Would it be so bad if this man courted her? It would be a real change from the usual snatch and browbeat she'd endured in the past. But what challenges could she give him? She didn't want riches or dead monsters. She didn't want great feats of valor. There was only one simple thing that could tempt her into willingly marrying anyone.
"You are early."
Star jerked her head up to see the Fae coming toward her through the grass. He was still dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, a gray one today. He stopped a few yards away, watching her, his expression calm, but he made no move to come any closer.
She looked away. He was simply too handsome for her peace of mind. “Don't sound so surprised."
"I trusted that you would come at the time we agreed upon but not before."
Which said a lot, she thought. He trusted her honor not her willingness.
"I had a lot of thinking to do,” she shot defensively. She didn't like feeling like a bug on a plate under that penetrating gaze. Her every fault came into glaring relief and it wasn't a comfortable feeling.
"That,” he said simply. “Is what surprises me."
Star sighed and dropped her arms, slouching into a more comfortable position. “Why?"
"May I sit?” He gestured to the spot beside her.
"Can I stop you?” She hadn't meant to sound bitter but couldn't help it. He wasn't the problem but he was the latest symptom. Luna gave her hives and he was just the latest itchy bump.
He remained silent and when she chanced a peek, he was shaking his head. He stuck his hands in his pockets but stayed where he was.
"I am not here to force my presence on you, Astrid."
Star made a harsh sound. “I hate that name. Call me Star or Candy or even Bunny—anything you want—but don't call me that."
"As you wish.” He still hadn't moved and she realized with a start that he was waiting for her permission. Warmth fluttered in her stomach.
"Oh, sit already and quit looming like Fate on the horizon."
A smile flirted at the corners of his mouth leaving her to wonder what he would look like if he really smiled. The picture her mind conjured turned her bones liquid. He did take her offer and came to sit just out of arms reach. So careful, so polite. It was almost frightening.
"Why does it surprise you that I have a lot to think about? Don't you think a person should think carefully before wagering their whole lives on something this important?"
"Yes. I spent a great deal of time coming to a decision on this myself,” he admitted easily. “What surprises me is that you are giving the matter thought instead of dismissing me out of hand."
That caught Star's attention as nothing else could have. She stared at him in amazement. “You thought I was just going to ... Then why did you bother to come here?"
The Fae stared out across the lake, the wind playfully ruffling the silky ends of his hair. Star couldn't help but watch him, the solid, rugged lines of his face and the power of his body. There wasn't a movie star in Hollywood that could hold a candle to him for sheer magnetism. As one of the Earth Realm, he exuded sexuality the way other men sweated.
"Because nothing can be accomplished without an attempt even if it ends in defeat,” he answered slowly. “In order to capture a goal, one first must reach for it."
Star looked away, swallowing hard. It was a soldier's answer and, while she doubted she would ever have that kind of courage, it was hard to dispute his logic.
"Why marriage?” she asked suddenly. The question had bothered her all night. Most men would jump at the chance to father a child without any strings attached. This one demanded the chains.
"Do you honestly believe I would allow the Moon Queen to raise any child of mine?"
He sounded disgusted by the thought and relief blossomed inside her. Star felt a grin forming on her face. At least she wasn't the only one to feel that way. Hope fluttered again.
"Have you come to a decision or do you need more time?” His tone was even and untroubled. “I will leave you in peace with your thoughts if you wish."
Star stared out over the wind-ruffled water. “No. That's not necessary. See, it's all part of the same big thing.” She gestured vaguely. “I thought about refusing flat out and decided that, while it might make me feel better, it would just be a petty and useless jab at Luna who probably wouldn't even notice."
He made a softly amused noise but Star was lost in her thoughts.
"I thought about asking for the impossible and decided that you just might be able to manage it so that wouldn't work."
"Have you decided, then?"
