by L. K. Rigel
Come back! Come back to me!
« Chapter 4 »
Wings
The renovations suggested by the goblin Max had worked; Lilith and Cade could at last live in their own house without it making them sick.
All the cold iron at Faeview had been replaced by wood where possible and Dumnos steel where steel was required. For good measure, the hard-angled, rectangular windows and doors were gone, exchanged for new ones with rounded edges.
Their headaches had disappeared.
Lilith opened a bag of ice for Cade, at work behind the wet bar, just as Marion, Ian, Sharon, and Jimmy let out a collective wail of woe over another score made by the Spellbinders.
“I thought we were promised appletinis!” Marion said. “I’m beginning to doubt such a thing exists.”
Cade’s aunt loathed the mystic, and who could blame her? She’d lost or was in fear of losing her only two blood relatives to either wyrd or fae. Beverly, her sister, had been abducted by a wyrding woman and possessed for thirty years. Cade, the nephew she’d raised since he was five, was a faeling. It was good to see her joking and smiling, doing her best to accept what she hated for the good of what she loved.
“Almost there, Moo.” Cade flashed his aunt a smile. “These things must be done delicately. Say a prayer for the Crucible while you wait.”
“You all act like it’s unexpected,” Lilith said. “I’m told the ’binders always beat the Crucible.”
“Boo! Hiss!”
“Blasphemy!”
“Traitor!”
Cade’s eyes scrunched with his playful smile. “I’ll take a penalty kiss on that one.” He put down the shaker and pulled Lilith into his arms. His lips were warm and soft and firm all at once, and his kiss tasted of Guinness.
A surge of eagerness for him swept though Lilith’s body—along with ungracious irritation that they had company. She’d once considered Cade Bausiney awkward, trending toward unattractive. Now the very fact of his existence in the world was necessary to her happiness.
“Hey, over there,” Moo said happily. “Snogging later. Appletinis now.”
“Yes,” Lilith murmured. “Later there will be much snogging.”
“Your servant, my love.”
He was self-deprecating, as ever—a trait ingrained in his marrow—but since he’d awakened to his fae nature, Cade’s self-confidence had flourished. His capacity for loving life had taken on new vitality. If there was any awkwardness, it was of an endearing sort.
She no longer questioned whether he was strangely handsome or strangely ugly. He was more gorgeous to her every day, and not merely because she loved him. His eyes were greener, his hair a darker russet, on the brown side of ginger rather than the orange. His rough skin had smoothed, his smile brightened. The twinkle in his eye was more crazy-making.
She tore herself away from him and joined the others near the television.
Like a regenerated time lord, Cade had redecorated. James’s inner sanctum now reflected the new Lord Dumnos’s tastes. The chintz sofa, La-Z-Boy recliner and TV tray were gone, replaced by dark leather love seats and oversized chairs arranged around a low square cherrywood coffee table. A monster-sized flat screen dominated one wall.
Changes were happening to Lilith too. For the first time in her life, people thought she was pretty. She’d overheard a guest at the Tragic Fall call her stunning, and the woman wasn’t having a laugh. Her own eyes were going fairy green. Her hair had lost its dullness, lightened to pale blond. She was generally stronger, lighter, and more vibrant.
“Scooooooooooooore!” Ian and Jimmy jumped up, clinked their mugs together, and finished off their stouts.
“Dad, let it go. It’s over,” Sharon said.
The study was still a man cave, but today the ladies had invaded to watch the grudge match. The guys punched the air as if victory was at hand, and their wives groaned and rolled their eyes.
In overtime, the Dumnos Crucible had given up three points to the Sarumos Spellbinders, and only two minutes of play remained in the soccer match. Football, Lilith reminded herself. She knew enough about the game to know Sharon was right. It was a lost cause. Sarumos would win again.
Sarumos.
“Where is Sarumos, exactly?” Lilith said. “Is it a city or a county… a shire?”
It sounded like Sarumen, a name that had once evoked bitterness. Jenna Sarumen had stolen Lilith’s fiancé back in California. If Lilith ever saw Jenna again, she intended to buy her a bottle of champagne. Cristal.
