“Augusta, must you shout. Of course you still look young. I gave you what you wished for,” Dáire said in a slow tone that implied he was talking to a child.
Shocked, she could only stare at him with her mouth gaping open. Using the tips of his fingers he closed her mouth, leaned in, and kissed her gently on the forehead before he stepped around her and walked into the bathroom. The sound of running water was the only thing that galvanized her into action because her brain was having a difficult time computing what he’d just told her.
Rushing into the bathroom, her argument died on her lips at the sight of Dáire sudsing up in her shower. She’d had the bathroom remolded a couple of years back when she found it was getting hard for her to step in and out of the shower. Instead of the tub/shower combo she’d created an open space that didn’t require a curtain and had multiple showerheads strategically placed so water stayed contained in one area. It always made her feel as if she was standing outside. It was freeing in a way, but as soap and water trickled down Dáire’s golden toned body she’d wished for the barrier of a shower curtain.
“Are you going to join me?” he asked before he put his head under the spray, rinsing out his glorious, dark locks.
Augusta’s mouth suddenly went dry just as her body started to heat up. Watching him slowly run the soap over his skin was almost hypnotic enough for her to forget why she’d come charging into the bathroom in the first place. Almost, because when he opened his eyes and gave her a smoky looked filled with sexual promise she snapped back to reality.
“That is so not going to work on me,” she stated with a huff, sounding a bit like her niece, Claire.
The sound of his musical laughter caused her skin to prickle with longing. She’d heard that sound enough last night while he was taking her to the very peaks of pleasure that she’d forever associate it with sex.
“I believe it worked quite well last night and from the way your body is reacting to me, I bet it’s working even better this morning,” he smirked, giving her a knowing look.
“Dáire, can you please be serious for five seconds. Why haven’t I changed back?” She didn’t bother to hide the worry in her voice.
“You said you love me, that you wanted to live for me, so I gave you that. Was it a lie, Augusta?” The cold steel quality of his voice caused her to shiver.
“No…I…no, I do love you but that’s not what I asked for,” she stuttered on her words feeling confused and strangely hopeful at the same time.
Turning off the water angrily and grabbing a towel, Dáire dried himself with jerky movements. Augusta watched in fascination as he began to talk to himself in a language she’d never heard him use before. It was comprised of words that seemed to slide off his tongue and evaporate into the air before she’d even gotten a chance to grasp a pattern in them. What she did understand was Dáire was pissed and she’d never seen him like that before.
“You told me that you loved me, that you wanted to live for me. I asked you if you were sure and you said yes, Augusta. I’ve told you to never wish something from the fae without being completely sure it was what you wanted. You said you wanted to live for me,” he turned toward her with a look of such anguish that it made Augusta’s heart seem to stop beating for a second.
“You tricked me,” she said with awe.
“I gave you what you wished for. You said you loved me.”
Anguish was now replaced with anger and Augusta was starting to see the side of Dáire that allowed him to be a prince amongst his people.
“Will you stop saying that, like I was the one who lied. I still love you. What I want to know is why I’m young?” She moved to touch him but the cold look on his face froze her in her place.
“You wished to start again, to have the life with me that you denied yourself. I did not trick you Augusta. I gave you what you wished for, a life with me,” he answered her in a cool manner.
“I meant for one night and you know that,” she replied feeling lost.
“You didn’t say that. You said you wanted a life with me and that is what I have given you.”
Dáire, I meant one night. Just one night.”
“Well, you should have said that because I gave you what you wished for. I’ve told you enough over the years to be wary of making wishes with the fae. We don’t lie but we are not governed by the same rules and regulations as mortals. You wished for a life with me, you said that you loved me and I have given you that and have gotten what I always wanted.”
The last part of his statement was said with such an infusion of passion that it caught Augusta off guard. They’d said they loved each other several times last night, and though she’d believed him in the moment, she’d never thought it could be as deep as it was reflected in his words and the expression on his face now. She wanted to believe but it all just seemed so surreal.
“What if I don’t want this? What if I love you but I really meant just for that one night?” she asked not able to meet his gaze.
“Then you go back. You go back to that life without me and you die without me and you never know my love again,” he replied sadly.
Augusta was shocked to feel tears running down her face because she couldn’t remember when she started crying. She was so scared, but didn’t know how to vocalize that to Dáire. She did love him and in her secret heart of hearts she would have loved to have a life with him but what about the life she had now? Last night it seemed so simple, she’d have her “what if” and continue to live in her “now”. Looking up at Dáire though, she couldn’t seem to place what her “now” was and the thought of him never being in it again made her sob just a little harder.
“My love, I can’t say I didn’t know you only meant one night. I saw an opportunity and I took it and if that opportunity was placed before me once more, I’d take it over and over again. But if you ask me to, if you wish it, I will change you back. I will do that because I love you but I will have to also leave because of the love I feel. I cannot live knowing what I could have had will wither away and die before I have even begun to enjoy it.”
