Chapter Five
Emilee looked at me curiously. “What’s your idea? You know I trust you already.” She smiled sweetly, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from my face. Her touch caused me to pause as I enjoyed the shivers she gave me. My eagerness to put my new idea into motion brought me back to the conversation quickly, though.
“It would involve me controlling your dream.” I held my breath as her eyes widened with surprise. Please, trust me enough!
“Why would you want to do that?”
“I’ll explain after. If you’ll let me do it, that is.”
She gazed at me evenly, studying my face. She seemed to be contemplating my proposal very seriously. I knew she would love what I had in mind, mostly because I loved it. I hoped she would agree to let me take control. It would be hard for her to relinquish the power though, and I knew she would guard herself carefully. There was just something about her that said she needed that dominion. After a few moments, she answered.
“I don’t know how to let you take control. Is there a certain way to do it?” Her voice sounded a little shaky. I knew she had just given up something huge for me, and I wanted to show her my thanks by making it worth her while. My heart hummed, as an idiotic grin overtook my face.
“I’m not sure. I tried to control your dream the first night we met but you stopped me somehow. Do you remember doing anything to fight me?” She gave me a look that was half scolding, half curious. I grimaced a little when I realized what I had revealed to her, but I was too excited to care.
“No, I don’t remember doing anything different from what I always do.”
This was becoming harder than I thought it would be. I ran my hands through my hair and pursed my lips. “Well,” I started, “How about we just try it and see if it works? Maybe if you’re aware you’re going to give up control, I’ll be able to take over easier.”
Emilee nodded and smiled, but I didn’t miss the look of fear that danced through her eyes.
“Hey,” I said softly, hugging her tighter and placing a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t be scared. I promise I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” I smiled, moving my hands to tangle my fingers in her hair. “I love you. You’ll like this idea.” She nodded quickly, her face hidden in my shoulder, strengthening her grip on me.
“Go ahead and try then.” Her voice was firm but muffled by my shirt.
“Close your eyes,” I whispered into her ear. I tightened my grip as well, and began to remember one of my own memories. Nothing changed. Frustrated, I tried to reach out to the outer parts of Emilee’s mind, feeling for a break somewhere. Her defenses were like iron and just as I was about to give up and think of another way to take control, I found the tiniest of cracks in her self control.
Gently, I pushed at the weak spot until I made my way completely through it. I was hit by a wall of emotions I never realized she’d been holding from me. I could feel her timid fear at what was happening, the pain she still felt over the loss of her mother—and love. Suddenly, I realized the love was for me. It was overwhelming, strong, and true. I felt my own heart warm in the revelation that she loved me.
Curious, I opened my own mind a little and released some of my own emotions, mostly my love for her. She softly gasped as she felt what I did, and her grip became even tighter as the foreign feelings invaded her. The wave of shock eventually subsided and all we were left with was love. It felt wonderful, our feelings plainly displayed.
“Are you ready?” I asked, my excitement finally overtaking my feelings.
“That wasn’t it?” She giggled as my feelings pushed against hers.
“Not even close,” I laughed.
“Okay, I’m ready then.”
“Keep your eyes closed,” I reminded, even though she’d never opened them. I closed my own as well, and took a deep breath.
Slowly, I began to weave one of my memories into existence. When I was finished, I opened my eyes to survey my handiwork.
The green hills of Scotland formed around us, the blue sky stretching as far as I could see—not a single cloud marred its appearance. A gentle stream trickled through the grasses. Even the slight breeze was exactly as I remembered it.
When I was finally satisfied I had remembered everything correctly, I had Emilee open her eyes. Her smile was contagious.
“Where are we?” She stepped out of my embrace and bent down to touch the grass, laughing.
“Scotland,” I chuckled. “I spent a summer here once, long ago. The Fae held rituals in these hills.”
“What kind of rituals?” She questioned further.
“The kind that are either too embarrassing to remember or too complicated to explain,” I laughed again.
“I’ve read stories of people being enchanted by fairies and led away,” she said as she twirled around, her arms outstretched. “Is that what you did? You led young girls away to their doom?” She giggled as she waited for my answer.
“Not exactly. We always made sure they made it home safely,” I said uncomfortably. My reply caused her to stop her twirling.
“Oh,” she said apologetically.
“Eh, it's no big deal.” I laughed away the uncomfortable feelings. I didn’t seem to care about my past endeavors at that moment. “That's not why we're here, anyway.”
Emilee looked at me, eyebrows raised and smiled slightly. “Oh? And why are we here then?” she teased.
“To dance—why else?” I held my hand out to her and remembered the music of Scottish bagpipes. As the sound filled the air around us, and Emilee took my hand. She surprised me when she began the traditional dance that went along with the song.
We danced joyously until there was no music I could remember. It felt like we’d been together for mere minutes, although, I was sure that hours had passed. With a breathless gesture, we flopped down onto the grass, finding our way into each other's arms, and gazed up into the blue sky. I was thinking of what to say next, when Emilee beat me to the punch.
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” she giggled.
“Wow, what a question!” I laughed. I pondered for a moment longer and then answered.
