‘Of course not,’ I laughed. ‘What do you play?’
‘Those,’ he answered, gesturing to the instruments displayed on and around the walls.
‘All of them!’
‘Not at the same time.’ He grinned.
‘Well, duh,’ I said, poking him in the belly. He chuckled as he caught my hand and trapped it in his. ‘Play something for me, Leif?’
‘We’re running out of time, but . . . your choice, I can play for you, or I can show you my other rooms.’
I hadn’t seen his bedroom yet. ‘Lead the way,’ I told him. Leif laughed. I was sure he could read my mind and wasn’t telling me.
We left the music room and walked through a doorway on the other side of the hall. ‘I come here to read and learn,’ he explained. The study was round, the furniture made of the dark wood Leif told me was called emba. A full bookshelf curved around the wall, and a large desk was set beneath a low wide window. I peered through the window to the lake below and the forest beyond.
‘Oh Leif, this is stunning. You’re so lucky. How can you concentrate on learning when you have all this right in front of you?’
‘I’m used to it, but learning is not so formal here. If I want to, I just open the window and fly away.’
‘And I’m stuck in a stuffy classroom, coughing and sneezing all day.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly. He brushed the side of my face with his fingers. I looked up and saw sorrow in his eyes and felt bad for putting it there.
‘Geez, it’s not your fault.’
‘No, but it is my father’s.’ Ugh, now he was feeling guilty.
‘What’s that?’ I asked, pointing to a map that filled the wall above a luxuriously cushioned seat.
‘That is a map of Faera.’ He put his arm around my waist and led me to it. He indicated an area close to the sun with his hand. ‘Here is too hot, even for the Fae, but here,’ he said, moving his hand lower, ‘is where the Fae thrive. And this,’ he placed a finger on the map, ‘is the Kingdom of Telophy.’
‘What’s the place at the edge?’
‘That is Dark Faera.’
‘The sun doesn’t shine there?’
‘No.’
‘What’s it like?’
‘I have never been—smart people stay well clear of there.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s unsafe,’ he answered, then without pausing, indicated another section of the map. ‘Look, my grandfather Aren’s kingdom.’
I allowed myself to be distracted. ‘Telophy is a lot bigger.’
‘Telophy is one of the largest kingdoms, which makes my father one of the most powerful kings.’
I was about to ask why that should be so, but he was already pulling me away. We left his study and ventured further down the hall, passing four more doorways. He explained the purpose of each—two guest rooms, a dining room and a sitting room—but he didn’t take me inside any of them. The final room was his bedroom. It was magnificent, an oasis of blues with touches of silver and gold, at the centre of which was an enormous four-poster bed of emba resting on a dais of gold and draped in sheer fabric the colour of silver-edged midnight. I threw myself into the middle of it, laughing, sinking into silk and pillows.
‘This is outrageous, Leif.’ I reached for him, my arms stretched wide. ‘We could have some fun in this.’
‘We could,’ he agreed, the beginning of a smile at the corners of his lips. ‘And we will.’
‘Now?’
‘Maybe not now,’ he replied, but came to me anyway. I wrapped my arms tight around him, shivering with excitement.
‘We’re asleep, Leif, it doesn’t count.’
‘We are not asleep, and it does count.’ He chuckled.
‘This is so gorgeous. You must be very rich.’
‘Well, I am prince,’ he said, rolling onto his back and bringing me on top of him. ‘But I don’t know that rich is the right word. We don’t have money in Faera.’
‘No money! So how did you get all these beautiful things?’
‘They are the work of the Fae, Marla.’
‘They just give them to you?’
‘It is considered the highest honour to provide for the king and his family.’
‘Your father must be loved.’
‘Yes.’ He trailed his fingers up and down my spine, making it difficult to concentrate.
I was unable to form words. I nestled my face into his neck and let him do the talking.
‘Kings are powerful, strong and gifted.’
You’re already gifted and you’re not even king yet.
