What did he mean by that? She shook her head and let a sigh escape her lips. She had to concentrate. Her song died in her throat, but her mind kept itself attached to the water’s movement, and for one miraculous moment she finally knew what it was like to control her element without song or movement. Lief inched closer and touched her cheek.
“No tears,” he whispered. “Please don’t cry.”
Instead of letting her tears disturb her, she made them fuel her, and the water moved faster and faster until it disappeared and she was in the middle of a forest of tall trees and sparkling light with Lief’s arms wrapped around her.
As Lief released her, she stepped back and looked around the forest surrounding them. Everything felt different. The trees seemed more solid, the air colder, the light more shifting. Her instructors had told her the human realm was a cold place filled with darkness and pain. Most humans weren’t aware of magic or the sacred balance it helped create. In fact, humans were the single most destructive force to that balance, so Serina wasn’t sure she ever wanted to meet one. She was comforted, at least, to have heard the rumors that the doorway into the human realm led straight to the elves. She was safe for the moment, she hoped.
Lief gave her a polite bow. “Welcome to the home of the elves.”
“What do you mean?” She looked around again, only this time she noticed elves looking back at her. They blended with the trees so well that she now only saw them because they were slowly walking toward her and Lief.
“Are we in danger?” she asked, and quickly moved closer to Lief.
“No, the elves always greet arrivals from Lisadar and Rodowa.”
“How would you know that?”
Something felt terribly wrong. For the first time, Serina looked at Lief and realized why she had thought something seemed different about him. His face was longer than most fairies’ faces. His ears were shaped to a lesser point than any other fairy’s she had seen. His eyes didn’t sparkle with the same sort of light. But he didn’t look exactly like an elf, either. There were slight differences for both species, and the more she looked at him, the more she saw him as a perfect blend between the two— something she had neither seen nor heard of before. Fairies created the elves; they didn’t mate with them.
The light in Lisadar must have shielded Lief’s obvious features from her. Here in the mixture of shadows and light they were completely obvious.
She opened her mouth to say something about this, but before any words came out a particularly beautiful elf dressed in a white gown approached them. She nodded politely to Lief.
“Welcome,” she said in honey-like tones filled with respect. “It is an honor to see you again, Lief.”
“The honor is mine.” He bowed deeply to the female elf and then turned to Serina. “This is Serina, daughter of Ellendia and sister to Aeline.” He looked at Serina and motioned to the female elf. “This is Genevieve, one of the high leaders of the elves.”
Serina stumbled backward. “I-I don’t understand any of this,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper as she looked at Lief. “I thought you were a fairy. I thought you had never been here before.”
“Only once,” he said, reaching out to steady her. “I never said I hadn’t been here before.”
She took his hand and he gently guided her to him. She wasn’t sure how she felt about all this deceit. Why would Lief visit the human realm and then return to the fairy realm? Perhaps one of his parents lived here.
“Serina, we welcome you,” Genevieve said with a respectful nod. “I know you have come without permission, but often these things are out of the elves’ control and we keep our distance.”
Genevieve’s face filled with disdain. Did the elves resent the fairies? She had never considered such a thing until now.
“So you didn’t try to stop Aeline?” she asked carefully. She didn’t want to upset anyone by mentioning her meddling sister, but she couldn’t help herself.
Genevieve pursed her lips and remained silent. The other elves shifted their feet. Something bad had obviously happened.
Lief cleared his throat. “I believe Aeline used her fire-guiding to harm some of the elves when they tried to stop and question her. They let her get away.”
“How do you know this?” Serina asked. Her stomach twisted at the thought of Aeline harming someone with fire. She had probably lost control and, of course, Serina hadn’t been there to help her. She shivered, even with Lief’s warmth beside her. This world was so cold. Her light clothing was not going to be enough to keep her warm for very long.
“Elves travel often between the human and fairy realm,” Genevieve said, turning to Lief. “You must have been informed about the situation from one of us, am I correct?”
“Yes,” he answered with a brief nod. “I was informed by Verath. I do hope your injured are now healed?”
“Oh, yes, a healer took care of them right away. Do not worry.” She flicked her attention to Serina, who kept inching toward Lief for more warmth.
“You are not dressed appropriately,” Genevieve said with a soft smile. “Follow me and we’ll get you some food and better clothing. As every fairy does, you will realize soon enough how the human realm is much different from your world—and not in the most pleasant ways, I’m afraid.”
The elves dressed her in a heavy gown of dark greens and browns, and as she ran her hands over the leaf-like fabric, she wondered how Aeline had survived so far. Had she asked the humans for help? Was she wreaking havoc with her fire, but also using it for warmth? How was she dealing with the constant hunger? Or, worse yet, the fact that Ellendia was dead?
“You will find yourself hungry more often now,” an elf named Castille explained as she prepared a meal for Serina, who watched in fascination. She was used to making food in her own kitchen—from plants grown from the earth. She was not accustomed to anyone using magic to create such things, but that’s exactly what Castille was doing. It seemed like a waste of energy, since magic usually took more exertion than doing something physically. Then again, the elves didn’t eat the same food as the fairies. They probably had no idea how to cook food.