“I had this friend, Michael and we did so much stuff together,” I laughed. “We were actually responsible for a lot of things humans can’t explain.”
“Like what?” she asked excitedly.
“Michael had power that made him able to cloak a person’s appearance for a limited amount of time. We weren’t very responsible with it,” I chuckled, remembering all of the trouble we’d gotten ourselves into.
“The first thing we ever did with it was invent the Loc Ness Monster. He disguised me as this giant water creature and I swam around in the lake for a little while. Everyone started freaking out about it and eventually—when the Mother figured out what we’d done—we got in a lot of trouble for it.”
Emilee was laughing, sparkles gleaming in her gaze.
“What else have you done, oh great prankster?” She said in a mocking tone, bowing her head in reverence for added effect. “Is Bigfoot your creation as well?”
“Well,” I said, getting slightly embarrassed.
“No way!” she snorted. “You did that too?”
“Actually, that one was all Michael, although we both got in a lot of trouble for it—mostly because we had been making fun of how a certain Fae walks. Turns out, he was high on the important person list and had just been keeping it to himself.” It had been a while since Michael and I had been into mischief together. We were separated by the Mother when she’d had enough of our excursions.
“So you’ve always been a jokester. What an interesting and new side to you!”
She was making fun of me but I didn’t mind. I loved her laugh and the way we were able to talk so freely with each other.
We laughed together a little bit longer, and then fell silent as we took in our surroundings once more.
“This place is beautiful. I can see why your kind would come here to
perform their sacred rituals.” I could see the sky reflected in Emilee's eyes. Her hair lay perfectly around her head—like a crown—and in that moment I wished again we would never have to be apart.
I could feel her mind starting to slowly slip away and I began to ready myself for the imminent separation. I felt . . . surprisingly good for telling her my secret and sharing part of myself with her. She knew everything now, and it didn’t seem to matter to her. She hadn’t asked me to leave, and that was all the invitation I needed to keep returning.
Emilee suddenly looked me right in the eye and said, “Raith, do you really love me?” I was caught off guard by the sudden change in topic and quickly stammered out my consent. My heart went from a normal rate to that of a race horse in a second and my mouth went dry. I’d almost forgotten I’d told her that during all of my questioning. Her gaze softened and—fighting to remain asleep—she leaned in slowly and kissed my lips.
The fire returned like it had never been gone, filling me with desire and longing. I reached out for her, pulling her onto my lap with her legs around my waist. I grasped her as she held my face in her hands, kissing me with renewed heat. I nipped her lower lip with my teeth and she sighed softly, holding me tighter.
She began to fade away faster, no longer able to keep herself asleep. She broke away to look at me one last time before she was gone completely. As our minds slid delicately apart and I could no longer see her, I heard her voice like a whisper on the wind.
“I love you, too.”
Chapter Six
It felt like paradise.
I didn’t go home to The Glen again, I was beginning to prefer sitting in the woods, staying as close to Emilee as I could be. I didn’t care if anyone missed me.
She loves me, she really said it! I grinned like a fool as I thought of her warm lips on mine and imagined the kisses in our future. The thought of having to wait all day to see her again was driving me insane.
How insane will I feel when she’s gone? I grimaced at the thought—it had been bothering me whenever I was alone now. The truth was, we hadn’t ever really been together, and I hated it. It hurt knowing everything that happened was just a dream.
What if we just run away together? We could live together in secret somewhere, forever. Until she dies. I stopped that train of thought. The ending was unacceptable to me. I considered several other options, but they all ended the same way. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Emilee was looking at herself in the mirrors when I eagerly entered her dream. She was trying to do something with her hair, a look of discontent on her face, and she was as lovely as always. She dropped her hands to her side, blushing furiously when she realized I had arrived and was watching. I smiled.
I let my eyes travel down her body hungrily, noting her blush deepen as I took in her tight blue t-shirt, white cotton skirt, and white heels. I didn’t think it was possible for her to look bad, ever.
“Hi,” she said shyly, clasping her hands in front of her. She smiled slightly, biting her lower lip as she did so.
“Hello, yourself.” I responded with my own smile, walking towards her. “Did you know,” I said when I finally reached her pulling her into my arms and brushing the hair from her face, “I love it when you bite your lip like that. It just about drives me mad!” I raised my hand as I spoke and brushed my thumb over her bottom lip. She closed her eyes and sighed, leaning into me as I wrapped my arms around her waist. We fit together perfectly, and I loved that too. I just plain loved everything that had to do with Emilee.
I tightened my hold on her hips and crushed her to me, my mouth finding hers instantly. She opened her mouth and I licked her bottom lip tenderly, moving one of my hands from her hips and up to her face. I pulled gently away from her, smiling as I caressed her cheek and then rested my palm on her neck. She leaned in for more kisses, but I teased her by coming just close enough to feel the heat of our breath mingling. I laughed as she moaned in frustration and finally gave in to her.
The need for more grew as we kissed, tasting each other’s lips again and again. I sucked on her lower lip as she slid her hands under my black t-shirt and rested them on my stomach, her fingers fanning over my abs. I moaned as she grabbed my sides and yanked me closer, deepening our kiss and locking her fingers together with her arms encircling my body. It was like an animal instinct was starting to overtake us.