Leif laughed softly, and continued caressing my back in long slow movements. ‘A king provides protection to his subjects, who in return desire to please him. A king and his family are showered with many gifts—too many gifts. Most are given away.’
Lucky you, I said, without interest though. I was too focused on his big warm hands and how they were making me feel.
‘Yes,’ he murmured and together we lost all interest in conversation.
We kissed for a while, cuddled and drove each other completely crazy—teasing and tormenting each other with lips and fingers, until with a deep groan, Leif cried, ‘Enough!’ He dragged himself from me and sat on the edge of his bed, head bowed and arms stretched taut to his sides, hands clenching the fabric of his bedcovers.
I reached up and ran my fingernails down his back. ‘You don’t like kissing me?’
He lifted his head, turned to look at me, and with one eyebrow cocked, said, ‘You are enjoying your power over me a little too much, my love.’
‘As if you don’t like teasing me, Leif.’ I held my arms out to him again. ‘Come back to me.’
‘Tempting,’ he said, slowly looking me up and down. ‘Very, very tempting, but I think not.’
‘Am I so easy to resist?’ I asked, opening my eyes wide in fake sorrow.
‘Ah, Marla,’ he groaned, coming back into my arms, ‘you’re not easy to resist at all.’
‘Then don’t.’
But he did, and after a few more moments of exquisite torture, he whispered into my ear, ‘It’s time to wake up now.’ I was startled awake with shivers running through my body and the sensation of his warm breath against my ear.
Leif, I called.
Yes, Marla? he answered from the unit downstairs.
I love you.
I love you also.
Thanks for taking me to Faera.
I enjoyed showing it to you.
I especially liked your bed.
Mmm, me too. I could hear the echo of his laughter.
I have to get ready for school.
I would walk with you, but I don’t want to risk being seen.
His words brought me back to reality with a jolt. Jack’s picking me up, anyway.
Say hello to him for me.
I will.
You have a nice day at school, Marla.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ashleigh was huffy all morning. I tried to make peace with her as we got ready for school, but she wasn’t having it. In the end, I gave up and finished getting ready in silence. Jack was honking the horn at a quarter past eight.
I called for Leif as I ran down the stairs. He was waiting in the open doorway.
‘What’s that yummy smell?’ I asked, sniffing the air.
‘Janet’s making pancakes.’
I sighed. ‘I’ve always wanted to try pancakes.’
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me and I soon forgot all about pancakes. Jack honked the horn again, longer this time.
I tore myself from Leif. ‘I have to go.’ I kissed him once more before rushing down the stairs.
‘Leif says hi,’ I said, as I jumped in the car and kissed Jack’s cheek.
‘Great, he’s stealing my girl, but at least he’s doing it politely,’ he complained.
‘Jack . . . ’
‘Marla.’ He started the engine.
I looked at him. ‘I’m sorry.’
We drove along in silence. After a while I said, ‘Do you think it’ll get easier, Jack?’
‘Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.’
I didn’t move to get out of the car when we arrived at school. We had fifteen minutes to spare and there was something that I was determined to discover. ‘I need to ask you something.’
He turned in his seat to face me. ‘Go on.’
‘Jason’s asked Ashleigh to go out with him.’
‘What did she say?’
I looked at him, eyebrows raised.
He shook his head. ‘She said yes, of course.’
‘I know something happened between you and him, please tell me what it was.’
He sighed. ‘It won’t help.’
‘It might.’
‘You know I don’t like talking about . . . awkward stuff.’
‘Please, Jack.’ I looked at him with imploring eyes.
‘All right, Marla, but I really don’t see how telling you will help.’
‘I love you, Jackie,’ I said, and dropped a kiss on his cheek.
‘Yeah, I know . . . just not enough.’ I opened my mouth, but he covered it with his hand before I could speak. ‘Do you want to know or not?’
I nodded. He removed his hand.
‘You know that Year 6 trip to Canberra that every kid goes on?’
