by Lola Gabriel
“Your Highness,” she said coolly.
“It’s still Lennox,” he reminded her, pausing to look at a collection of scarves on a rack. That one would look sensational on Gia, he thought, plucking a teal and silver silk one from its spot.
“You have good taste,” Allegra commented, but there was little warmth in her voice. “Can I help you with anything else today?”
“Where is Gia?” Lennox asked, not wanting to beat around the bush. He’d wasted enough time being apart from her.
“I’m sorry?” Allegra drawled. Lennox could see she was stalling for time.
“Gia Cirone,” he clarified. “Where is she?”
“Oh.” She seemed to think it over. “Um…”
“Allegra, I don’t know what she told you—”
“She told me nothing, Your Highness,” Allegra interjected, her brow furrowing into a glare. “I’m just trying to recall where she might be today. She has three jobs, you know.”
Lennox had not known, and the idea that Gia might be working herself like a dog made his gut twist with regret.
“Doing what?” he demanded, his eyes clouding.
“She’s a waitress in Columbus, Mississippi in the Americas,” Allegra answered. “Actually, she works in two college bars as a waitress there. And she works at a call center from a dingy room in a boarding house in New Hope.”
Each word filled Lennox with more disgust. He loathed imagining the delicate fairy serving beer to unruly patrons or being yelled at by rude customers. It had never occurred to him that she was struggling financially, and he hated himself at that moment for not asking her more about herself.
“Where does she live?” he asked. “Sunside?”
“No,” Allegra replied, her face puckering into a look of sourness as she eyed him with naked disgust. “She lives in the Trenches.”
Lennox’s mouth almost hit the floor. There were few places worse to live in the Hollows. How could she not have said anything about her dire situation? No one would live in the Trenches unless they were starving, would they?
Of course, they had done so little talking, but still…
This is my fault, Lennox thought. I should have asked where she lived. I should have asked everything about her, not just taken for granted that she would be waking up beside me.
“Any idea where she is now?” Lennox asked insistently. “It’s important that I find her.”
Allegra shrugged, refusing to meet his eyes. Lennox felt she was lying to him, but he did not want to alienate her before he found Gia. Besides, he didn’t blame her for looking at him the way she had. As far as she knew, he had slept with her friend and then disappeared.
“Allegra,” he began, “I know you don’t think highly of me, but I promise you that I’m not out to hurt Gia. Something happened last night—”
“It’s really none of my business, Your Highness,” Allegra cut him off.
“Then you’ll help me find her?”
She shrugged again and gave him a sheepish smile. “Like I said, Your Highness, she has so many jobs.”
Not after he found her. Lennox vowed to himself that Gia would never know poverty again if there was anything he could do about it.
“Fine,” he sighed. “Where in the Trenches does she live?”
Allegra hummed, pretending to think. “I can’t say I recall.”
A familiar stab of annoyance slithered through Lennox, and he scowled at the priestess.
“You may have your personal feelings about me, Allegra, but I am still the ruler of the Hollows,” he snapped, his back tensing at the blatant lie. “If I ask you a question, I expect an answer.”
Her mouth curved into a sardonic smile.
“You are the ruler,” she agreed, her mouth curving into a sardonic smile, “aren’t you?”
Lennox suddenly regretted playing the power card with her.
“Allegra, I just want to talk to her,” he pleaded, changing his tone to appease her.
“You said so yourself, Your Highness,” Allegra replied. “You’re the great ruler of the Hollows. You should have no problem tracking down a lowly fairy. Why don’t you employ some of your humble minions in your search? Or is there a reason you’re not doing that?”
Lennox’s jaw tightened, and before he could stop himself, he reached over the counter, his green eyes boring into Allegra’s. She didn’t flinch outwardly, but he could see she was taken aback by his movement.
“She is not a lowly fairy,” he growled. “Don’t ever talk about her that way.” Allegra stared at him, her eyes narrowing slightly, like she couldn’t believe what he’d just said. Lennox lowered himself back to his feet. “How much do I owe you for the scarf?”
“Oh, for the mighty ruler?” She smirked. “It is free, Your Highness.”
The sarcasm grated on Lennox’s nerves, but he didn’t respond, spinning to leave the boutique with the scarf in his hands. He hoped Gia would like it.
It’s just the first gift of many, he thought, a slow smile forming on his lips as he walked out of the commercial area of the palace. Since she didn’t work at the palace, the morals clause didn’t apply to her, which meant that she and Lennox wouldn’t have to hide their relationship.
That didn’t mean Lennox wasn’t dismissing the stupid caveat, anyway, but there was no urgency now. He was going to be ruler for eternity, and Gia was his fated mate. Even when he changed the regulation, it was not an issue that was apt to come up again.
Once again, Lennox’s good mood resurfaced, and he was back to feeling confident again. Even if it might take him all day to find her, he would, and when he did, he would whisk her off to live with him in the palace. Never again would she be forced to live in squalor or scrounge for food. She would have everything her heart desired.
Humming to himself, Lennox exited the palace through the north doors, his eyes focused straight ahead.
