by Nicole Hall
Zee had to admit that she didn’t mind when he called her princess, but it made the class seem silly in her mind. At some point, she’d taken ownership of it, and she wanted to take it seriously. She’d searched the phrase on the internet after Sera had used it, and the television show that popped up sounded interesting, even if the armor was ridiculous. There could be worse comparisons.
Ryan stopped short at a shop with an abundance of windchimes in the front. He glanced through the big front window then pulled the door open. Zee followed him inside and almost ran into his back when a small, flowing woman yelled from behind the counter.
“Ryan! Where have you been, you naughty boy.” She leaned forward and affected a whisper, but it wasn’t any quieter. “Maddie told me all about that night in the reservoir.”
Red crept up his neck and ears in front of her, and Zee decided she liked this woman who could make Ryan blush. “Hey, Janet. Sorry I haven’t been around, but you know it’s hectic during the school year.”
She tsked. “That’s no excuse. And who is this gorgeous creature behind you?”
Ryan pulled her up next to him. “Janet, this is Zee. Zee, Janet. She owns this treasure trove. Maddie used to work for her before she shipped off to Europe.”
10
ZEE
Zee shook Janet’s hand, and marveled at the sheer number of scarves the woman wore. Some were cozy, some were sheer and brightly colored, and some she’d tied around her upper arms to make a trailing set of wings. Zee experienced a pang of sadness that she hadn’t been able to fly in weeks.
“You remember Henry, of course.” She wiggled her fingers at a terrarium in the corner with an iguana sunning himself under a heat lamp.
Ryan nodded, and Zee moved closer. She’d never seen a live iguana before. It didn’t look up as she approached, but she didn’t expect it to. The ones she’d seen in pictures were all brown, but this one was a beautiful bright green with light blue speckles. She wondered if Janet would let her hold him.
“C’mon, Janet. You said you’d have it by now.” Ryan’s raised voice drew her attention. Janet had her arms crossed over her chest, and he was frowning. With reluctance, Zee left the iguana in favor of the humans.
“I have no control over when my vendors ship me their goods. I’m as frustrated as you are, but I try not to bring those negative vibes into my shop.” She eyed him pointedly, and Zee had to hide a smile. “I’ll contact you as soon as it comes in.”
“Fine,” Ryan grumbled.
Zee put a hand on his arm. “I thought you were looking for gift advice.”
“That was for me. I like to shop locally as much as possible, and Janet will order pretty much anything.” She beamed from across the counter. “As long as you’re willing to be flexible about shipping dates.”
Her smile dimmed a little but didn’t disappear. “I have some new stock by the front window. An order from that glass artist out in Kilgore. I hear Sera likes dragons.”
Zee hadn’t known that, but considering Sera’s choice of shields, it made sense. She took a closer look at Janet, past the scarves and the positive attitude, and sensed a kernel of magic deep inside her. The power was almost hidden by her personality, and Zee seriously doubted if she was aware of it. At a guess, Zee thought it gave Janet the ability to suss out items people were unaware they wanted. It would explain how her odd little shop seemed to be doing so well.
They walked to the new display, where a dozen glass dragons in varying sizes were suspended from the ceiling. She imagined on sunny days this would light up the whole shop. Even on a snowy day they were magnificent. Zee reached out and ran her finger down the translucent wing of one of the smaller dragons, about the size of her palm. It was a deep indigo with swirls of light green. She looked up, and Ryan was watching her. He understood. She missed her other forms, and her ability to move between them.
Ryan could have dismissed it or ignored it; instead, he acknowledged it. “It’s okay to be sad. It doesn’t make you weak.” He untied one of the larger dragons with golden wings and took it to the front.
She stroked the wing again. The smooth glass was cool under her touch, but warmth blossomed inside her. Yes, she’d lost her wings, but had she gained something better?
Ryan was waiting outside under the awning. “I heard from Jake. Looks like we have another day to plan. Will panicked when he woke up, so they had to sedate him again.”