Castille scattered what looked like cut-up plant roots on a silver platter and then gently swept her hand over them. “I assume you eat what all other fairies eat,” Castille said as the roots transformed into a small pile of berries, leafy greens, and a loaf of hot bread. Serina’s stomach ached at the sight of such lovely food. She hadn’t realized how hungry she had become.
“Yes, that looks divine, thank you.” She took the platter into her lap and began eating. “I’ve never been this hungry in my life,” she said between mouthfuls. “It’s a strange feeling.”
Castille laughed so hard she doubled over, holding her stomach. Serina fought the urge to glare at her.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing at all,” Castille giggled as she calmed herself. “Only, I will never get over a fairy’s first reaction to the human realm. You’re so... pampered, I suppose.”
“Pampered?” Serina set down her loaf of bread and folded her arms. “What is that supposed to mean? My life hasn’t been exactly plums and roses, you know. We fairies dedicate our lives to bring balance to the other races, and that includes you.”
“Ah, but you forget,” another voice said.
Serina turned around to see Lief, now dressed in a more sturdy set of clothes, walk into the little clearing where she and Castille sat.
“Forget what?”
He smiled and she noticed his dimples again, like two tiny acorns had indented his cheeks. He pointed at Serina’s food.
“You’ve already forgotten what your instructors taught you about the human realm. You knew you would feel more hunger here. More pain. More everything.” He nodded to Castille. “When an elf visits our ‘perfect’ fairy world, they tend to resent us for living in such loveliness.”
“We don’t resent anything,” Castille huffed, and stood. She brushed her hands down the
front of her earthy clothing. “We only tire of tending you whenever you visit—and by ‘you’ I mean any fairy in general. We’re expected to drop everything all the time.”
Lief’s eyes turned dark and Serina leaned away from him. She had never seen him angry before, but that was the only way she could describe his expression. A cold tremor seemed to shake the air around them.
“Do not speak of your makers in such a way,” he said as he stepped closer to Castille. “You know the punishments.”
Backing away, Castille put her hands out in front of her and bowed her head. “I’m sorry.” She curtseyed to Serina and ran out of the clearing.
“Thank you for the food!” Serina called out, and then turned to Lief as she stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth. Her stomach was twisted and tight, but the food was expanding it. She couldn’t imagine how it would be to feel so hungry all the time. She chewed as Lief looked down at her.
“You seem upset,” he said, and folded his arms.
“That was a harsh way to treat her. She was helping me.” She swallowed and cleared her throat. “Although, she was laughing at me too, I suppose.”
“Exactly. You’ll quickly learn how much the elves wish for more than they have. Some of them are content, but they must continually replenish their magic from the earth, just as we must eat food to replenish our energy. They resent their dependence because they cannot become too powerful while it remains intact. You already know how too much power can corrupt those who hold it.”
“Yes, I know,” she said with a short huff as she thought back on her only meeting with Verath. He seemed to savor power like a delicious tart the way he had tortured her. The very memory made her cringe as she finished the rest of her food under Lief’s gaze. What had she gotten herself into? The elves had never seemed resentful in Lisadar. She hadn’t noticed Lief’s obvious mixed features, either. What else had she overlooked in her life? She pushed the empty platter away and hugged her knees to her chest. Blinking back a few tears, she looked at Lief’s boots. There were leaf patterns stamped into the dark brown suede.
“I have to find my sister,” she said, her voice cracking. “I don’t have any idea how or where I’ll find her, but it must be quickly. Verath is going to come after me, I’m sure.”
“He might, but it will take awhile,” Lief said as he sat in front of her. He leaned forward and smiled, but she refused to look directly at him. “I know Verath very well, Serina. I’ve worked closely with him in Rodowa my entire life.”
Her attention finally snapped to him. “Why?”
Shrugging, he said, “I guess you could say I’ve been a sort of experiment for him.” He pointed to his face and made a circling motion. “You’ve noticed by now, haven’t you?”
Nodding, she hugged her knees tighter. “You are not a fairy or an elf.”
“I am both. It was Verath’s doing, but that is a long and complicated story I am not prepared to tell. All you need to know for now is that yes, Verath will come after us, but he will make careful plans before doing so. Time passes differently in the fairy realm.”
That made about as much sense as an elf pairing with a fairy. “You mean it passes more slowly?” she asked, brushing over the obvious fact that Lief was planning to accompany her in finding Aeline. She was more concerned with how soon danger would be at her heels.
He looked up at the leafy branches above them and shrugged. “I understand it’s more like a different sphere which occasionally touches this one. Never backward in time—always forward, but when a fairy manipulates their element to bridge the spheres, it’s simply doing so in a time and space where the spheres can connect. I’ve always understood time passes more quickly here than it does in the fairy realm.”
Serina shook her head. “So, I have time to find Aeline?”
“Yes, I think so.”
She stood up and brushed the dirt from her heavy skirts. “Then let us get started. We may have far to travel. Aeline said the human realm is vast, and she...” She gulped and looked away. “She has already harmed the elves, so who knows what other mistakes she might make.”