If he had bothered to look to his right, he would have seen Gia sitting at a reception desk, answering telephones on her first day at the real estate office.
The feeling of relief that had followed Lennox out of the palace had completely melted away into anger when he returned.
It had taken him half a day to find which bars Gia worked at and another two hours to fly from the Hollows to Columbus. He had been dismayed to learn that Mississippi was just as smoldering as Louisiana had been, and after hours of trudging through the college town, looking for Gia, Lennox was more miserable than he could ever remember.
“Gia? She quit. Yesterday was her last day,” said an impossibly large man—whose name was Egan—behind the bar. “I miss her sweet little face, but I hope she found something better suited to her personality than serving.”
A bizarre, uncomfortable sense jolted through Lennox as he read the affection in the man’s intense brown eyes. It took him almost a full minute to realize it was jealousy.
“What do you mean?” Lennox heard himself asking. “She wasn’t a good server?”
“No, she was great at serving drinks,” Egan said, “but she just couldn’t stand up for herself, you know? I hauled out so many little boys for being handsy, I lost count. Not that I minded. It was just hard keeping an eye on her all the time. I’m relieved she found something else.”
Lennox desperately shoved aside the idea of men pawing at Gia, making her uncomfortable or afraid. It enraged him.
“What the hell kind of place is this,” he snapped, “that your servers are being touched?”
Egan’s eyes narrowed. “No,” he corrected tightly. “No one touches the girls. This isn’t a brothel. I just said I’ve had to bounce out dozens of kids because they can’t make the distinction. It’s an occupational hazard of working in a college town.”
Having had no luck, Lennox returned to the Hollows to try the Trenches again. The only problem was that looking for a single person in the Trenches was like looking for a needle in a haystack. There were no leases in the Trenches, no management offices to contact. The poor liv
ed on top of one another in twelve crime-addled blocks, like they were stacked in cages.
Thinking of Gia spending one more night there caused Lennox’s stomach to shift dangerously.
When he went back to Allegra, he was disappointed to find that she had already closed the boutique, and all the other businesses were also empty for the night.
Allegra is going to tell me everything she knows tomorrow, Lennox thought. I don’t care how much she kicks and screams about it.
Reluctantly, he shuffled through the wide halls, heading back toward his suite on the north side of the building. The silence of the commercial side after hours was almost eerie, though it also had a peace about it.
There was a time when Lennox would have run through the halls, his wings fanning clear across the halls with room to spare as he dipped through the atrium, bowing his dark blue head. Never was he alone. There had always been at least one other brother with him, jesting and taunting him to race faster, fly higher, until inevitably, one of them would crash headlong into a pillar and shake the very foundation of the palace. They would laugh hysterically until they shifted back into their mortal shapes and tears poured from their eyes.
How long has it been since we’ve last had a race? Lennox wasn’t certain he could remember that far back.
“Lennox?”
He whirled immediately, his heart thumping wildly at the familiar voice who had called him. Gia stood a few feet away from him, her expression unreadable.
“Gia!” Lennox cried, rushing toward her. “I’ve searched both worlds in their entirety today! Where have you been?”
Her brow knitted. “You’ve been looking for me? Why?”
He reached out to embrace her, and she seemed to tense slightly at the movement. She was clearly mad at him. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be in a minute.
“Because I want to talk to you,” Lennox answered, deciding to keep his arms to himself. “Obviously, you want to talk to me, too.”
“What do you mean, obviously?” Gia demanded, frowning.
He mirrored her expression. “Didn’t… didn’t you come to see me?”
“No,” Gia said with a shake of her head, her cheeks turning red. “I was just finishing work.”
“Where do you work?” Lennox asked. “I just spent a day melting in Columbus, looking for you everywhere. Your friend Evan wishes you well.”
“Egan?” she breathed, her eyes widening in shock. “You went to Mississippi to look for me?”
“Yes, Gia! That’s what I’m trying to tell you! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Gia glanced down at the ground, almost in embarrassment, before she looked up at him again.
“I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered. “I just got a new job. Allegra helped me find something better.”
“She did?” Lennox asked brightly. “That sounds great! Where is it?”
“Right here in the palace!” Gia said, a smile breaking out over her sweet face. “I’m a receptionist at Parker Realty.”
His mouth tightened. “What?”
“Yeah. It’s a lot better pay than all my other jobs put together,” she continued excitedly. “I don’t know if I told you before, but I was working a bunch of jobs, and they could all be… difficult sometimes. At least here I have consistent hours and good pay!”
“You’re… working for the palace,” Lennox said. The statement was flat and void of emotion, and Gia seemed to catch it right away. Her excitement faltered slightly.
“Is that a problem?”
“No,” Lennox responded. A sudden thought occurred to him, and the solution to the problem was so obvious that he started chuckling. “Of course it’s not, because you’re not going to be working. I’m going to take you to your place so you can pack up whatever you want, and we’ll bring it back here.”