“In medieval times,” Ian said, “Sarumos was the name the people of the west used for London. The Normans insisted on using London, however, and as their influence spread, the use of Sarumos died out. There was always a hamlet near Christminster called Sarumos, and when the owners of the ’binders moved the team there in the 1980s, the name was revived.”
“Yeah, the owners are the Sarumen family,” Sharon said. “Think that had anything to do with it?”
“No kidding!” Lilith said. “It’s truly a small world.”
Losing Greg was one of those horrible things made more painful by people telling you it must be for the best. Only, in this case, it had been. Instead of a driven, small, petty, lying social climber who only wanted her until he no longer needed her, she’d ended up with a man out of a fairy tale. A man who loved her. Who had risked his life for her.
Cade gave the appletinis one last shake and brushed back his hair with his forearm. Sun and moon I can’t lose him!
Sharon got up from the sofa to collect the guys’ empty pints.
“Wait, Sharon.” Lilith jumped up to stop her. “Let me get the refills. It’s your day off.”
Jimmy and Sharon ran Glimmer Pub out on the Ring road at the border of the faewood. They’d both worked hard to make it a success, and these days they didn’t have much free time.
“Oh. Yes, my lady.” Sharon’s eyes grew wide, and a look of awe came over her face. “If you say so.”
Great gods! Lilith felt her expression freeze.
It was hard enough dealing with my lady this and my lady that from people she didn’t know. She’d been a countess more than six months now, and she was getting used to being called my lady and Lady Dumnos by strangers. But by family?
And Sharon was family. She was Ian’s daughter, and Ian was married to Marion, Cade’s aunt.
They were all staring at Lilith now—even Cade.
“Really, Sharon,” she said. “You don’t have to call me—”
Everyone burst out laughing, and Sharon handed over the empties with an exaggerated curtsey.
“You got me.” Red-faced, and relieved it had been a joke, Lilith took the mugs to the bar.
While she drew a couple of pints for the guys, Cade kissed the back of her neck. “Truth told, my lady…” Cade’s voice drove her crazy. It was deep and rumbling, sexy and mischievous all at once. “…I rather enjoy when you call me my lord.”
“So I’ve noticed.” She glanced at their guests, all watching a replay, in thrall to the Crucible’s bad luck. She reached between Cade’s legs and said, “My lord.”
“Unh…” He crossed his eyes and pretended to almost drop the appletinis.
“That’s what you get for teasing.” Lilith let him go.
“That’s what I want.” He gave her a devilish look and deftly filled three frosted martini glasses, then added thin slices of green apple as a garnish. “It’s a good thing the bar is between us and them.” He looked down at his pants. “You’d better do the serving. I’ll be just here until things… settle.”
“Yes, my lord.” She picked up two of the drinks and nodded at the third. “I’ll be back for that.”
By the time she handed Marion her drink and turned to Sharon, Cade was there with three pints and Lilith’s appletini on a tray.
“I thought you needed to wait,” Lilith said under her breath.
“All is well,” Cade said. “I’m a master of self-control.”
“You are
that,” Jimmy said, eyeing the pints on Cade’s tray. “We could use you at the Cottage if you ever need a job.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Cade said.
“Ah, no!” Ian cried woefully as the ’binders’ made another goal.
“The Crucible are taking a thrashing, and no doubt about it,” Jimmy said.
“Was there ever going to be a doubt?” Marion said.
“Thank you, Moo,” Lilith said. But now that she knew the Sarumen family owned the ’binders, she doubly wanted the Crucible to beat their asses.
“We should have the team here,” Jimmy said. “Tintagos is home to the earl of Dumnos. Why are the Crucible at home in Dunhevos?”
“Because Dunhevos gets all the respect,” Ian said.
“These days it looks as if Tintagos can afford to buy some respect,” Marion said. “I don’t think the renovations here at Faeview came on the cheap.”
