The Magic of I Do (Faerie 2)

“Here and there,” she teased. “A little more there than here.”

“Are you all right?” he asked, fighting not to strangle her. Or kiss her.

“As right as I can be,” she said with a shrug. She lifted a cup to her lips and took a swallow. When she laid it down, he picked up the cup and brought it to his nose. “It’s just tea,” she said with a smirk. “Though you may have some if you’re that parched.”

He turned the glass until the point that had the print of her lips on it faced him. Then he slowly drank. Her heart leaped within her breast. She jumped to her feet and crossed to pick up a hairbrush. She began to drag it through her golden locks.

“We can find a maid to do that for you,” he said. He may as well have said, “The sky is blue,” but he didn’t know what to say to her. I’ve missed you fiercely. I think about you constantly. And the ultimate question, Are you with child?

“I quite like doing it myself, thank you.” She closed her eyes and let the brush slide down the length of her hair. The brush caught on a snag, and she stopped to pull the knot out. He stepped forward and took the brush from her.

“No,” she protested, covering her head with her hand to stop his good intentions. He just wanted an excuse to touch her, nothing more.

He laid a hand on her shoulder to hold her steady and began to brush her hair with the other. She acquiesced with a long sigh, but she didn’t relax. He could feel her tension in the set of her shoulders. In the rigidity of her posture. “Where do you plan to go?” he asked softly, afraid to break the calmness of the moment.

“I don’t know,” she said, allowing her eyes to close.

“Back home?” He let the soft fall of her hair slide between his fingers.

“Can’t go back there until the moonful, if then.” Her shoulders began to relax a bit, and she shifted lower in the chair.

“If you’d wanted to see me, you could have just come to the front door like a normal person.” A grin tugged at his lips.

“What makes you think I wanted to see you?”

“Why else would you be here?”

“Because I have nowhere else to go.” She sat up straight and took the brush from his hand, laying it on the dressing table with a clatter. “My land is not a good place for me right now…”

***

And it wouldn’t be, not once her secret became known. Once people knew she’d coupled with a human.

“Everyone you know is there.” His eyes appraised her in the looking glass. Too closely.

“That is my problem, you see.” She got to her feet and crossed back to the fire. “I can’t stay there. Not right now.”

He was an amateur detective. Sophia had told her. He liked to solve riddles and puzzles, and find things out about people. Perhaps she could appeal to that side of him.

“About what happened between us,” he began. He stopped for a moment to cough into his closed fist, clearing his throat.

“Must we discuss that now?” She sighed heavily. She didn’t want to discuss it. She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to deal with it.

“I think there are some things we need to say to clear the air.”

“You’ve been in my bed,” she said with as casual a shrug as she could manage. “It’s really no great event.”

“It was for me,” he said quietly.

It was for her too. But he bedded a different woman every night. She would wager on that. “It was but a moment.”

“Were there consequences of our actions? In your land?” He probably wanted to know if they’d snipped her wings. Or punished her in some other way. She was being punished, but not by the fae. She laid a hand on her stomach.

“No,” she replied. “They were not aware of our indiscretion.”

“Good,” he said softly. “I was worried for you.”

“Thank you.” Her voice was no more than a breath.