I broke away from her mouth and nuzzled my face into the crook of her neck, tipping her head to the side. I bit her softly there and felt her grip on me tighten. Slowly, I trailed bites up her neck until I reached her ear. I let my teeth graze the lobe before I sucked on it as Emilee kissed my shoulder.
My hands slid down her sides, to her waist, and I pushed her up against the wall. As I did so, she kicked off her heels and jumped up, wrapping her legs around me as she had for some of our other kisses. Her hands twisted into my hair as I held her tightly, kissing her collarbone. I slid my hand up under her skirt, onto her thigh, and suddenly found myself being pushed away as she slid her legs down to the floor. Disappointment filled me as much as I didn’t want it to.
“Wow,” she said, trying to catch her breath. She reached her hand up to caress my face and I leaned into it, still wanting her touch.
“Why did you stop me?” I had her sandwiched between myself and the wall, and was tempted to start kissing her again.
She smiled softly as she answered. “We were starting to lose ourselves to something I’m not ready to fall into yet,” she explained. “I didn’t want to stop, trust me!” She looked somewhat frazzled, and the blush returned to her face as she continued. “I want to . . . not stop. You know what I mean? I just want it . . . I want it to be real. That’s not something I want to happen here. I want it to be real.”
“I understand,” I replied, as she looked away embarrassed and dropped her hand from my face. “This is real though,” I pressed. “I’m really here.”
“I know that,” she countered. “I meant real as in . . . not in a dream.”
“Oh.”
She stared at me hopefully, waiting for me to continue. “Is that a possibility?” She looked worried at my lack of response, her eyes starting to show signs of sadness. I smiled warmly at her to try and calm her fears. I honestly didn’t know if we would ever have the chance to be together like that.
“Maybe,” I answered. “We’ll talk about it later, okay? I’m trying to come up with something.” She smiled at that and wrapped her arms around my waist, making our embrace more casual. I breathed a small sigh of relief. I hadn’t wanted to get into things that might make her sad.
“Emilee . . . you would tell me if you were ever going to go away, right? I mean, if you moved or something, you'd let me know so we could still be together?” I didn't look at her, waiting for her answer. I was sure that if I’d been mortal, I’d have knocked years off my life with all the extra pounding my heart was doing.
“As long as you want to be with me, you'll always know where I am,” she answered. My heart calmed a little.
“Forever?” I turned to look at her, grasping her hand tightly in mine.
“Forever.”
I took Emilee to see the world in her dreams, just like I’d wanted. By sharing my memories with her I realized what I had been missing in my own life; I didn't want to be without her ever again. Each night brought more happiness to me, but the knowledge that I was immortal and she would someday die, ate away at me more and more every passing day.
I was looking for a way to remedy our situation, but the answers were not being found easily. Frustration was setting in.
The next night, with Emilee's permission, I took her to visit one of my memories in England—to an old country dance. I remembered with perfect clarity all the people that had been in attendance as well—delighting her with the surprise of fellow dancers to sweep across the floor with. Of course she could only dance with me, since everyone else already had a partner, but she didn't mind. We only wanted to dance with each other
anyway.
Once we were done with our dancing for the evening, I took Emilee outside to see the moon—it had been the reason I remembered the event so clearly. I also loved to show her the world she’d always wanted to see. It was something I could do for her that she hadn’t been able to do herself.
There had been a beautiful Rose Moon that night, causing the tiny village to throw a dance celebrating the bountiful strawberry season they were experiencing. As we walked under the full orb, I took the opportunity to teach Emilee more about the Fae and their enjoyment of dances—how it was unlikely for the more rebellious of us to miss one being held in an area close by.
“And the people never knew? You were all there dancing with them and they didn't even know it?” She looked at me with a surprised expression on her face.
“Oh, some of them knew,” I laughed. “They just didn't want to say anything. A lot of the time we, the Fae that is, would cast spells on the humans so they wouldn't notice. Those who did were inclined to drink more because they were nervous and then they would think they imagined the whole thing.”
“So you can use magic other than glamour?” she questioned.
“Sort of. Humans tend to listen to what we say. We have the magic of . . . persuasion I think is what you would call it,” I laughed. “We do use some magic to get around though. There are other kinds of beings that are heavy magic users, but Fae don't really bump into them very often—we like to keep to our respective kinds.”
“Interesting,” she replied. “Have you ever met one? That reminds me too. You were going to tell me about the Fae who has wings,” she added on.
“No, I haven't ever met one,” I laughed. “And the winged Fae I know is actually the Mother of our Glen.”
“Glen?” she asked, confused.
“That's where I live, The Glen. It's kind of like a Fae town. Each one covers a wide area—I think there's only two allowed on each continent. That's all there is right now anyway. Each one has magical paths that lead out of it—created long before I was born—by the real magic users; they have been known to help those not of their kind for the right price, if they feel so inclined.”
Midsummer Night's Fling: Belinda Boring, Kamery Solomon, Lacey Weatherford Page 14
