The Gossamer Gate by Wendy L. Callahan Page A

hair was as unruly as ever, his blue eyes more piercing than the knife she knew he carried beneath the coat. His round, fae face was set with an expression of determination as he watched her.
    “I suppose that I should have let you have sex with me that night, so you could move on. Instead, I banished you back to your realm, not realizing you could possibly return to the mortal world. That was my mistake,” she said.
    “You tried to kill me, without realizing at the time that all it would do was exile me back to Faerie. In doing so, you left me to think about nothing but you for quite some time.”
    “Nine years is nothing in the life of a faerie,” Khiara scoffed. “You have no reason to bring this back up now.”
    “Any time spent pining for a mere mortal is too long,” Ronan answered , and reached toward her. “You tried to take my life away from me, and so now I will take yours in exchange.”
    “If I am nothing but a ‘mere mortal’, then why bother with me? I wo n’t stay here,” Khiara retorted. “You can’t make me and you can’t keep me like some kind of human pet!”
    “Oh, I can do whatever I want, especially here. You may certainly try to leave, but do you think that you can you find your way home again?”
    She bit her lip, and glanced around the forest.
    “ Forget about that. Some food or drink will help you to feel better,” he said, waving his hand with a flourish. In that moment, a small table appeared beside him. On it sat a plate heaped high with various, colorful fruits, and a goblet filled with a dark, red liquid.
    “I know the rules of Faerie as well as you do,” she snarled at him with a shake of her head. “I won’t touch anything you offer me. I won’t bind myself to your world. I don’t want to stay here.”
    “As you know the rules of this world, you must also know that you will have to find your own way home,” he said, looking down at his coat and flicking at the hem. “As you forced me to wait for nine mortal years to recover and find you, I will give you nine days to find your way. I believe I can wait that much longer to have you at my side once more.”
    Khiara ignored his last remark. “And if I do n’t do anything that connects me to the Faerie realm, I’ll be free?” she asked. “If I don’t drink or eat anything here?”
    “If you do not indulge in any of the pleasures of the Faerie realm …” He moved with inhuman speed to stand directly in front of her, and reached out to caress her face. “Then, yes, you will be halfway to your freedom.”
    “Halfway?” Khiara stepped back, out of his reach , a cold chill running through her. “That’s not fair.”
    “Life is not fair, as we both know. Was it fair that you tried to kill me?”
    “Was it far that you tried to force yourself on me?” Khiara retorted. “I chose not to be a victim, and I would have done the same to any other person.”
    Ronan leaned toward her with a smile, his hands in his pockets. “But you did it to me and, as I am a denizen of a completely different realm, I have the ability to demand that you repay me for the injury you caused me. The laws of the Otherworld permit this.”
    She glared at him. “You are wasting your time. You still won’t get what you want from me. Go ahead and give me my quest. I’ll complete it and I will go home, and never see you again. I didn’t give up nine years ago, and I certainly won’t give up now.”
    “That is very confident of you .” Ronan laughed, straightening to look down at her. “It is one of the reasons I am so fond of you, my dear Khiara. This should make a very interesting diversion until you realize it is useless. And then…” He took another step toward her so he could lean close enough to whisper in her ear. “When you realize there is no leaving this place, we shall find some new and far more exciting ways to spend our time together.”
    “Dream on,” Khiara growled in a low voice. “Tell me how to get