“Sit down,” he ordered, pointing to a chair. “Something about you isn’t right, and I have a feeling this is where we’ll figure it out.”
***Sarah***
Sarah watched as Reese booted up a computer, wishing that someone would come into the room. His psychosis had reached a level that was clearly institutional, and although he didn’t seem threatening any longer, she was still scared. She knew that the safest thing to do was to play along until she could get some help, but it was hard not to run from the room screaming.
“Okay, give me your parents’ names,” he said. “Then I’ll need your grandparents’ and your great grandparents’.”
The first two were easy, but she had to think about her great grandparents for a minute. Reese typed the names in, then sat back and waited, then grinned with satisfaction. “Looks like you had quite the little family saga going on a few generations ago,” he said, turning the computer so she could see.
She was stunned to see a newspaper article about her great-grandfather and his whirlwind romance and marriage at the turn of the century, then another article about his sudden death after only a few years of marriage. It detailed how he’d left behind the love of his life and their son, her grandfather, but it wasn’t news to her: she knew her family history.
“So, I don’t see what this proves,” she said.
“Look, see right there where it says your grandfather had no family,” he said. “No one knew where he came from, but I do. I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out sooner.”
He jumped up from his chair and went over to a shelf and pulled out a very old book and began thumbing through the pages, mumbling under his breath. When he found the page he was looking for, he let out a triumphant whoop and shoved the book in her face, but she saw nothing but a long list of names, with dates written next to them.
“What is this?” she asked.
“This is a book that lists all the Pixie’s the Unseelie killed,” he said. “There’s your great-grandfather’s name.”
She looked where he was pointing, seeing not only her great-grandfather’s name, but her grandfather’s and her father’s. “That’s not possible,” she said. “This can’t be real.”
The room around her began to spin, the names on the page blurred, and for a second, she thought she was going to pass out. “It’s right there in black and white,” Reese said, setting the book down and putting his hands on his hips. “Are you going to admit it now?”
She could only stare at him as a long-buried memory came floating to the surface, freezing her in place as it played in her mind, taking her back to that terrible night. After a long day adjusting to her new surroundings at college, she’d barricaded herself in her room and planned to read a novel when the phone rang. Knowing it was her grandfather who called every night at that time, she picked up the phone and gave a happy greeting, but grandfather hadn’t returned it.
Instead, he began to ramble about family secrets, Fairies, Pixies, and witches, warning her to watch out for those who would harm her for her gifts. He’d hung up on her then, and when she tried to call him back, it had gone straight to voice mail. After a few hours of trying to reach him, she was just packing a bag when she got the call that he’d been killed, and their conversation had disappeared in the face of her grief.
But now, sitting there, Reese staring at her, her grandfather’s words began to make sense. “I’m a Pixie,” she said, the words echoing in the silent room. “He was trying to tell me that, but couldn’t.”
The triumphant look on Reese’s face swam in her vision as more memories began to surface: bedtime stories about fairies and Pixies, her grandfather’s voice soothing her to sleep. She tried to fight the truth, tried to tell herself that they were just stories, but she knew deep down that he’d been telling her in his own way about their family history.
The last thing she saw before the world went dark was Reese’s concerned face, then it all went away in a soothing blackness that she welcomed. She woke a few minutes later, Reese standing over her, the same look of concern on his face, a glass of water in his hand. When he saw that she was awake, he smiled and held the water to her lips.
“Drink a little of this,” he said.
“I just had the strangest dream,” she said, then realized it wasn’t a dream and sat up in the chair, making her head swim again.
“It wasn’t a dream, Sarah,” he said, setting down the glass and smoothing the hair back from her face. “I think we need to talk.”
She nodded. “But not here,” she said, desperate for the security of her room.
“No, let’s go back to your room,” he said.
She looked at him warily. “I don’t know about that either. Can’t it wait until morning?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. We have to figure out what’s going on, Sarah.”
When he held his hand out to her, she took it, teetering on her feet, making Reese put his arm around her. “Hold on to me,” he said, but when it was clear that her legs weren’t going to hold her, he swung her up into his arms.
She wanted to sink into the feeling of comfort having his arms around her brought, but she still didn’t trust him, was still so confused she couldn’t trust herself. “I guess I should have eaten dinner,” she said, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
“I guess so,” was all he said.
He didn’t set her down until they were back in her room. “Sit down there and eat something. I think you might be in shock,” he said, guiding her over to the table. “There’s some fruit and cheese here, and try some of this.”
Sarah ate anything he handed her automatically, her brain numb with shock, then drank the glass of water he handed her. “I think you need some sleep before we talk,” he said when she began to shiver, exhaustion making it impossible to keep her eyes open.
She nodded and let him help her over to the bed and under the covers. Curled into a ball, she continued to shiver, the names in the book swimming in her mind, the idea that she was something more than human both frightening and tantalizing. When Reese climbed in beside her and pulled her into his arms, she started to fight, but he shushed her.
“Just let me hold you until you stop shaking,” he said, stroking her back with his warm hand.
