Through the Rabbit Hole

by Lisa Kumar

  There it was again. The elusive mention of age. Wait, did he say fey kind? He was fey? Her eyes narrowed in thought. Well, it stood to reason, what with the Celtic and Welsh names she’d previously recalled.

  He held up a restraining hand. “So many questions flitted across your face. Patience, and I will attempt to answer some of them.”

  But not all of them. It went unspoken in his reply. Well, some information was better than none. Once she had a sufficient pile, piecing the puzzle together shouldn’t be so hard.

  “Where to start?” He steepled his fingers, and a contemplative mien stole over his face. “Your people call us the fey or the Sidhe. We are much like our human kin, but also much different.”

  “How much different?” She hated the quavering in her voice.

  “We live for a very long time.”

  She furrowed her brow. “How much longer?”

  “We cannot choose the time of our deaths any more than humans can, but our years far outlast those of humans.” He paused. “By millennia.”

  “You’re joking, right?”

  “No.”

  “But—”

  “My people live much longer than yours.”

  She scowled at him. “But how?”

  “Our inherent magic, which allows us to do spells and charms, affects our physiology.”

  She stared blankly at the book-lined wall, gathering her thoughts. “Given the difference in our lifespans, I don’t possibly see how I could stay here, even if I wanted to.”

  “We can remedy that issue. If we join through marriage, I can complete a ceremony that will enable you to share my lifespan. While I live, you live. But if I die…”

  “I will also.”

  “Yes, your life will always hinge on mine.” He sounded slightly apologetic.

  “I see. Say if I stay here, which is a big if, and you die before my usual mortal lifespan has ended—a what would happen then?” The words tumbling out of her mouth startled her. Was she seriously considering it? No, she couldn’t be. Returning home far outweighed any attraction to Lorh.

  “You would live out your life as you would have previously. If I die when you have seen eighty human years, you would age to reflect all of those eighty years.”

  She blanched at the horrible images going through her brain. What would happen the moment of his death? “You mean I would age instantaneously?”

  “No. Within a few years. The residual effects of being bonded to me would stave off instantaneous aging.”

  “Oh, that’s good. But what would happen if we changed that number to three hundred instead?” The hesitant note in her voice pointed to the fear she had of crumbling to dust. She shuddered at the idea of turning into a corpse over the course of a few seconds.

  “Death in that case is fairly quick. Usually within a few days, so undue aging doesn’t have much of a chance to occur.”

  Relief flooded through her, and she clutched her hands to her heart. That didn’t sound so nightmarish and was something she could live with. Her mind screeched to a stop. She was contemplating living with it? Examining the idea from all sides, she found she was. But then another troubling thought popped up.

  “Your first wife…” She trailed off when she witnessed the thundercloud that formed on his face.

  “Who told you of her?” Even though he calmly lowered his hands to the desk, his white-knuckled fingers clinched together.

  Her mind blanked. She opened and closed her mouth, but nothing came out.

  “Aeron.” Glowering, he got up and paced the perimeter of the room. He resembled a tiger prowling a cage.

  “He didn’t say much. I think it slipped out.”

  “Yes, he often speaks before his brain has had time to catch up.”

  “Er, a trait of his teenage years?”

  He gave a bark of laughter, stopping in front of her. “Aeron might be a teenager in fey years, but in human, he is older than you are.”

  She started. “Really?”

  Lorh nodded solemnly, and a glint of amusement shone in his eyes. “Even Sirina is older than you.”

  “Wh—what? Say that again?”

  He leaned against the desk, only a scant foot away from her. To her alarm she wanted to reach out and see if his arms were as strong as she remembered. What would he do if she trailed her finger down the sleeve of his tunic? No, that would be sheer madness on her part.

  “You didn’t misunderstand.”

  “But she’s a toddler.”

  “Yes, but a toddler of fey years, not human.”

  Natalie shook her head in disbelief. “So how old is she?”

  “Roughly forty-five human years.”

  “I’m twenty-seven, and a toddler is older than me.” Stupefied was the only word that fit her. But as she watched his face, she saw no hint of a lie.

  “What happened to her parents, your parents?”

  His face grew soft, as did his voice. “My mother died soon after her birth, and Father followed soon after.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  He waved away her sympathy. “It was better they go together.”

  “Leaving behind no parents for their children?”

  “I am their father in every way that counts.”

  “It must’ve been hard for you to step into that role after having been a brother for so long.”

  He gave an ironic smile. “Not as hard as you might believe. I have always watched over them.”

  “Overprotective elder brother, huh?”

  “Something like that.”

  Since his previous wife seemed like a sensitive subject for her to tread upon, she would settle for finding out whatever she could of his current family. For now. She stayed silent to let him guide the conversation.

