DESPITE MY INITIAL foot-in-mouth episode, Ryder’s introduction to Aiti turned out to be nearly as heady as our make-out session, albeit in an entirely different way. The rough edges that prompted cringing in others made my mother smile. And, for his part, Ryder didn’t blink at the oddity of Aiti’s inhuman features. Instead, he treated her as if she was a member of his nonexistent pack.
I could have stood there watching them converse for hours. But the conversation that started out so auspiciously eventually trended downhill.
“We’re coming to Faery soon so you can meet Ryder properly,” I promised when a lull in their chatter finally let me get a word in edgewise.
I expected concern and was prepared to sidestep it given my niggling suspicion that the Queen was somehow listening in on this