‘I never went to camp.’
‘But your school went, right?’
I nodded.
‘Well, on the last night there was this dance and Jason asked Stella to go with him.’
‘Stella Evans?’
‘Yep.’
‘She’s pretty.’
‘She is. Anyway, Stella told him she wouldn’t be his girlfriend because she liked someone else. Of course Jason couldn’t believe anyone would dare reject him. Sound familiar?’
I nodded. ‘Oh yeah.’
‘I know this, by the way, because it was Year 6—so juvenile. Everything spreads like a virus.’ He paused, shaking his head at the memory. ‘Of course Jason had to know who this mystery competition was, so he asks Shauna. Of course Shauna knows the guy’s identity because she’s Stella’s best friend. And of course I know who the mystery guy is too because it’s me and Shauna told me at the start of the dance.’
‘Complicated.’
‘I know right, Year 6, all that he said, she said. Anyway, I’d been trying to work up the courage to ask Stella to go out with me. But despite the popularity I enjoyed back then, I wasn’t much good at that stuff, even armed with the knowledge that she was busting for me to ask her.’
‘Jack,’ I said, poking out my lower lip.
‘Do you want to know or not?’ he said with a frown.
‘Sorry, go on.’
‘Anyway, Jason found out that I was the lucky guy. So, determined to ruin my chances with Stella, he follows me into the toilets, hangs around while I do my thing and then goes running out again, screaming out to all who’d listen that I’d been perving on him.’
‘Oh, Jack, he’s evil!’
‘Obviously, but who isn’t going to believe it when someone with a mouth like his makes an accusation like that?’
‘What a nightmare.’
‘It was. I got questioned by the teachers and my parents were called. Naturally I denied it and it got taken no further, but once something like that is said, well, it can’t be unsaid. So after that none of the guys would talk to me, except to whisper “faggot” under their breath, and none of the girls would go near me because I was so unpopular with the guys. The rest of the year was hell.’
‘How awful, no wonder you were so damaged when you started high school.’
‘Damaged? Nah—wounded, maybe, and paranoid the rumours would follow me to high school. They didn’t, thank God. Only a few kids from my school ended up coming here. I was pretty cut when I found out Jason was one of them.’ Jack sighed. ‘But the whole thing did cause me to lose faith in people, so when I started here I just decided it was safer to keep my mouth shut and keep to myself.’
‘Until Hilary adopted you.’
‘Perfect Hil, always out to rescue the wounded ones.’
‘Well, I was a wounded one too. All the kids at school used to stay away from me for fear of catching a disease.’ I was quiet for a moment as I recalled the loneliness I’d endured as a little girl, the pain of being excluded. ‘Then Hilary came and for some weird reason chose me to be her friend. She was like a gift from heaven.’
I glanced up and caught Jack’s eyes. He was watching me with unusual quietness.
‘Why wouldn’t she choose you? You’re so much more than you know, Marla.’
I reached across and took his hand. ‘But Hilary could have picked anyone. From the day she started, every girl in Year 4 wanted to be her friend. She just had this gift for making people feel amazing. No way would anyone have guessed what she’d been through.’
‘She’s strong that’s for sure.’
‘More than strong, Jack. There she was taking care of pathetic little me when the whole time she had to have been grieving.’
‘She does always seem to put other people before herself.’
‘I don’t know anyone else like her. I mean just imagine losing your family, then being forced to move interstate to live with godparents you barely know.’
‘Mmm.’ Jack watched his index finger trace the edge of the steering wheel. ‘She ever tell you how it happened?’
I shook my head and told him no. ‘You?’
‘Nope, and it’s not the kind of thing you just bring up either.’
‘I did once—not on purpose, it just kind of happened.’
Jack looked back to me. ‘What did she say?’
‘Nothing—she just got this kind of blank look, then a second later started talking about something else.’
Jack screwed up his face. ‘Ugh, poor Hil.’
‘I know. It’s hard to believe she can be so good when she’s carrying that all alone.’