"I think so.” She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees. “It all comes back to marriage. What can I offer someone and what do I expect out of it? I'm not exactly the most obedient person and I'm definitely not a homebody. But you knew that before you came here so I'm going to leave that in your corner. Me?” She paused and tried to shuffle her thoughts back into order. It was so simple and so very difficult at the same time. “Marriage is forever. In a marriage, I would be expected to bear a child. You would have to make me want to have a child with you."
She chanced a glance at him only to find his attention fixed on her. He didn't seem offended. If anything, he looked surprised. Star looked away, flushing. Now came the hard part.
"Marriage and babies, to me at least, always comes back to one single thing and that would be my last challenge for you.” She closed her eyes and forced herself to say the words that would commit her to this. “Love."
"Love?"
He wasn't just surprised, he sounded shocked.
Star swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. “Love. I won't get married and I won't have babies if I can't have love. It's the only reason in all the realms that makes any sense to me. Alliances get broken and borders change. Power shifts and people die.” She looked at him, her eyes wide and wary. “I realized that when I was talking to Damien last night. Love is the only thing worth doing any of it for. I know what it's like to be a child in a house without love and I won't do that to a child of mine."
He remained silent for a long time. Star couldn't bring herself to look at him. She knew he thought she was being a feather-brained female but she couldn't help it. She could have asked for the legendary jewels, the Moon Tears, and he would have somehow found them and brought them back along with the head of the troll who guarded them. She would have had jewels she didn't want and a troll head that would stink up her living room, but absolutely no peace of mind. But if he could make her fall in love with him...
"You are a wonder, Princess.” His deep voice made the title an endearment. “Your challenges are more than fair and your reasons sound. What time do I have to accomplish these things?"
Star stood and dusted the grass off her bottom. “I can't really put a time limit on it, now can I? It's not as if I can demand that you make me fall in love with you in a week or a month. That's just screwy."
He rose to stand beside her, not as tall as Damien but far more intimidating. Hard muscles rippled under gray cotton and every movement was as graceful as a dancer's. But it wasn't his strength that unsettled her. It was that dancing flutter in her stomach every time she looked at him. It was the way she shivered every time he spoke. Scary.
He held out his hand, his gaze resting thoughtfully on her. “I have much to think on. You have spent a great deal of time in this realm. Would you show it to me? I think I would like to see this place through your eyes."
Star eyed the hand. “What's your name, anyway?"
"Alpha Centauri."
Star took his hand and shivered as his fingers wrapped around hers, enveloping her hand in his warm grasp. Nothing seemed real anymore. Nothing was going the way she had planned it. She had fully expected him to hear her challenges and walk away in disgust. Instead, it looked like she was going to be courted and by a man who quite probably had no concept of surrender or defeat. She sighed.
"Centauri? Have you ever had coffee
?"
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Chapter Five
Centauri kept his grip on the tiny hand that lay so trustingly in his. The little Princess led him from the park and into a madhouse of humanity that was New York City. She threw her slender body fearlessly against the tide of people that seemed to go out of its way to impede her progress. He scowled as bodies pressed closer, threatening to separate them. This close to his goal, he wasn't about to let a group of pushy humans get in the way. The darker his frown became, the more people moved out of the way. Satisfied with that response, he kept the scowl firmly fixed to his face.
He had never spent much time in the Human Realm. Duty and responsibility had kept him tied to the court at Tir Nan Og. Not that he regretted it. The Human Realm was crowded, noisy and smelled like the downwind side of a troll. Humans had no manners and no concept of what really walked among them. They had no sense of the magic in their own souls. Centauri wanted to finish his business and be gone from this place as fast as possible.
Star led him past storefronts and restaurants, parked cars and bus stops, to a tiny brick-front building. Just as the bookstore she worked at lay within walking distance from the park, so did this place. Her instinctive need to be close to nature would always rule her whether she wanted to admit it or not. As the herd of people moved around them, cautious of his dark looks, she threw him a bright smile.
