by Marie Hall
Setting their food down, she tiptoed quietly over and sat beside him.
Picking up the hand that’d been dangling down, she winced as she noticed the raw and angry burns along his wrist.
Snorting with anger, she wanted to kill the wolf that’d done this to him.
Instead she ran her fingers lovingly along it, wishing she had enough magic within her to heal him.
“Why did you stay last night?” she whispered beneath her breath, knowing a reply wouldn’t be forthcoming.
He was gone to the world, lost in his dreams.
Honored, touched by his willingness to stay and defend her even though she’d told him he’d not needed to, she planted a tender kiss against his wrist.
Even as dark as her skin now was, he was so much darker. Just like ebony that’d been mined directly from rock. Wanting to touch him and knowing he could not object, she traced the contours of his face with her finger.
His jaw was bearded, his nose sharp and strong. When she ran her finger along his upper lip he moaned and shook his head.
Heart pounding in her throat, she snatched her hand back, not wishing to be caught. When his breathing returned to normal, she resumed her exploration, but refrained from touching any more sensitive areas. His forehead was broad, but smooth like polished glass.
Nibbling on the corner of her lip, she traced a lock of his hair. It was so soft, almost like touching velvet.
“Giles,” she whispered his name, and when he didn’t answer she leaned in close and whispered it again.
Her lips were no more than a feather’s width away from his as he mumbled back to her incoherently.
Smiling, she cocked her head. “Why did you stay?” she asked again.
There was no understanding his drunken murmurings, but her heart felt unbelievably full all the same.
“I’m so scared,” she whispered into his ear, telling him in his sleep what she wasn’t brave enough to say to his face while awake, “I think I’m falling in love with you, knight, and that love just might kill me.”
Her entire body trembled at the admission, needing to feel his warmth, his touch, she leaned in and kissed his cheek, then nuzzled hers to his just long enough to get his scent on her.
“Can I lay with you?”
This time when he mumbled, she took it as a yes and lay down beside him. Pressing her body into his, even going so far as to wrap a leg around him. Laying her head right above the spot of his heart, she listened to the rhythm of its strong beat.
Not only had her wolf decided Giles was a fit mate, but after last night Lilith felt the exact same way. The only problem was she wasn’t sure her knight shared the sentiment.
Rubbing a knuckle against her eyelid, she swiped at the single tear and planted a tender kiss on the center of his chest.
She’d never known that love could hurt so much.
Giles awoke to the sensation of heaviness pressing down on him. Blinking his eyes wide open, he stared at the top of Lilith’s head. She’d shifted yet again, but this time she was in true form.
The long length of her midnight-black hair spilled across his chest, and when he inhaled it was to drag her scent of pine and earth deep into his lungs. What was she doing in this bed?
And how long had he been asleep? He’d only meant to close his eyes and rest for a second.
“Lilith?” he asked quickly, sitting up. The cabin was absolutely pitch black, which meant they’d likely slept the entire day away.
She mumbled cutely, patting his chest. “Mmm?”
It tugged a quick smile to his lips, but he quickly brushed it off. It was imperative that they reach Fyre Mountain as quickly as possible. Giles felt the winding down of Erualis’s life force like a tangible mantle pressing down on his shoulders with each second that ticked by.
“Come on.” He shook her gently. “We need to wake. The day is gone. We need to go.”
Sitting up slowly, she yawned and tossed her arms high above her head. He couldn’t help but admit—even if only within the privacy of his own mind—that tousled as she was, she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever beheld.
Rubbing her eyes, she shook her head. “Unless it is absolutely dire we travel in darkness, I would advise waiting till morning. Where we will find ourselves next is a dangerous place at night.”
He frowned. “The dark forest? It’s not so scary. I fended off three wolves last night, so together we can certainly handle—”
“A clan of flesh-eating dwarves?” She lifted a brow. “I think not. They’re merciless and have an unbelievable sense of smell. Not to mention their night vision is even better than mine in wolf form.”