“What are you talking about?” Gia asked, confusion filling her face. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
That wasn’t the reaction Lennox had been expecting. He thought she would be overjoyed now that they would have a way to be together, but “overjoyed” seemed to be the last thing Gia felt.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he demanded. “You can’t deny that what we had last night was—”
“Wait a second!” Gia snapped, holding up her hand to stop him. “You slept with me once and then disappeared, even though you promised to meet me. Then you resurface and tell me I’m quitting my job and giving up my apartment to move in with you?” She scoffed in disbelief. “No offense, Your Highness, but I won’t be anyone’s kept woman. I can pay my own way, and I am not moving in with a man I just met. Especially when I don’t know if he’s going to be there the next day.”
“That—That’s not what I meant!” Lennox protested, though he could see why she had heard it that way. “Gia, I didn’t disappear last night! I had to—”
“I have a job I like, a job I’m actually good at,” Gia continued, interrupting him as though she had planned this diatribe the entire day. “I’m not going to drop it all because we may or may not have had a connection.”
“Wait a second, what do you mean—?” Lennox started to say, but Gia had already spun away to storm off in the opposite direction. There was a consistent wave of electricity between them, whether she wanted to admit it in her moment of anger or not. That was the only reason she was so furious: she cared.
Lennox thought about going after her to tell her what had kept him the night before, to tell her about the stupid clause, but he had the feeling that anything he might say would make everything worse.
How can I explain that, on top of all that, she can’t work for the palace if we’re going to be together? he wondered. That will not go over well.
Lennox knew he had to put an end to the stipulation in the morals clause.
10
As soon as Gia was certain she was out of view, she burst into a full sprint, running as fast as her legs would carry her. She gained enough momentum to spread her wings and soar, flittering to the top of the mushroom forest but still within the stalks. Her heart was thudding sickly in her chest, and she was sure she was going to throw up or faint or both.
I just yelled at Lennox, the prince of the Hollows, she thought. I could be killed for that! Or shoved into the barracks, or sent into limbo, or cast off into exile, or—
Gia urged her wings to flap harder.
It wasn’t that she thought Lennox was after her. She just wanted to leave the palace behind and clear her head away from the aura of its walls.
He had seemed so genuine, so earnest when he had talked to her. So, how could she be sure he wouldn’t break her heart? There was no way of knowing for certain except to trust in the feeling she’d had since the second she’d laid eyes upon him.
What am I supposed to do? she asked herself mournfully. I can’t move in with him, least of all into the palace! I’m not even sure if I’m ready to tell people we’re dating yet! Wait, are we dating?
She was talking herself in circles.
I’m not doing anyone any good like this, she thought. I need help.
“Maybe he didn’t mean it the way it came out,” Allegra suggested, leaning forward to slurp back a sip of her iced tea. “Maybe it’s his way of being chivalrous or something.”
Gia eyed her friend skeptically. Thankfully, Allegra had been free to meet that night, because Gia didn’t know what she would have done without the companionship. It would be another sleepless night, agonizing over a prince.
“Are you really coming to his defense after you were the one who warned me about him?”
“I’m only playing devil’s advocate,” Allegra replied quickly, taking another sip of her drink. “I’m surprised you even called out to him when you saw him.”
“Well, I was worried that he might see me, and I didn’t want to look like I was avoiding him.”
The blonde grinned widely at her. “Just when I think you’re getting a little bit tougher,” she sighed, laughing.
&
nbsp; “What do you mean?” Allegra sat back in the worn, vinyl booth and studied Gia.
“I mean that a month ago, you wouldn’t have even considered yelling at the ruler of the Hollows, let alone putting him in his place and leaving him staring after you,” she said. “Now you seem to have no problem doing that.”
“I had a problem doing that!” Gia protested. “A huge problem! You know how delicate fairy hearts are! I almost had a coronary!”
“But you’re still alive, aren’t you? On the other hand, you’re afraid there’s going to be a backlash.”
“Wouldn’t you be?” she cried.
“I think you’re more afraid that you want to say yes and do it.” Gia’s mouth parted to speak, but the words got stuck in her throat. “What’s holding you back from moving in with him?”
“I’m not a princess,” she said immediately. “Happy endings don’t happen for me.”
Allegra raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that it?”
“Yes! No! I don’t know!” Gia was confused by the question and by her feelings. What she had said to Lennox was true: she didn’t want anyone taking care of her, not when she had taken care of herself for so long. She wouldn’t feel right quitting her new job, especially when she was enjoying the change of pace. The clients calling the real estate office were sober and kind. They were nothing like the call center customers or the patrons at the bars.
“Well,” Allegra said. “I think you need to follow your heart on this, Gia. I can’t make the decision for you, no matter how much you’d like that.” Her smile took the bite out of her statement. Her cell phone chimed before Gia could say another word, and Allegra held up a finger, her brow furrowing. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
“Go ahead.” Allegra slipped from the booth, answering her call, but Gia was too lost in thought to hear the conversation.
Her own cell beeped, indicating a text message, and her heart jumped into her throat as she grabbed for it expectantly.
