A Court of Honey and Ash (Honey and Ice, #1)

by Shannon Mayer

“Where did you get this dress?” a man shouted. “A girl—woman, I guess—traded me. It’s lovely, isn’t it? I think I can make it fit if I let out the seams.” Hyacinth’s voice rang out clear as day. “No one in my position would ever get a dress so fine as this, you know.”

Why would Hycinthe leave the castle on the same side as she was sending Alli to escape though?

My relief was brief as I found a pile of loosely woven blankets also being sent for sale.

Why would that make her relief brief?

“Do you?” he asked. “I don’t think she does. I think she believes that I came here for her, when I could have been here for any of the orphans.”

But the fact is that you DIDN’T come for any of the other orphans, you came directly to tell her goodbye.

Even though I’d had that thick blanket, the ride had been frigid.

It’s not like there weren’t more blankets you could have used…

getting off of Unimak before the king shut down the airstrip to trap me on the island.

I don’t think it would have been the king that shut it down. He seems impotent. Your stepmom’s running things.

One of them smiled and started to raise an arm, but a narrow-eyed stout woman cut him off.

It’s always a damn woman that tries to hinder other woman! In real life AND in fantasy… Smdh!

“The pilot. Co-pilot, and one passenger. That’s it.”

I wonder if that passenger is asshole Faolan since the synopsis says something about him chasing her or something like that?

“We both know a powerful fae like yourself didn’t really require rescue, but I do prefer the tidy way of doing things whenever possible.” Me? A powerful fae?

I knew it. She’s powerful. Probably has Underhill’s power.

Hearing about a runaway fae had been enough to sidetrack him from his meeting?

Must be some sort of prophecy going around that she doesn’t know about or something?

pair of miniature katana blades hanging from it. I snorted. Tracker blades, as if that subspecies of supernatural was real.

Funny to doubt it when you’ve already admitted to not knowing much about the fae and the world at large anyway…

He said this is how orders get passed to the Storm Wardens sent out to the Triangle,

Ah, Storm Warden. Must be what Ruby is…

I looked at the time, jerked the wheel hard to the left and spun the SUV around, sliding across the road. The message repeated every few minutes, and I left it on as I sped back the way I’d come. “Dammit, Cinth.”

Noon on the fifth… didn’t she just leave 4-5 hours ago, AT NIGHT. Is the fifth the exact same day?

She was wearing pants. Jeans, to be exact, which was . . . well, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her out of a skirt or dress before. Probably not the most important thing to think about right now.

It is if it’s not her but someone glamoured to be her…

“You shouldn’t run when you’re on fire—you should stop, drop, and roll, and let the people around you help put it out. For future reference.”

🤣🤣🤣

“Yes, he let out a fart, then jammed the blankets over my head and said, ‘Breathe deeply baby, and it’ll go faster.’” She mimicked Jackson’s deep voice, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Yeah, she’s too mature for his childish ass.

“I’ve known you since the king’s guards dropped you off at the orphanage, five years old with tears frozen to your frostbitten cheeks.

So… wayment… Faolan found her and took her to the orphanage… so how did she end up with the King’s guards and them escorting her to the orphanage?

“Who is this guy that he can control a meese?”

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I could feel the pull of the water, to an extent, but I couldn’t control my fear that the river would spill up and over the bridge. There was a splash to my right, and a small wave did just that.

Um… maybe you did that. Prolly should stop thinking such thoughts…

Dox grinned and slid a menu across the bar. “I’ll bring you some of my home brew. Just warning you . . . it could knock you on your ass.” “I’m fae. It’ll take a lot to knock me on my ass.” I took the menu, not responding to his grin. He didn’t throw off a bad vibe, but I wasn’t here to make friends.

Wow… so she went from “I need to be on alert” to “I should get drunk or at least tipsy while I’m possibly in a dangerous situation” real quick. 🙄🙄

My stomach dropped out my ass. Shit. “He did? Tell me what he said.”