“True enough, Moo,” Cade said. “It’s the Clad. The stock of Dumnos Clad has shot through the roof in the last several months.”
“Enough to finance the Crucible’s move to Tintagos?” Jimmy said.
“I’d rather have the Clad back,” Cade said. “The jobs pay better.”
“Like I said. Dunhevos gets all the respect.”
“Sure, but Tintagos gets all the love.” Cade sat in his favorite chair and caught Lilith’s hand as she walked by. He raised his eyebrows with a pleading, puppy-dog look, and she laughed and eased onto his lap.
“I miss my mobile,” Sharon said absently, staring into her martini.
“I don’t miss your mobile,” Jimmy said. Moo and Ian burst out laughing.
“At least Dunhevos is part of Dumnos, even if it is outside the iron perimeter,” Lilith said. “Otherwise we might lose the Crucible altogether.”
Cade wrapped an arm around Lilith pulled her down for a kiss. “You’re brilliant,” he said quietly. Now I know what to do about the Clad.”
“What the…” Ian said.
The room came alive with pops and crackles and sparkles over their heads.
“Hello!”
A lithe young woman with long platinum-white hair appeared before the flat screen. She was dressed in a shimmering bodysuit, spinning in the air and throwing off exploding fairy dust.
“Hello! Hello, Lily! It’s me!” The fairy stopped twirling, absently fingering her tether, not quite touching the jewel it held over her throat.
“Mom,” Lilith said. “What are you doing here?”
It had been a shock to discover that Gloria Evergreen was alive, and stranger still that she was really a fairy named Morning Glory. But it was incredibly hard to process the fact that her mother now looked so young. Lilith didn’t feel this in a petty way, but as an existential blow.
A person shouldn’t look the same age as her mother.
“Glory.” Marion finished her appletini and set the glass down hard. Ian put a hand on her forearm, stopping her from saying anything further.
“Hello, everybody!” Glory tossed another handful of fairy dust, oblivious to the tension in the room. “Ah, Faeview feels good now that you got rid of all that horrid cold iron.”
“I… I didn’t… believe you.” Sharon stared at Glory but spoke to Lilith. “I heard the words, but… I thought Moo and Ian were just humoring you. Pretending to believe.”
Morning Glory settled to the floor and pulled in her wings, and Lilith felt an uncomfortable, urgent tugging in her own back under her shoulder blades.
“I’ve just been at Mudcastle,” the fairy said. “Cade, your dad wants you to go there right away. Or at least tomorrow for dinner.”
The uncomfortable tugging continued. Lilith got up from Cade’s lap and moved away.
“Beverly is sad and wants to see her darling boy,” Glory said. “Failing to thrive, I think you call it.”
“He’s not my dad,” Cade said simply. “My dad was James Bausiney.”
“You spoke with my sister?” Moo said. “Did she say she’s coming for Mischief Night?”
Mischief Night. Why did we ever agree to that? Glory had begged them to allow the trooping fae free access to Faeview on Mischief Night this year, since the cold iron would be gone. It had seemed a good idea at the time. It would give Beverly a chance to try visiting the mundane world. With so many fae present, Faeview might not be so toxic to her.
Now the thought of fairies and goblins and leprechauns overrunning her house was terrifying. Everything about the fae realm frightened her these days. It was all moving too fast. She moved farther away from the others. Away from her own mother.
“Oh, Lily!”
Lilith automatically turned around.
“How wonderful!” Morning Glory’s eyes lit up, fixed on the space above and just behind Lilith.
“Sun and moon,” Ian said.
As each person followed her gaze, they caught their breath.
“Your wings, dear! They’re beautiful!”
« Chapter 5 »
Everyone Wants to be Fae
It was cowardly to run, but it wasn’t like she did it on purpose. Lilith’s body simply took over and carried her out of the study, away from all people and all fairies, up to her room. A classic fight-or-flight decision.
Flight won.
Literally. Her feet never touched a tread on the stairs.
She closed her bedroom door and pressed her cheek against the wood panels, listening. No sound of footsteps. No one had followed her, thank sun and moon. Cade was probably trying to calm down Marion—or he’d joined her in being horrified.