“How is that possible?” He cocked his head, wondering if she were trying to stall on purpose. Granted, so far Lilith had not led them astray, and Rumpel had clearly sent Giles to retrieve her as his guide because it was clear she knew the lay of the land intimately.
But she’d also been trying to force rest upon him, going so far as to lock him into this enchanted shack to ensure he would.
“Because they were bred for it. They’re cave dwarves. They blind as moles during the day, but in the dark they are formidable. And it hurts nothing to wait one more night. Besides,” her lips twitched, “it seems you needed the rest after all.”
Rock dwarves.
Everyone within Kingdom had heard of them. In fact, the entirety of Rumpel’s castle was fashioned from stone the dwarves had mined themselves. A rock dwarf’s wares were as desirable as the rock dwarf himself was feared.
Even a demone in physical form would struggle against an entire clan of the beasties.
“I could shift us as shadow.”
She shook her head. “I cannot handle that form of travel for long. The little time I’ve been in shadow when you snatched us out of the dragon’s lair very nearly did me in. If you must go, then go. I cannot stop you, knight. But I will not follow until daylight.”
Clenching his jaw, realizing he either had to stay or leave her behind—which was not an option—he sat back down slowly and rubbed his brow. Heart hammering with the enormity of their task. Already they’d taken two weeks just to get to the halfway point. In another two weeks Erualis could be dead and Giles would never forgive himself for failing at his task.
Alone, he would have been there by now. Then again, he knew so little of the land he may have been lost and even farther away. Humbling though it was to admit, he needed Lilith as his guide.
“I made food,” she said softly.
Looking up, he glanced to where she pointed. The meat was a dingy brown color, but the apples looked bright red and tempting. Grabbing one of the large leaves full of meat, he nodded his thanks. “You made this?”
For the first time since he could remember she looked bashful, glancing down at her legs that she’d curled beneath her body. “Aye. It would have tasted much better earlier but you were fast asleep and I didn’t wish to wake you.”
Plucking at a stringy bit of meat, he brought it his lips. It tasted like roasted rabbit, a little cold and slightly overcooked, but it touched him that she’d gone to the trouble. “You should not have locked me away this morning.”
She frowned and he regretted his words instantly. Lilith had gone to such trouble for him, the least he could have done was appear grateful, but the urgency of Erualis ate at him.
Swallowing his bite, he nodded his thanks before plucking up the crabapple and taking a large bite. It was slightly sour and bitter, and it was all he could do to swallow his bite instead of spitting it back out.
He was sad to note that the sparkle in her eye from before was now gone. Slipping off the bed, she glanced at the door. “I feel like a run. Not far. Just around our shack to scope out the perimeter for any beasties. Though I doubt they’ll come this night, as I’m no longer in heat.”
Giles flinched as she called her amber-hued light. Not from the heat, which felt nice, but from the intensity of it. A moment later the large red wolf padded out the door si
lently.
“Bloody hell, you’ve muddled that one up.” The high-pitched voice caused Giles to jump off the bed, glaring hotly at the miniature fairy with overly large mother-of-pearl dragonfly wings floating beside him.
“Danika,” he snapped, “you gave me a fright. What are you doing here?” He looked around, confused as to why the fairy godmother to villains and miscreants was gracing his doorway.
She rolled her eyes. “You think Rumpel is the only one with anything at stake in this journey, butler? Indeed.” She scoffed, wrinkling her nose with disdain. “I was here long before that devil came along to muck things up.”
Fluffing out her dress of baby’s breath, she ruffled the ends of her chestnut-brown hair, causing golden fairy dust to dance gracefully to the floor. “The girl cooked you dinner. She licked your bloody finger, which I find repulsive, but yeah, apparently it is all the rage within wolfy circles.”
“What are you talking about?” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And again, why are you even here? This quest has nothing to do with you. We are journeying to find the cure for Erualis, not seeking some fairies’ favor.”
