long as it takes my hand to retrieve my dagger, the black blade meeting his throat and pushing him back. I give him a wicked grin, my heart racing. There is no fear on his face, just wild delight. We had just met all over again.

“We have to stop meeting like this.” I taunt, stepping back from him and sheathing the dagger. His sentries wait, still poised with a multitude of arrows aimed at my face from atop their horned steeds.

Alvis and Orion flank behind me, Novak comes to my side with a wicked grin and rolling dark aura. Pan wipes blood from his neck, chuckling when he spys it. He raises his bloodied hand up in silent command. 

“I thought maybe you missed me.” Panrauth smirks, crossing his browned arms. I expected him to be dressed in finery, instead he looked like he had just stepped away from working in a field. Dirt stains his face and body.

I chuckle, shaking my head as I cross my own inked arms and widen my stance. “What’s this nonsense I hear about my being a hero in these parts?”

“Why don’t we have dinner, and find out?” A devilish smile pulls at a corner of his lips. I can’t believe the way he is acting. 

He had left me.