Chapter Thirteen
***Reese***
Sarah fell asleep as soon as she stopped trembling, but he didn’t move, afraid that he’d wake her, and he was desperate for some time to sort through his feelings. The overwhelming need to protect her was still with him, and he wanted her as much as he ever had; it was the question of what she was doing in Loughmore that still haunted him.
It was becoming more and more difficult to believe that she’d come here to do any of them harm; in fact, he was almost ready to believe that she knew nothing of what she was or where she came from. He’d been so intent on exposing her, he’d ignored her reaction to everything he’d been shoving at her, and in the end, she’d broken down. Not even the best actress in the world could have faked Sarah’s reaction.
Now, he didn’t know what to do with her, how to handle the mess he’d made. He should have figured it out sooner, should have put two and two together; the rumors had always circulated that some of the Pixie’s had escaped the Unseelie into the human world. But there had never been any proof, that is, until now, and he knew that Sarah was in a lot of danger if the Unseelie figured it out.
Then, with a sinking stomach, he realized that they did know; it was the only thing that explained the deaths in Sarah’s family, and if that was true, she was next. Fear shot through him, quickly followed by anger that everyone had been so sure that the Unseelie were finished. When all this time, they’d still been working quietly behind the scenes removing their enemies and growing stronger. The Seelie had grown complacent, secure in the knowledge that their biggest enemy was gone, and they’d taken advantage of that.
Sarah stirred in her sleep, interrupting his thoughts, and he looked down at her,
wondering what he was going to tell her or how much more she could handle. Discovering that you’re a magical being would lay anyone flat, but adding the complicated situation with the Unseelie might send her over the edge. He’d have to take it slowly, explain just a little bit at a time, give her time to get used to the idea.
When she finally woke a few hours later, she lay quietly in his arms for a long time, and he was happy to give her a moment to collect her thoughts, deciding that her calm silence was a positive sign. It wasn’t long before he felt her take a deep breath. “I feel like I just woke up from the strangest dream,” she said, looking up at him. “But it wasn’t a dream, was it?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. I guess it was a bit of a shock to find out that way,” he said.
She studied him for a minute. “Can you just say it for me once more?”
“You’re a Pixie,” he said, watching her closely. “A magical creature with special gifts.”
Her face filled with disbelief, but then it began to fade. “My grandfather used to tell me these stories about fairies and Pixies, and I think sometimes there were witches in them,” she said. “I haven’t thought about them for years.”
Reese pulled himself up a little more in the bed, then settled Sarah in his arms again. “He probably told you those stories to prepare you for the truth,” he said, gently.
“But he never got to tell me,” she said. “He tried that night on the phone, but we got cut off.”
Reese nodded. “He tried to tell you, Sarah, to warn you.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay, so I’m a Pixie; tell me what that means.”
“It means that you’re incredibly smart, a bit mischievous, occasionally selfish, and can’t always be trusted,” he said. “Pixie’s are also known for their small stature, and pointed ears.”
“Well, that sounds pretty terrible,” she said, smiling weakly at him. “No wonder you didn’t trust me. You do believe me now, don’t you? I didn’t know anything about any of this; in fact, I still don’t know anything.”
His heart nearly broke when her bottom lip began to tremble. “It’s okay, Sarah, we’ll figure it out together,” he said, smoothing her hair away from her face. “Okay?”
She nodded and rested her head against his chest. “Just don’t turn on me again. I don’t think I can handle that right now,” she said.
Her words hit him hard and he realized what the last few days must have been like for her. “I’m sorry, Sarah, I promise I’ll never hurt you again,” he said, rubbing her back.
“I know you were just trying to protect your family and the village,” she said, snuggling deeper into his arms. “Now maybe it’s time you told me about Pixies and Fae.”
***Sarah***
The words felt strange on her tongue as they came out of her mouth, but she was beginning to accept that the reason she was so different from everyone was that she was different. She wasn’t quite ready to think of herself as a Pixie, or to accept that Reese was Fae; her brain needed more time, more information. Reverting into the safety of her intellect felt like the best thing to do right then; it had never let her down before.
Reese was quiet for a minute, then he took a deep breath. “When you drove through that bank of fog on your way here, you drove through the barrier that separates us from the humans. Here in the Land of the Fae, magic is a part of our everyday lives; it’s part of us and of all the creatures around us,” he said, looking down at her to see if she was listening.
“Where do the Pixie’s come in?” she asked.
“Well, we’re cousins, so to speak; Pixies, Fae, and witches are all related, all have the same kind of magic,” he explained. “A long, long time ago, we all lived here together in relative peace.”
She let that filter through her brain. “What happened?”
“The Unseelie,” he said. “A group of Fae who wanted to use their magic to rule the land and were willing to use black magic to do it.”
“I’ve heard that word before; my grandfather used it once,” she said, the memory still murky but there. “And Seelie, he used that too.”
“We are the Seelie,” Reese said. “The Fae that oppose them, we’ve been fighting them off for centuries, protecting our land and our way of life.”