To Zee’s surprise, relief won over annoyance. She was enjoying her stolen time with Ryan. He had a paper gift bag in one hand, but when she got close, he reached for her with his other. They held hands and strolled along the sidewalk, stopping occasionally to window shop. Zee liked the feeling of her hand in his and the silence she didn’t need to fill.
A few other people were out, but they were mostly moving from car to store and back. The trees in the park shined with a sparkling layer of white, and Zee wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anything so beautiful. Ryan dragged her into a few more shops, where he chatted with the clerks but didn’t buy anything. Each time, Zee tried to pull her hand back, but he refused to let go. She didn’t miss the way everyone picked up on it then eyed her suspiciously. Ryan seemed to be popular and well-known among the townspeople.
The only exceptions to the wary inspections were students from her class. A group of teenage boys stopped her outside the post office to ask some questions about grappling in video games, and two ladies getting drinks hurried out of the coffee shop to thank her effusively for the training. They all wanted to know when the next class would be. Several others she recognized waved as they drove past.
Zee didn’t have a good answer for anyone. When she’d agreed to teach Sera some self-defense moves, she’d thought she’d be back in the Glade by now. It wouldn’t hurt to do another lesson though. Teaching had been fun, and the time commitment was negligible. She’d have to talk to Sera about setting it up again.
While she’d been musing, Ryan had pulled her into yet another small resale shop. The town was full of them. This one, however, was bursting with books. Zee gasped, diving deeper into the store, and this time Ryan let her go so he could chat with the man behind the glass counter.
The Fae had books, but most of the tomes were meant solely to pass along information. Spell books and history books. These books were flights of imagination. She ran her hand along the spines and grinned at the many feelings of joy that emanated from them. People had loved these books and passed them along for someone else to love.
She pulled one at random and examined the cover. A glinting dagger over a blue and gold background with a single word printed across it. The art was lovely, and Zee thought again that maybe humans had the right of it in some instances. Fae books were always bound journal style with no art on the outside. She flipped it over and read the description. A thrilling tale of fantasy and finding one’s truth.
It spoke to her.
She didn’t have any money, and it was rude to ask Ryan to get anything more for her when he had already provided so much. But she wanted that book. Zee hugged it to her chest and walked slowly back to the counter, unable to make herself put it back just yet.
Ryan hadn’t moved from the front of the store, but he held another gift bag filled with colorful paper. He smiled at the clerk and reclaimed her hand when she sidled up next to him.
“—couldn’t believe it. Miller swore it was Big Foot, but it couldn’t have been over six feet. You know how he gets when he’s been at the sweet tea. All sugar and no brains.”
Zee made herself set the book on the counter, and the man switched his attention to her. “You want that book, sweetheart? It’s a good one. My little Amelia loved it. Read it through in one sitting.”
He scanned it, and Ryan spoke up before she could think of a polite way to say she couldn’t buy it. “Put it on my tab, Bill.”
“You got it, professor.” Zee sent Ryan a questioning look, but he was busy adding her book to his bag. Bill didn’t notice, or seem to stop for b
reath in the conversation. “You two keep your eyes peeled if you’re going near the woods, you hear? Strange things are happening in there.”
Ryan pulled her toward the door and waved with both their hands. “We sure will. You have a good day, Bill.”
The door chimed as it closed behind them, and Zee let him lead her toward their next destination. “Thank you for the book. I didn’t mean for you to buy it for me.”
“Don’t mention it. You were clutching it pretty tightly.” Ryan grinned at her.
Zee glanced at the bag, then changed the subject. “Professor? I thought professors taught at colleges?”
Ryan shrugged. “Bill likes to give nicknames. He doesn’t understand the first thing about computers. I helped him set up his payment system, and ever since, he’s decided that I’m super smart.”
Zee smiled. “All brains and no sugar?”
