“It’s a good thing he said so, ‘cause I’m still going.”
Well, as soon as the mated couple finally get their butts back here and we can get started.
“What about your…” Rys hesitates for the slightest moment, almost as if searching for the right term. He won’t say mate, I know he won’t, and he told me once that boyfriend was a human term; heaven forbid he do anything that would make him seem like a human. No surprise then when Rys settles on simply saying, “him?”
What about Jim?
“Good question.”
Too bad I don’t have the answer to it just yet.
3
I barely sleep that night.
After Rys leaves me to my painting, I find that it doesn’t hold my interest the way that it did before he came to see me. Before he left, he conjured one of his pink apples from the tree out front, leaving it on my dresser for me. It’s a peace offering as much as it’s an unspoken command. I need to eat, and not only because it’s been hours since I have. Thanks to my addiction to faerie fruit, if I go too long without some, I get super sick. The pain is fucking terrible. I’d only spite myself if I ignored his gift.
I eat the apple. I’m not happy about it, but I eat it anyway.
It’s easier to try to sleep now that I know Jim’s been dusted. It gives me some time to figure out how I want to handle this. I know I’m going to have to be honest with him eventually, but I’m not ready yet. And it wouldn’t be fair to dump him on the spot after he came all the way to Faerie because he thought I needed him.
At least, that’s what I tell myself. Too bad my guilty conscience is calling bullshit.
Somewhere around the middle of the night, I begin to regret not taking Rys up on his offer to dust me, too. I doze on and off, bad dreams ripping me out of the little bit of sleep I get. It isn’t long before I just give up on it and decide to get this over with.
I can’t avoid him forever, even if I really, really want to.
So, instead of heading down to breakfast, I call for Lolly and ask the brownie if she can lead me to Jim’s room. I know Rys gave him one on the ground floor and, though I’ve been staying here long enough that I should know, I’m not sure which one is Jim’s.
I think Rys must have warned Lolly that I’d try to skip out on breakfast. Before she agrees, the friendly, furry domestic fairy makes me sit down and eat a fritter she prepared with some of Rys’s apples.
I choke it down under her watchful eye, smiling weakly when I’m done.
It’s not Lolly’s fault. Like everything she cooks for us, the fritter was absolutely delicious. Nope. It’s having to eat breakfast all alone that makes it rough. Even though I got up earlier than I usually do, Lolly tells me that Rys has already gone out again.
Probably to ask for another audience with the Summer King.
Freaking wonderful.
After I’m done eating, there’s no excuse. Lolly whisks my empty plate away, then comes back to lead me right to Jim’s room; the manor is large enough, twisty enough, that my shitty sense of direction means I can—and have—gotten lost inside of it. Unless I’m imagining it, Rys shoved Jim in the most out of the way room in his whole house.
I’m… probably not imagining it.
Okay. Well, here goes nothing.
I take a deep breath, let out a shaky sigh, and rap my knuckles against the closed door. “Jim? You awake in there?”
“Hel?” The familiar gruff voice I’ve known for so long calls out my name. My real name. “Is that you?”
Guess that’s a yes.
“Can I come in?”
“The door’s open.” Jim pauses for a second. “I think. I… wasn’t sure if I was supposed to leave. Your friend said not to and, you know, I didn’t think I should piss him off.”
Your friend… he probably means Rys. And if there’s one thing I can say about Jim, it’s that his instincts are usually pretty spot on. It’s like the time our former neighbor, Cameron, tried to lure me into his apartment. Sure, Jim beat the snot out of him when I screamed for help, but he always pulled the “I told you so” crap for a long time afterward. And he did. He told me he thought there was something up with that guy.
Great. I can only