“So good versus evil?” she asked. “Just ramped up with magic.”
Reese laughed. “I guess that’s one way to put it,” he said, but then his face became serious. “About a hundred years ago, the Unseelie decided that if they got rid of the Pixies, it would weaken us, finally give them the advantage they needed.”
It took a minute for his words to sink in. “You mean they wanted to kill them all?” she asked, horrified.
He nodded. “And until now, we’ve all believed that they did,” he said, his eyes meeting hers. “I mean, there were always stories about some escaping into the human world, but no one has seen a Pixie in a long time. I guess it just became fact,” he said.
Sarah pulled out of his arms and scooted up against the headboard; she wrapped her arms around her knees, suddenly uncomfortable. “Are you trying to tell me I’m the only one?”
“Not necessarily,” he said. “After the Unseelie slaughtered the Pixies, the Fae with the help of the witches destroyed them, or we thought we did. I think in the aftermath, no one thought to check. I wasn’t there then, but that’s the only explanation.”
She paused to let her brain catch up. “You said you thought the Unseelie were destroyed,” she said.
Reese smiled at her. “You are too smart for your own good. I was planning on telling you this a little at a time,” he said. “A few weeks ago, the Unseelie launched an attack on one of our towns on the coast, and we weren’t prepared. It’s been almost a hundred years since they were openly active, but they haven’t been idle.”
Sarah felt something stirring in her brain, a truth that she didn’t want to accept, and when it burst through, she gasped. “They killed the men in my family,” she whispered.
“I think so, first your great-grandfather, then your parents, then your grandfather,” Reese said.
“And you think I’m next?” she asked. “I mean, it doesn’t make that much sense. I can’t be more than a quarter Pixie, right? If you go back to my great-grandfather, then there’s more human blood in me than Pixie.”
Reese shook his head. “That’s not the way it works,” he said. “The magic in our blood is stronger than humans, and it always comes through. That’s why we’re forbidden from mixing with the humans; it would tip the scales and put things out of balance.”
“So, they will come after me,” she said, her brain close to overload again.
“I don’t know that for sure, but you’re the first female in your family for three generations,” he said, then hesitated. “This is going to embarrass you, so hold on. Humans can only carry one Pixie or Fae child, but since you’re a female, you can have as many as you want.”
“So, I’m a breeder,” she said, then blushed when she realized what she said. “I mean...”
Reese laughed. “That’s not the way I would have put it.”
Sarah tried to laugh, but it was all so much to be suddenly thrown into a world of magic, and her head hurt from trying to piece it all together. But there was one more question she had to ask. “What about us? Was that all just an act to expose me?”
He studied her for a second and knew that she wasn’t going to like what he said. “It started out as me trying to prove to my parents that you wouldn’t be able to resist me, but then, well, I don’t know, it became a challenge.”
“To see if you could get me into bed?” she asked, sliding away from him, another part of her heart breaking.
“No, to see if I could figure you out,” he explained. “The other stuff, that’s just the way I react to you; you drive me crazy, Sarah, so crazy that sometimes it’s all I can think about. I wasn’t faking that.”
His words made her heart begin to pound, and a thrill rushed throu
gh her when she thought about the kiss they’d shared earlier that day. “What happens now?” she asked, her voice only a whisper.
“Well, first, we’re going to talk to my parents, and then we’ll have to figure out how to keep you safe,” he said.
Sarah’s heart was pounding in her chest, and she could barely breathe, but deep inside, she knew what she wanted. She shifted onto her knees and knelt next to him. “No, I meant what happens now with us?”
Chapter Fourteen
***Reese***
Reese knew what Sarah was asking, but couldn’t find the right words to tell her how he felt. He’d tried just a minute ago, but hadn’t made it clear enough. “I think that’s up to you,” he said, reaching out to stroke her cheek.
She turned her face into his hand and kissed the middle of his palm, making his body come alive instantly. “I think I want you to make love to me. I’ve never...that is...no one has ever...” she trailed off, her cheeks turning crimson. “I never wanted to before, Reese, but I do now.”
He wanted to pull her into his arms, but what had simply been sex when he’d first thought of this moment had turned into so much more, and he didn’t want it spoiled. “Are you sure, Sarah? You’ve been through a lot over the last few days, and I don’t want you to wake up tomorrow and be sorry.”
“Right now, the only thing I have to hold onto is the way I feel about you,” she said. “I’ve never felt this way before, and I’m tired of fighting it. If you don’t feel the same way, I’ll understand, and maybe I’m making too much of this, but I want you to make the rest of it go away. I just want to feel something I can understand for a while.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I wish I could make it all go away for both of us,” he said, pulling her into his arms.
When his mouth came down on hers, she opened it for him, and let his tongue slip inside, moaning softly. The passion between them exploded and his body was instantly hard and throbbing, but he knew that he had to take it slowly with Sarah.
Rescued By The Fae Prince (Fae 0f Ballantine Book 3) Page 8