Lilith’s racing heart slowed, but the feeling of dread expanded in her gut. She forced herself to the cheval mirror, knowing what she’d see.
“Oh… no.” It was worse than she thought.
Her hair had gone another shade or two lighter, nearly as white as Morning Glory’s. Her eyes, once a nonthreatening, dull shade of blue-gray, now sparkled. Full fae green.
But that wasn’t the shocking thing. The horrific thing. The thing that mustn’t be, couldn’t be—she wouldn’t let it be true…
They stretched up and out from her back and spanned a distance from top to bottom greater than her body from head to toe. Like swaths of floating silk, she had… wings.
They had a wispy, lazily undulating ice-blue framework, the color of cornflowers, but the great majority of the span was nearly clear, like pale blue glass. They seemed to move of their own accord, like a cat’s tail.
“So pretty!” Morning Glory popped into the room.
The wings stiffened, then relaxed, tied somehow to Lilith’s emotions. And at the moment, you could say she was emotional. She grabbed Glory’s arms.
“How do I get them off? How?”
But she knew… they would never come off. They’d always been there.
“How do I… how do I stick them back in?”
“That’s not how it works.” Glory spun out of her hold and away, toward the ceiling. “There is no how; there is only do.”
“Great.” Lilith watched her mother settle back down to the floor. “Thanks, Yoda.”
“But this is wonderful.” Glory frowned. “You should be happy. Don’t you want to feel fabulous all the time? Be young? Beautiful? Be able to fly?” She lifted up, made a turn, and settled back to the floor.
“Oh, sure. It sounds great in theory, but…” Her mother had no idea. “Mom, can’t you understand? I finally have a place where I belong, where I’m loved, and I feel it being ripped away.
“Don’t you want to live forever?”
“How can I stand it when all my friends and family will grow old and die?”
“You’ll make new friends. And I’ll always love you.” Glory gasped. “I know… you should have a baby! It will live forever too… if you come live with it in the faewood.”
“Not helping. What about my human friends? Look at Beverly. Since she went to live in fae, she’s aged backward. She doesn’t look older than twenty-five, and she’s ten years older than Mar
ion. It isn’t right. It’s weird.”
“You have Cade,” Glory said. “He loves you, and when a fairy loves, it’s forever. It’s probably the same with faelings.”
Probably? Her mother had become a nitwit.
“I’m not so sure, Mom. He isn’t changing that much.”
“Cade is yummy.”
“Mom. Ew…”
For the first time, it really sunk in. Gloria—Morning Glory—had never been like other people’s mothers because she wasn’t like other people’s mothers. She was an entirely different species than other people’s mothers.
“Look, Lily, Cade is the queen’s nephew. Prince Dandelion is his father. And you’re right about Beverly; she has grown younger at Mudcastle. She must have some fairy in her blood. That will help too. He’ll probably… catch up.”
“Oh, probably, schmobably!” Lilith stamped her foot. “Probably isn’t good enough.”
“That’s my sweet faeling!” Morning Glory laughed. “You’re getting the idea.”
“Oh, Mom!” The room was suddenly too oppressive. The ceiling and walls felt like they were moving in on her. In an eyeblink, Lilith was at the window. The faewood far in the distance was so inviting. I could fly there right now…
“You were born at the cusp, Lily. It was never truly in fae, but Mudcastle is a liminal place, a place between realms. And you had so many fae friends when you were tiny. Goldy and Cissa and Dandelion. And Max. You were exposed to fairies and goblins, if not to fae itself. That must be why the change is happening so fast with you.”
“I don’t remember any of that.”
“If only you hadn’t left! You might have turned completely by now.”
“I don’t want to turn completely. I don’t want to turn at all.”
“Don’t be silly,” Glory said. “Everyone wants to be fae.”
Lilith forced herself away from the window, forced herself not to think of the cool shade of the trees, the smell of forest wood, how fun it would be to dance in the air with butterflies….