Clapping her tiny hands to her trim hips, her frosty blue eyes glared at him. “I will pretend you didn’t just group me into the category of some fairy,” she sneered, “and if you believe for a moment that it was mere happenstance that led you to Lilith, you couldn’t be more dead wrong, you imbecilic baboon.”
Not sure whether to laugh or be offended, Giles simply dropped his brows. “Come again?”
“Aye, you heard me,” she said in an exasperated tone. “It wasn’t Rumpel’s idea to bring the two of you lovebirds together—he’d have sent you off to the wolves to fend for yourself alone. The man thinks like a man, after all. It took much convincing on mine and Shayera’s part to get him to see that you might actually need a guide to traverse the wilds of the mostly unexplored regions you’ll be soon entering.”
“I have done just fine.”
“Good grief,” she said with a disbelieving chortle. “Was it not my girl who saw you safely through the dragon’s lair? I believe it was, and a damn fine job of it she did, too.”
“She put herself in harm’s way. She only needed to use the charm and we could have—”
“Ha!” she screeched and before he knew what she was about, she flew up to him and rapped on the back of his skull twice and with vigor. “Anybody home?”
Swatting her away, he glowered at her. “You deny that she put herself in danger, mucking around with a dragon’s opal? Everyone knows their life force is tied to that stone.”
“Precisely, which meant”— she shook her head for emphasis, bucketfuls of fairy dust dropping onto his pants—“the dragon could posture all it wanted, but it would have never done a thing to hurt her. Not so long as she held tight to its precious. And by the way, have you seen the movie about the golem? Betty showed it to Jericho and me just last eve and that thing is quite hideous.” She shuddered and then proceeded to chuckle, her eyes going far away as she whispered “my precious” in a high-pitched voice over and over again.
Giles snapped his fingers, causing her to jerk and cease her laughter. “I know nothing of movies and please, I’ve not time for tangents. Erualis could even now be—”
Finally she sighed, turning fully serious. “Indeed, the boy is not well. It is partly why I’ve come. Rumpel bid I ask you to hurry.”
Giles gave her an incredulous stare, because he was fairly certain that’s what he’d been getting at all along.
“No.” She wagged a finger in his face. “It is not the same thing. You are impatient, and you are also blind and stupid.”
“Excuse me?”
She blinked prettily. “I’m sorry, Giles, did I stutter? Let me say that again. You are b-l-i-n-d and s-t-u-p—”
“I know what you said,” he snapped. “You make absolutely no sense, fairy. Tell Rumpel that we will soon be there. That I will return with the chalice and that Erualis will be fine. I vow it upon my darkened soul.”
“Oh, good grief. Why are all demone sooo melodramatic?” She smacked her forehead, glancing up at the roof, and muttered beneath her breath, “Jericho, darling, would it be too much to ask that they’d just listen for once?”
Giles knew little of this fairy other than she had a penchant for being a godmother to the ill-bred and crazy cast of characters inhabiting Kingdom. Rumpel had spoken of the fairy a time or two, especially during Shayera’s trial. Calling her as mad as the heathens she cared for. And seeing her now, talking to the air, he could almost believe it.
A lavender beam of moonlight bolted through a small hole in the room, haloing and framing her so that she appeared to glow the ghostly mirage of the undead. Her flesh radiated with the light and she gave a happy little smile. “Love you too, darling,” she whispered and then blinked back at Giles. “That was my husband, and he told me that perhaps I should tone it down a wee bit. But I do get excited, especially when I sense a viable love match, and you are. Can’t you see it?”
“What? A love match? Between Lilith and me?” He chuckled. “We can barely tolerate one another.”
Not entirely true, but the fairy didn’t need to know that.
Her head cocked as though she were listening to something far off in the distance. Shaking her head, she held up a hand. “I’m okay, Jericho. I shall not turn him into a toad, I vow it.” Turning her eyes back to Giles her smile grew broader. “My husband is so good for my temper. Now,” she inhaled deeply, “one more time, and this time I shall endeavor to be kinder in my delivery.” The light around her pulsed brightly.