‘Maybe that’s why she’s good. I mean, God, when something so dark happens, everything else must seem light in comparison.’
‘You could be right,’ I said.
‘Or maybe Leif’s right about her being part angel.’
I nodded my agreement. ‘I think he must be.’
After a long pause, Jack said, ‘Anyway, do you see why I have a problem with Jason now?’
‘Of course, but what would our virtuous Hilary say about that?’
Jack furrowed his eyebrows and, in a perfect imitation of our friend, said, ‘You need to put it behind you, Jack—be the bigger person. You need to forgive Jason, not for his sake, but for your own. There’s power in forgiveness, Jack.’
‘She’s right, you know.’
‘I know, but we can’t all be as angelic as she is. Anyway, what are we going to do about Ashleigh?’
‘I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. Jason’s working his magic on her. You should have seen her glow when she told us he asked her out.’ I paused for a moment. ‘I just needed to know my enemy.’
‘Well, now you know.’
‘Now I know, and I’m not too comforted either. I need to be on my guard.’
‘Yes, you do. I have no doubt he’s out for revenge.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me what he did to you when I was going out with him?’
Jack shrugged. ‘I wanted you to figure him out for yourself. I knew it wouldn’t take you long. Besides, it’s not a story I’m happy about sharing. You know me.’
I gave him a long hug and had to swallow hard to stop the knot in my throat from finding its way to the back of my eyes. When the hug was finished and I knew I could talk without choking, I said, ‘You know I’ll always love you, right, Jack?’
He smiled. ‘It’s me, how could you not?’ But his breezy words couldn’t hide the trace of regret in his eyes.
Ashleigh was in a better mood when I got home from school, and
I soon found out why.
‘Jason’s coming over this afternoon and you’d better not be a bitch to him,’ she threatened as soon as I walked in the door. Her comment was irritating, but at least she was speaking to me.
‘As if I would,’ I said, then sent Leif a silent message to warn him not to come to me.
I went to my room to change out of my uniform with the intention of spending the time that Jason was around downstairs with Leif. But while I was changing, my instinct to flee was replaced with the thought that if I ran from Jason, I would learn nothing of his motives. I returned the dress I’d selected to the wardrobe and chose a pair of track pants and a T-shirt from my drawer. The last person I wanted to look pretty for was Jason. I got dressed and examined my reflection in my wardrobe door—nope, nothing sexy about that.
If I’d gone out of my way to look plain, Ashleigh had done the opposite. She answered the door to Jason wearing denim shorts and a green midriff top too revealing for a Barbie doll. Her face was completely made up and her amber curls, which had been tortured into straight submission that morning, were pulled back with a sequined bandana, wide enough to cover the unruly curls around her forehead that had begun to spring free from the prison of her hairstyle.
‘Jason, hi,’ she gushed and lunged for him, throwing her arms around his neck.
‘Easy, babe.’ He laughed, and peeled her arms from his neck before strolling inside. ‘Amy,’ he said, his tone casual, belying the cold look he shot me—carefully, so my sister wouldn’t see.
‘Jason,’ I said, before returning to my book.
‘How’s that dude you’re going out with?’
I looked up from my book again, wanting to ignore him. But Ashleigh hopped from one foot to the other, scowling at me as she waited for my answer.
‘I’m not going out with anyone.’
His eyes narrowed and I could see the indecision on his face. Thankfully he decided not to question the lie. I returned to my book.
‘Babe, I’m starved,’ Jason said. I glanced up in time to see him drape his arm around Ashleigh’s shoulder and lean in to plant a kiss on her mouth. I felt like throwing up. My sister blushed and kissed him back then skipped to the kitchen to get him food.
‘Sandwich, okay?’ she called.
‘Sure,’ Jason called back as he stretched out in my father’s recliner, before turning to me. ‘No hard feelings. I don’t care about you and the big dude. I really am into your sister. She’s hot.’
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