"Coffee,” she claimed in that softly lilting voice that teased his ears. “Is the single most totally fantastic substance in the whole world. Come on."
Centauri allowed her to drag him inside. She was nothing like he'd expected, he mused as they stood in the line that curved around the heavy wood counter. He had met enough of those of the Air Realm to know they were flighty at best and empty-headed at worst. Her reputation for running away from responsibility was well known through the four kingdoms. He had been prepared for the worst. What he hadn't been prepared for was his response to her.
"Hey, Diva girl,” the young man behind the counter teased as Star stepped forward. “What'll it be today?"
She tossed a quick look over her shoulder at Centauri. “He'll have a French vanilla latte but you can surprise me, Roddy. It's a day for trying new things."
She sounded so happy, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet as the stocky young man moved efficiently around, mixing something into two tall foam cups. He snapped the lids on and rang up the sale.
Needing something to do with his hands, Centauri grabbed the cups as Star paid. She didn't seem to mind, but threw him a grin and headed for a table in the corner near the windows. He followed, feeling a bit like a duck out of water. He was a leader, not a tag along puppy.
But the view wasn't bad. His eyes followed the tie on the end of her braid as it swung against her hips. She was delicately built, a tiny handful of lovely woman.
Star perched herself on one of the ladder backed chairs and tucked her toes behind the legs. Her gray-blue eyes sparkled up at him in anticipation making Centauri wonder just what this coffee was. He settled himself in a chair beside her. She didn't reach for her cup but watched him avidly. She was waiting for him to taste the liquid, he realized a bit belatedly. Inwardly, he sighed as he picked up the cup. It was best to get it over with quickly. He took a tentative sip.
Heat hit his tongue, scalding, and then sweetness spread through his mouth, soothing the ache. Centauri reared back, surprised. Star chuckled, a husky sound that shivered on his skin like a lover's caress. Centauri took another sip. Sweet. Hot. Cream. Underneath it laid a dark flavor that stroked his senses.
"Good, isn't it?"
Centauri nodded, taking another sip, analyzing the energy that spread through him, the tingle of pleasure that edged along his nerves.
"You have this often?” he asked quietly.
Her eyes fell to the cup in front of her, as yet untouched. “I have coffee in some form everyday. This kind I can't afford very often but it is my favorite.” She raised her cup and took her first sip.
With his cup half way to his mouth, Centauri couldn't drag his eyes away. Her long, dark lashes drifted down, fanning against skin like cream. Her lips parted softly on a sigh of pure, unadulterated pleasure. Her head fell back as a faint shiver shook her body. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. It was the most erotic thing he had seen in his life.
And he wasn't the only one who thought so. Every male eye in the room was fixed on the small woman who sat beside him. Her eyes drifted open dreamily and Centauri took another sip of his coffee to hide his reaction. This really was more than he had planned on.
"Roddy, you are an evil, evil man,” she proclaimed softly, her voice carrying easily in the hush. The man leaned on the counter with a smug grin. “What is this?"
"Spanish chocolate, beautiful,” he laughed at her. “Like a true Spaniard—hot, spicy and addictive."
A skinny, blond haired man stuck his head out of the back room, rolling his eyes. “Double mocha latte with a pinch of cinnamon,” he corrected pedantically. “He's been dying to spring that on you for weeks now.” Having ruined Roddy's fun, his work was done and he vanished as suddenly as he had appeared.
Roddy's smile widened. “I'll make you one everyday, sweetheart, for free if you promise you'll drink it in here,” he offered, his dark eyes gleaming. His gaze flicked to Centauri and back to her. He shrugged. “A man has to have his fantasies, you know."
She laughed lightly, shaking her head. Around them, conversation resumed. The bell on the door jangled as new customers entered, distracting Roddy from his flirting. People flowed in and out, the sounds of the street brief intrusions on the serenity that pervaded the place.