Smdh. Some warrior protector you are… training OUT the window and over the bridge back down the street…

Had a peek through the window

Huh?

I’d only heard of one giant ever—the protector of the Strays—and I had a feeling he and Rubezahl were one and the same.

Sounds about right…

Leaning into the tiny shower stall, I turned the temperature to cold and shucked my clothes and weapons.

Probably not smart considering the current outside temperature is likely in the single digits or below zero…

Probably not sm

I spent time washing my long hair and scrubbing off the chaos of the last day—two days and two nights.

Didn’t you bathe before the dinner? It’s the next day? Where’d this extra day come from?

At her odd tone, I glanced up and stared directly into dark eyes that were most certainly not hers. Faolan stared hard at me. “Orphan.”

And she’s wearing a hand towel! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Bet you’ll grab his attention this time lol.

A slow grin spread across his full lips, and his eyes darkened. “I told you last night. Right before you danced in front of me for an hour.”

And Cinthe left that part out when she woke up? Knowing why she fled Umitak?

My mouth fell open, and I shot a glare at Cinth. This should have been filed under ‘tell Alli the moment she wakes up.’

That’s what I’m saying!

I shifted the towel, and Hyacinth made an alarmed noise. Peering down again, I saw that the entirety of my upper thighs and what sat between them was on display. I must have had nine lives, because I died all over again.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You aren’t my type, not even close.”

Liar.

“Put your clothes on, Orphan. I’ll be here when you get out, and you can tell me why you very conveniently happen to be at the entrance of Underhill too.”

She was at the entrance or is this Healy place the entrance?

You think you can protect her too? You can’t. You’re still that little girl in the orphanage.”

I feel like he’s pushing her. Like he knows she can be more if only she let it fly or something, let go of her fears maybe.

“I suppose she could join them as a cook. It might protect—”

How is he dictating what the Seelie crew can and will do? What they will allow… I feel like he knows more than he’s letting on. He might even be a spy for the Seelie court in the Unseelie court…

Just try to separate us. Just try. You’ll see who she sides with. You may have a dick, but I can cook. Dicks go limp over time; good cooking is forever.”

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’d do well to keep an eye on everything,

Starting by NOT getting drunk in a strange place while on the run with at least one strange entity knowing you’re there…

“I’ve never had trouble finding you. You should keep that in mind.” What did that mean?

It means he’s your mate and can sense you…maybe?

“That was intense. I can’t tell if he hates you or wants to angry bang you. Maybe both?”

Facts.

don’t want a bad boy. They don’t . . . they don’t make good partners.”

Yarrow… must be.

Now pull your shit together, we’ve got a giant to meet.”

You just said you were going BEFORE Ruby got there…

But it wasn’t Lugh I got.

Close enough though… your stalker is his grandson after all…

Faolan reached for my arm, his fingers wrapping around my wrist. “Orphan—”

Lanny Boy, you’re making it hard to like you…

I had bigger priorities right now. “If the teams are leaving soon, I’d prefer to leave now to reach the entrance as quickly as possible.”

No really, but you should probably ask him who the Children of the Moon are, just to see if your assumption is correct about it being the Unseelie…

On the one hand, that was kind of his job as protector of outcasts.

No bo, it’s not a job, it’s a choice. Get your line of thinking straight from the start…

This guy really did seem invested in helping outcast fae, and regardless of whatever agenda he might have—because everyone had an agenda—he

Why not just ask him what he wants in return?

“We had locals help us with that,” Drake said.

Drake hasn’t even been there that long…, about four years. Why is he talking like he was there when the place was built? Is it new? Is that why Alli hasn’t heard of it?

Reversing between two trees, I spun the wheel and headed back the way we’d come the night before,

You’d better hope it was actually trees…

If the magic wasn’t here, then it had to be somewhere else.

Yeah, inside you!

Yarrow.

And of course this would be his first assignment…

Her ears were tipped, pointed like only one species of fae I knew of.

Owl? Elf?

The mystica fae were mind readers,

Oh…