He laughed again. She liked this happy, carefree Ryan. “Something like that. If you have time, it’s fun to sit and let him talk for a while because you never know what’s going to come out of his mouth.”
“I hope he warns everyone away from the Wood like he did us. This town keeps surprising me with the way everyone looks after each other.”
“It’s a good place.”
Zee was surprised to hear him say that. She’d been under the impression that he lived here out of necessity to be close to the Glade. Part of their original bargain was that he had to be available for tasks, but he also had to check in with her regularly so she could monitor the seal on his power. That would have been hard to do if he lived anywhere else. Maybe, like her, his opinions had been changing for the better.
They crossed a small side street and cut across a parking lot. The big sign for Rosie’s was lit even though the sun had barely begun to set. The rest of the town must have had the same idea because one by one the Christmas lights wound around the trees and along the buildings came to magnificent life. The sight made her smile and reminded her that Yule wasn’t far off. The night when the dark relinquishes to the light. A time of rebirth. Zee let her eyes linger on Ryan. Rebirth, indeed.
The smell of pizza wafted past them as Ryan held the door for a woman with her arms full of boxes. Zee’s stomach growled, and the wonderful smells made her take more than one deep breath. People filled every spare inch, even standing in the aisles between tables to chat with the ones lucky enough to be sitting down. They pushed their way through to the counter where a teenage girl was cheerily ringing up orders in a Santa hat and a school hoodie like the one Zee was wearing. The girl’s eyes lit up when she saw Ryan.
“Mr. Nolan! I didn’t think you’d be in today.”
Ryan scanned the room. “Yeah, I guess it was the same idea everyone else had. Carrie, this is my friend, Zee. Zee, this is Carrie, one of my better students.”
She shook hands with the girl and tried not to grin when Carrie visibly perked up at Ryan’s use of the word ‘friend’. Despite the fact that she seemed to perceive Zee as competition, Carrie smiled and welcomed her to town. “Mr. Hogan told me all about the warrior princess class. When do you think the next one will be? It sounds fun.”
Zee returned her smile. “Sera will let everyone know when we figure it out.”
Kindness appeared to run amuck here in Mulligan, a refreshing change from the constant jockeying for position she was used to in the Glade. Carrie yelled to Mr. Hogan that Ryan and Zee were at the counter then moved on to the people behind them. A few seconds later, he came bounding through the double doors labeled Employees Only, wiping his hands on a red-stained white cloth.
“Zee, what a pleasure to see you here. You tell me what you want and it’s on the house for my two favorite teachers.”
He was much more confident in his own setting, or maybe just when he wasn’t on the receiving end of Sera’s exuberance. This was the first time anyone had noticed her ahead of Ryan, and it made her inordinately happy. She wasn’t an accessory; this man valued her for herself.
“I’d like a calzone with all the vegetables you can fit into it, and extra feta please.”
“Make that two,” Ryan added.
Mr. Hogan pulled a tiny notebook out of his apron pocket and wrote down their order. “It’ll be out in no time. Grab a seat if you can.”
He hurried back through the doors, and Ryan pulled her close to whisper in her ear. “I wasn’t aware you knew what feta was. Or a calzone.”
“I pay attention when people talk. Mr. Hogan was quite proud of his newest cheese addition. He was telling Sera about it while she was trying to break his wrist.”
Ryan shuffled them back to a corner where there was a modicum of free space, and they ended up mostly behind a small potted tree wrapped in white lights. Zee leaned back against him with his arm around her waist, content to look around. People continued to come and go, but most appeared happy to linger and talk with their neighbors. Rosie’s was clearly the heart of this little town. At one point, an elderly woman got up to leave, and people from two different tables hopped up to hold the door for her.
The two men were struggling to find enough room for both of them to hold the door and still allow the older woman to leave. Zee giggled, and Ryan’s arm tightened around her. His lips brushed her cheek as he leaned in again. “That was one of the sexiest things I’ve ever heard you do.”