The moonlight was behaving in a way around her Giles had never witnessed it doing before.
“You and Lilith are a destined pair.”
He shook his head. “I can assure you, fairy, that we most certainly are not. Demone do not mingle outside of their species. Nor do shifters.” He thought of Lilith’s parents. “Usually.”
Her laughter sounded like the tinkling of church bells. “Oh, dear me, are you still stuck in that antiquated mindset? Darling, it’s the twenty-first century, there is mingling aplenty. And the children are quite lovely. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I wouldn’t know. But that is hardly relevant to our case now. Lilith and I are journeying to—”
She waved his words off. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Already been established, dear. So here is the skinny and why I am here talking to you while she is away.” She opened her mouth, snapped it shut, and then laughed. “Well, I suppose I should do this the proper way.”
Clearing her throat, she held her spine straight and gazed at him almost regally. Her dragonfly wings moved gracefully behind her back, and taking a deep breath, she began, “I am Danika, godmother of wishes and fishes…though don’t ask about the fishes, I lost a card game and I aim to get rid of that preposterous title forthwith.” She squeaked out the last as she’d said all that with one breath, and taking another large breath she proceeded where she’d left off. “And you, my dear, have been chosen as lifemate to Lilith Wolf. She doesn’t know it.” She shrugged. “Well, she kind of does, actually, it’s why she licked your finger—again, disgusting, but who am I to argue with the mating conventions of wolves, aye?” She laughed again.
Trying to make sense of these rambles was beginning to lead to a pounding headache. Clenching his molars, Giles counted slowly to ten, wondering where Lilith was at now and when she might return. Perhaps then this yammering fairy would shut her trap.
“Anywho, Lilith is under a curse.”
Those were the first words that actually caused Giles’s ears to perk up. “Curse? She seems perfectly fine to me—why wouldn’t she have mentioned that?”
“Well, dear,” she snorted, “if every time you ate an apple it caused you to have a case of explosive gas, would you tell? Or would you just avoid the apple? Hmm?”
“I don’t understand? Stop speaking gibberish, fairy, and just out with it.” He rubbed his temple.
“Yout
h these days. There used to be a time when a godmother was honored and cherished, treated with the respect she deserved.”
He twitched a brow, reaching the very end of his frayed nerves. “I am older than you.”
She chuckled. “That’s funny, truly. I’m ancient.”
“I’m over a millennia old.”
“Well, if we’re taking out the measuring stick.” She thinned her lips. “Kingdom years, very different than any other place in the galaxy. I am beyond years. My mind is full of so much and at times it gets a little trying to keep the infinite balanced. At times I may come off as mad, but really I am just a riddler. See through my nonsense, boy, as I had to with the Hatter. Sometimes you’ll find inspiration within the madness. Now, on to important matters. And I promise to try and keep my gibberish in line. Lilith’s deal.”
Her face became suddenly very serious.
“With Rumpel?” Finally they were getting to something Giles had keen interest in learning.
Danika nodded. “Aye. She made a horrid pact with the devil.”
“And if Rumpel allowed it, then what is your hope for sharing it with me?”
“Ohhh, she would not be pleased with me for revealing this. But the chit has proven she has no intentions of telling you until the very end of this quest, at which point it will be too late, for you are far too honorable to do anything about it at that point. You’ll feel duty-bound to return to your master and my poor Lilith will suffer alone.”
He cocked his head. Giles never asked, never wondered about the pledges, never asked Rumpel to reveal why the pledges did what they did. He was a servant only; if his prince wished to share the details, he would have.
But it would be a bald-faced lie to deny he was not intensely curious about Lilith’s case.
Still…
“I will return to my prince’s keep once I retrieve the chalice.”
“Yes, I know. And while I admire you greatly for your constancy, I only wish to impart a little truth in the matter. In the hopes of broadening your horizons.”