Lief stared up at her. “If you’re so concerned about her harming others, why not let Verath find her? Your punishment would remain minimal if you stayed here with the elves—or simply returned to Lisadar at this point. I would take the blame for you.”
Serina took a deep breath. “You would?”
“Yes, because I don’t think Verath would punish me as severely as he would a full-blooded fairy. It’s complicated, but that’s one of the reasons I decided to accompany you here to the human realm. I made an oath to keep you safe, and I will do just that if you insist on this quest. But Verath’s job is to take care of fairies like Aeline. Why not let him do so?”
He didn’t understand, but how could he? The bond between her and Aeline was nothing she could explain with words. It was so strong that even a promise between them was one Verath could not break in her mind.
“I love Aeline,” she said in a weak attempt to explain herself. “More than you can possibly imagine. Even if she killed our mother... even if she has turned into something awful, which at this moment I refuse to believe, I cannot give her up to Verath without seeing her again. Verath will kill her, won’t he?”
Lief focused on his feet. “Most likely. At the very least, she will be stripped of her magic and left here in the human realm to suffer until death. I have heard losing your magic is unspeakable torture.”
“How can I allow that? If she killed our mother, I want to know how it happened. I want to face her myself—alone.”
“But facing her alone may mean your own death.” He rose to his feet. “And you cannot find her alone, can you?”
Looking around the forest, she shivered. Her stomach felt at ease now with food inside it, but she still felt weak. The human realm seemed to have placed a weight on her beyond anything having to do with Aeline. There was no darkness yet, but she could sense it coming. The blue sky peeking through the leaves up above seemed to be changing. She tensed at the thought of finally experiencing darkness. Would it be as terrible as the hunger that had overtaken her, or would the moon and stars be as beautiful as her mother had led her to believe? She turned back to Lief.
“No, I’ll need you,” she said quietly, and bowed her head. “I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into.”
“Then let us begin.” He stood and slipped his hand into hers. His touch immediately sent warmth through her.
“Where are we going?” she asked as he led her out of the clearing to a pathway lined with white stones.
“Genevieve told me she has a gift for us before our journey.”
The path wound through the trees, and as they walked, Serina kept glancing at the edges where tangled underbrush grew. She scrunched her nose. The fairy realm was never so disorderly. Finally, they reached a grove of trees, which seemed separate from the rest of the forest. These trees were taller than any trees she had ever seen. They were so wide that it would take ten of her with arms spread wide to encircle the base of one of them. She stopped and looked up, expecting to see houses built in the trees, but there was no such thing. Where did they live, then? She saw some elves wandering around, but no sign of dwellings. Continuing to scan the forest, she finally caught sight of Genevieve emerging from what appeared to be stairs leading underground. Each tree’s base must be a home, she thought with surprise. Of course they lived underground. That was where the source of their magic thrived—in the earth. She doubted they fed from the earth inside their homes. Such a constant drain on one particular spot would kill the trees.
“Serina has decided to search for Aeline,” Lief addressed Genevieve as she stopped in front of them. “I will accompany her.”
Genevieve bowed her head to them and then motioned for an elf standing behind her to come forward. “If you cannot be persuaded to return to your proper realm, I will do what I can to keep your journey safe,” she said as the elf came to her side and cupped
his hands close to his chest. Green light spilled through the cracks in his fingers as he whispered words too soft for Serina to decipher. She felt something shift around her, as if all the water in the air was beginning to move. For a moment, she connected with the water, realizing that she had forgotten about her own abilities and powers since she had arrived.
The green light in the elf’s hands brightened. His whispering became more intense, and all the elves in the vicinity seemed to pause in a moment of reverence. The elf finally opened his hands to reveal a tiny winged creature with bright blonde hair. Her wings were thin and tinged green, and her skin was pale and shimmering, as if covered with frost. She wore no clothes, but she didn’t seem to feel the cold. She opened and closed her large brown eyes and looked up at her maker, who bowed his head to her.
“Welcome, sprite,” he said with a smile as she struggled to get to her feet. Her wings fluttered. “I have created you as a companion to two fairies who will need your protection. Your magic lies in the roots of all living things which spring from the earth. You are named Innocence and will accompany Nerida and Orla with the fairies on their journey.” He gestured to Lief and Serina. The sprite turned to look at them. Her newly acquired name described her well. She looked the very essence of spring, a delicate green bud about to blossom as the snow melted away.
“It’s nice to meet you, Innocence,” Serina said, smiling.
The little sprite smiled back. She seemed nervous, but Serina couldn’t blame her, only having been created a minute earlier. Everything was as new to her as it was to Serina. She already felt a kinship to the tiny creature and wondered how someone so small was going to keep anyone safe, as Genevieve had implied.
“Here are the others,” Genevieve said as two more sprites fluttered toward them. They were older than Innocence, but also had blonde hair, which was almost white. Genevieve gestured to the sprite with wings the color of lavender. “This is Nerida,” she said as the sprite landed on her open hands. “She is a summer sprite and loves the sea, as you love water, Serina. Orla is an autumn sprite.”
Bonded: Three Fairy Tales, One Bond Page 30