  “Well, I think I have shocked you enough for today.” He stood away from the desk and held out a hand.

  Her gaze darted from his face to his hand and back again. He did it with such ease, with a familiarity that beguiled. She had never deemed herself a touchy-feely person, but for him, she might reconsider.

  Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand in his, and a jolt of electricity played along her arm. When his fingers curled around hers, she almost sighed in bliss.

  Bliss? Natalie fought the impulse to yank her hand away. He couldn’t be arousing anything in her. She wouldn’t allow it. Every time he did, home seemed to float that much farther from her grasp. Her fingers flexed but stayed where they were. As she wanted to know why she was here, going along with whatever he’d planned might be best. Plus, her curiosity demanded satisfaction.

  ****

  Natalie didn’t know if she would ever get used to the plant life. The garden they found themselves in was similar to the one from yesterday in that the plants had a life all their own. Stealing a glance at the male walking by her side, she didn’t know if she would ever get used to him. But that wasn’t quite true. Lorh felt familiar, even the way he made her body hum.

  He still held her hand. The intimacy of such a simple act staggered her. Where was he taking her? Lorh said he wanted it to be a surprise. But as long as he kept his hand where it was, she could walk indefinitely.

  They soon left the garden proper, which gave way to orchards and gently rolling hills, though the stone path remained under their feet. She gazed up at the sky while a few clouds worked their way across an azure canvas.

  “I have to admit the walk has invigorated me.”

  A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I had the notion it would.”

  They were almost to a bend in the path when an eerie sense of déjà vu rose up before her. All thoughts narrowed down to a pinprick of awareness. A stream and a grassy knoll. A frolicking male and female—one fey, one human. How she knew this, she couldn’t say. The couple seemed familiar, but their indistinct faces offered no validation of their identity.

  Then as suddenly as it had come, the vision vanished, leaving behind a discontentment and loss that made her stumble. Lorh's ar
ms closed around her, steadying and comforting her. She sunk against him, too overawed to do anything else, and became aware of the hard lines of his body. He felt heavenly.

  Her cheek pressed into the soft material of his tunic. Natalie rubbed against it, like a cat playing with a catnip toy. She was falling. Deep. Fast.

  He gave a soft laugh, as if privy to and happy about that idea. She had to stop. It had to stop, but still she didn’t move. Flesh and mind warred, with body trouncing reason. Thankfully, or maybe even regretfully, he didn’t press his advantage. Lorh just held her, his hands tracing circles upon her back until he drew back. Without a word, he dropped his arms from around her and again took up her hand, leading her on. If he breathed a little more rapidly than normal, he gave no hint of it in any other way.

  As they neared the bend, the telltale trickle of water over rocks reached her ears. She bit her lip. Maybe it was coincidence.

  But when rounding the bend, she halted at the scene before her. A stream, along with a grassy knoll, spread across the landscape.

  “But…I…this can’t be right.” Through the roaring in her ears, her voice sounded so far away. She blinked, opened and closed her eyes, but the scene still remained.

  “This is right. What you see before you is truth.”

  She shot him a mystified look. Were his words supposed to help? He stated the obvious. But something niggled at her. His simple statements skimmed too close to her emotions. Could he sense her thoughts, her feelings? Or was it something else—a knowledge he held and she didn’t?

  Examining his words, she felt they carried some deeper significance, a clue as to why she was here. She rounded on him and gestured to the stream. “I saw this. I saw all this before we even rounded the bend. How?”

  “When you are ready, you will find that you know the answer.”

  “Ready? Ready for what?”

  “That, I cannot say.”

  She clenched her fists. “What can you say then?”

  “I can only guide you along the way. I cannot tell you what you seek.”

  “How can I know something when I don’t know it?”

  Maintaining a serene expression on his face, he clasped his hands behind his back. “You will know it, along with the answers to the other questions you’ve asked. This is all that is important.”

  “In less than three weeks, I’m going to just suddenly know the answer to this question, along with the others burning a hole in my mind?” The patent disbelief in her voice carried on the air.

  The corners of his mouth curved down, and his eyes became flat purple pools as their light dimmed. Ah, he showed signs of strain. Not so confident as he pretended, it seemed.

  When he spoke, his clipped tone discouraged further discussion. “We’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

  His words should’ve pleased her, since they supported her supposition about his confidence. Instead, they caused a murky veil of anger to infiltrate her brain. “In three blasted weeks, we’ll worry about it? I say we start to worry about it now. Three weeks are nothing.”

  “I cannot tell you more. You’ll remem—” He broke off, giving a flinch he couldn’t quite hide. “It’ll all come to you.”

  She made a crowing sound. “You slipped! I’ll remember? Hmm, what does that mean besides the obvious?”