Tingles of awareness shot down her spine. She wiggled a little and found him hard against her backside. A groan rumbled in his chest, almost drowned out by the chatter surrounding them, and his arm locked her tightly in place. She was torn about whether to call a halt to their flirtation. No one was paying them any attention, and the plant shielded them, but she didn’t know how these things were viewed in the human world. Netflix was endlessly contradictory on the subject. Would they perceive him differently if they knew what he was up to?
He nudged her head to the side so he could trail a series of open-mouth kisses down the column of her throat. She pressed her lips together to keep from whimpering. He always knew the exact place she wanted him to touch, sometimes before she did. If he kept it up, she was going to suggest that they forgo dinner in favor of satiating a different hunger.
A couple left one of the smaller tables near the front, but Ryan held her still when she tried to claim it. “We won’t be here that long.”
She glanced back at him. “Do you have another store to stop at?”
His slow grin was wicked in the best way. “No, but I think we should take our order to go. We’ll probably enjoy the food more at home.”
Zee licked her suddenly dry lips, and his eyes followed the motion. A curl of anxiety leapt into her chest. She’d come to enjoy her time with Ryan, and she didn’t want to do anything that would mess that up. But her next move was going to change things one way or another. Am I really going to do this?
In the end, the decision was simple. She ached for him, and she’d never been a coward.
Zee turned in his arms and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “We could always cancel the order and go home now.”
Before Ryan could answer, Carrie appeared at their side bearing a to-go box and a petulant expression. “Mr. Hogan said you’d want this as takeaway and to let him know how you like the feta.” She thrust the box at Zee and pivoted on her heel, short hair flying.
Another giggle bubbled up, and Zee had it under control until she met Ryan’s eyes. He burst out laughing, and she couldn’t hold hers back any longer.
“C’mon. Let’s get out of here.” He grabbed her free hand with his and pulled her out into the twilight.
Ryan led her through the park, and Zee shivered as they approached his building. The box smelled delicious, but she hoped she’d be eating it cold sometime later. She’d fully enjoyed their day off together, and she intended to extend it into the evening. Judging by the pace Ryan was setting, he was on board with that plan.
They made it inside and up the stairs in record time. Ryan didn’t slow once they were in the apartmen
t, except to toe off his shoes, and Zee followed suit. He dropped the packages on the couch and paused a second to take the food from her and put it in the fridge.
The bond between them was ablaze with energy. Unlike the last few times, Ryan’s magic was under control. She could sense it there, but Ryan’s mind was preoccupied with thoughts of her. He led her into his bedroom and closed the door behind them. The Christmas lights in the park were the only illumination in the dim room with the sun fully set on the other side of the building. Now that he had her here, she sensed his uncertainty. He wanted her, that much was clear, but he was afraid too.
Zee perched on the edge of his bed and tried to assure her raging hormones that they could wait a little longer. “I told you I’d stay out of your head, so if you have concerns, you’ll have to say them out loud.”
Ryan paced to his bathroom door and back, stopping in front of her. “I was never supposed to like you.”
She cocked her head. “That’s not a great beginning.”
“Maybe not, but it’s our beginning. Everything about you was terrifying, and I wanted to use you to get rid of my magic and be done with it. I was right to think you were terrifying, but you’re also generous and loyal and the most badass warrior princess I’ve ever met.”
She swallowed a smile. “Still not a princess.”
He crouched in front of her and gathered her hands in his. “You are so much more to me than a means to an end, and the thought of you leaving to go back to the Glade tears me up inside.”
Zee nodded and extricated her hands to frame his face. “I know, but I don’t belong here.”
“You could.”
Zee sighed. The longer she stayed with him, the more she wanted to believe that. “If it was simply my future, I could, but I have to think of my people. You can have me now, and every day until I have to go back. After…” She trailed off, unsure of what she could promise him. “We can deal with after when it gets here.”