"I had wondered how you kept the need to dance at bay,” Centauri admitted in an undertone. Star glanced up at him, her eyes wide with surprise. “The park was the most logical place for you to go but the only ring there is old."
Star sipped at her coffee, unexpectedly solemn. “Coffee helps the craving,” she agreed. “On bad days, I sometimes drink four or five pots of it. But I don't dance."
"Why?” He tried to keep the question light, as if the answer weren't important to him. She wasn't fooled. Her pale eyes slashed at him before she veiled them behind her lashes and the shelter of the foam cup.
"The imps have never taken my leaving very well,” she tossed out airily. “Dancing bleeds magic which would be like putting a neon sign over my head. Imps are not my favorite people to have come visiting so I don't dance."
Centauri waited. Behind the light answer lay something darker, a reason deeper than fear, and he found that he wanted to know what it was. He was being forced to rethink everything he had assumed about this woman.
"Besides.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “What if some human stumbled onto the ring and fell into the Faery Realms? I mean, they have enough problems living here in this realm without us toying with them like that. It just isn't right. While Central Park is big, it isn't big enough for me to take that chance."
Centauri finished his coffee in silence. He was beginning to see why the very mention of her name made the Moon Queen foam at the mouth. She wasn't what she was supposed to be.
Star drained the last of her coffee and set the cup back on the table with obvious reluctance. “If we're going sight seeing, I need to shower and change clothes."
Centauri rose silently and disposed of their cups in the receptacle as Star waved a goodbye to Roddy. The door jangled mournfully as it closed behind them. Out on the street, Star stuck her fingers hurriedly into her pockets before he could claim her hand again. He couldn't help but be amused. She didn't know who she was playing with.
Her little defiance was easily remedied as a group of gabbling females came barreling past nearly running Star down in their hurry to be nowhere. Centauri slid an arm around the Princess and tucked her under his shoulder out of harm's way. She ducked her head, refusing to look at him but he noted the faint flush on her cheeks.
The humans were wary of him o
n an instinctive level they were probably unaware of. The wall of people coming at them parted around them and then closed behind them as they passed. Centauri followed where Star led, never letting her out of the safety of his embrace. They walked that way for almost a half an hour before Star turned into a narrow alley. Digging in her pocket, she produced a key and unlocked the security door.
From the moment he set foot in the dingy hallway, Centauri hated the place. It was narrow and cramped with no windows to let in the air and sunlight. Dim lights in ancient gold glass sconces cast a sickly yellow pall over everything. The paint was peeling and the carpet smelled of dust, urine and despair. He followed Star up the heavy wooden staircase.
She had left the Fae Realms for this? He shook his head. She denied the splendor and luxury of the Fae courts to live in poverty with humans? It made no sense to him.
A small Hispanic boy of about four years sat outside an open doorway halfway down the hall, playing with a plastic truck. He looked up warily at the sound of footsteps. As young as he was, he was already aware of the danger of living in such a place. He caught sight of Star and Centauri was amazed at the change in him. A grin split his face and his dark eyes shone with sheer joy. He leaped to his feet and dashed toward her, throwing himself into her arms.
Star laughed openly, swinging him around only to hug him close and rub his nose with hers in an Eskimo kiss. “Hey, Jose Cuervo. How's my favorite man?"
"Pissed.” The word fell clearly. “My truck broke."
"Really?” She looked down at the toy in question. “Sure did. Only got three wheels now. What happened?"
"Ramon stepped on it.” The boy's lower lip trembled slightly. “Can you fix it, Star? Can you?"
"Well, let's see.” Star set him back on his feet and knelt beside the battered truck. “Hmmm. Tricky stuff this car repair.” She picked up the broken wheel and studied it carefully.
Centauri knew she was playing some sort of game with the boy that they had played before but he found he was entranced by the expressions that drifted across her face. With exaggerated care, she laid the wheel against the axle and pressed. He felt the flicker of her magic as she welded the wheel back onto the toy.
Faery Tail Page 4