  Lorh’s left eye twitched, but he didn’t speak. His face reminded her of a statue frozen in marble.

  “What? Afraid if you talk I might actually learn something?” Taunting him probably wasn’t the wisest course, but she had no other weapon at her disposal. Besides, at the moment, she really didn’t care if his eyes threatened to jump right out of their sockets. “No cryptic answers or clues for me? Oh, darn. I wanted to be more confused than I already am.”

  His face drew into harsh lines. “I cannot tell you more. Those were the terms.”

  Natalie snapped onto what he said like a bear to a fish. “Terms? And whose terms would those be?” She shook her head. “Oh, I know you won’t enlighten me. But you’ve told me a lot, anyway.”

  He glared down his nose at her. “I’ll have to keep you on a leash so you can’t ferret out information from other unsuspecting people.”

  “I don’t think you were unsuspecting.”

  Lorh contemplated that for a moment, then grimaced before nodding. “I should have expected a situation like this. I cannot place you like a piece on a chessboard and will you where I want you to go. But please, do not question others as you have me, especially the children.”

  She cocked her head to the side, considering him. “Where are the other people? I’ve been wondering about that.”

  A blank mien swept over his face, masking his true thoughts. “You’ve met my family and Malin.”

  Natalie sighed in frustration. “I see I’ll get nowhere with you on this subject. But I trust that you have people?”

  “Yes, that’s safe to say.”

  “But that’s all you’re going to admit to?”

  His lips quirked. “For right now.” Then his face became serious. “I will have your promise not to seek information from my family. Hammer me with your questions if you must, but not the children.”

  “I’m not a monster.” She thought for a moment. “Do they even approve of any possible relationship between us?”

  “They do not mind.”

  She frowned. “Really? Wh—”

  He held up a hand to halt her. “That is all you will get from me. Know that I will guide you to the best of my abilities and as much as I am able.”

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she presented her back to him. “None of that explains why I knew this place.”

  “That may be so.”

  Lorh’s voice sounded closer, but other than the snap of a twig, she sensed no movement. When hands grasped her shoulders, she stumbled forward a step, seeking to put distance between her and the owner of those hands. He gently spun her around to face him. His hands didn’t settle on her shoulders like she expected, but on her waist. Her eyes clashed with his until she could no longer weather the intensity of his stare. The look in his eyes. The longing…the love. She wasn’t ready for this. It was too soon, much too soon, yet strangely right.

  Her gaze dropped, looking at the one foot or so of ground that separated them. He stepped closer, and she lost that coveted view. Now she could only see his tunic, which gave hint to the fit chest lying underneath it. Not a good place to be settling her sights on. Long fingers slipped under her chin, lifting up her face. Oh, this sight was no better. His lips were way too close, his breath soft against…

  His mouth landed on hers, the touch gentle yet sure. At first, she held herself stiff, too surprised to do anything else. But his increasingly demanding kisses melted her reserve. Her arms slid around his neck, and she returned his kisses with the same fervor he displayed.

  When she was in his arms, time peeled away. Whether she’d known him for one day, one year, or one thousand years, none of it seemed important anymore. Even in this moment, seconds, minutes—even hours—could have ticked by, and she wouldn’t have cared. Nothing else mattered but him.

  At last, he pulled back, dropping a kiss on her nose. If she hadn’t been so giddy, she might’ve scrunched up her nose, for she’d often seen gestures such as his reserved for children and pets. Any thought of protest died when she peered up and noticed a look decidedly not geared toward child or pet. Passion smoldered in his eyes, making purple irises even more glowing in color, if possible.

  She lifted a trembling hand to her lips. “What was that?”

  He chuckled. “That was a kiss and the beginning of your education.”

  Sputtering, she choked out, “I don’t need that kind of education.” She sent him a glare to punctuate her words.

  “Let us just say it is part of the guidance I promised you.” His face remained entirely sober.

  She closed her mouth, which had been hanging open. “I can’t believe your audacity, but I think you’re bei
ng halfway serious.”

  He merely gave her a grin before holding his hand out, and together they walked up the grassy knoll to the waiting stream.

  Chapter Five

  Natalie ran gentle fingertips along the spine of a book in Lorh’s study. She couldn’t understand the silver words so painstakingly etched into the leather cover. But the lettering and leather made it a luxurious item, all the more exciting for its mystery. Stifling a small laugh, she thought it was much like her situation here. The intrigue of the situation and of Lorh couldn’t be ignored.

  Her smile died. All fairytales receded in the light of day. She would have to go back. Three weeks, no matter how intoxicating, couldn’t replace a lifetime of memories. Turning away from them, from her life back on Earth, wasn’t possible. How could he even ask it of her? She was human, for heaven’s sake, with no ties to this world, except for the ones he sought to forge.