Augusta sobbed into Dáire’s chest as he gathered her to him and poured his heart out. There was a lyrical quality to his words that made her feel as if he was speaking more of an oath than merely the truth. She wanted to be angry and scared but all she felt was the loneliness of never having him again in her life.
“But won’t I still grow old and die? Or did you make me immortal to?” she asked looking up into his jewel green eyes.
“We’ll live in my world where time runs differently from yours. You will eventually grow old and die, my magic is not that strong, but it will be so long in the future that by then I will gladly follow you into death as well,” he stated with such intensity, it made the hairs on Augusta’s arms stand on end.
“But my family and friends, Claire especially, will wonder what happened to me,” she said, feeling as if the impossible was quickly falling into place.
“Come with me,” he gently pulled her back toward her bedroom and pointed to her bed.
Augusta froze at the sight of her old body lying peacefully on the bed as if she were dreaming. All evidence of a wild night of sex was gone and instead it looked like it always did before she woke to start her day. There was a sort of morbid fascination looking at herself that way and she moved to reach out to touch the body, just to know it was real, but was pulled back into Dáire’s arms.
“I don’t understand. How can I be there in the bed but standing with you as well?” she asked looking from the bed to Dáire.
“It’s a construct I’ve created for your friends and family to mourn. To them you will be dead, while you live your life with me,” he replied while searching her face.
“Young again?”
“Yes, a life with me.”
Augusta looked around the room and the construct that Dáire created and she knew what her choice was going to be. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on th
e mouth. She’d had her life and she’d loved it, but now she’d have another and love it just as much. As his kiss deepened a fleeting thought that had been wiggling in the back of her mind made its way to the front.
“When you say my body is young, does that mean it’s going to start doing all those things young female bodies do?” she asked.
“I don’t understand the question,” Dáire looked down at her with that coolly blank expression he wore when he was avoiding the truth.
“I can get pregnant can’t I? You didn’t use any protection last night,” she stated feeling a bit of panic rise up again inside of her.
“You said you loved me and wished to live for me,” he replied defiantly.
Augusta opened her mouth to protest but realized that arguing with a fae was like arguing with water.
“New life,” she said smiling up at him.
“New life,” he smiled back, kissing her gently on the mouth.
What the hell she thought, you only live twice.
Epilogue
“Smile my love, most have traveled a great distance to see you. Please pretend that you’re marginally excited to greet them,” Dáire whispered into Augusta’s ear.
“My face is starting to hurt,” she murmured through her forced smile.
Stifling a chuckle, he gently placed his hand at the small of her back and ran his thumb along the place that caused her body to liquefy. Even through the heavy fabric of her gown he could tell she was reacting to his touch. Nodding to another nobility of the fae that had come to meet his new bride, Dáire didn’t mind smiling for the both of them. He was beyond happy and it didn’t matter to him who saw it. He knew that his kin were getting a great deal of enjoyment out of his behavior, mostly at his expense, but he didn’t care.
After that morning when Augusta had chosen him and a life they could have with each other, he’d swept her away to the places she’d never been before around the world. He wanted her to experience all that her world had to offer before they crossed the veil into his realm, because he couldn’t guarantee things would be the same if they ever came back. It was seeing the different countries they’d visited through her eyes that made the trip that much more special to him.
“Well brother, you do look well.”
The sound of his brother Caedmon’s voice brought him out of his happy reverie. Out of his three brothers, Caedmon had been the most active in taunting him about his relationship with Augusta. Scowling, he tried to send his brother a look of warning that today was not the day to cross him.
“I feel exceptional, brother,” he replied tightly.
“Do introduce me to the lovely creature that has caused such a transformation in you,” Caedmon stated in his usual mocking tone, while giving Augusta an appraising look.
“Creature! Little boy, you’ll have to do better than that when addressing me,” Augusta said coolly, placing a hand on her hip.
Dáire couldn’t help smiling at the shocked look on his brother’s face. He and his three brothers all shared the same coloring, height and physique that made human and fae women swoon when they approached. With his violet-colored eyes and silver tongue, Caedmon liked to consider himself not only the most charming of the group, but the quintessential ladies’ man. Smirking, Dáire got a bit of joy knowing Augusta was immune to his charms.
“My dear, I’m far from a little boy,” Caedmon replied with a leer.
Snorting, Augusta looked over at Dáire and said, “He’s serious, isn’t he.”
“I’m afraid so, my love,” he couldn’t help smiling smugly at his brother.
“This is what happens when there are no women in a family. You all sit up together, colluding on your perceived sexual prowess without that dose of reality that only women can provide.” Shaking her head, Augusta gave the two of them a disgusted look.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m going to be taking care of that,” she continued with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Gathering her close to him, Dáire placed a kiss on the top of her ornately braided hair. Not prone to public displays of affections amongst his people, he could see a few raised brows—of his guests and particularly his brother Caedmon.
“We are most grateful to have you with us to give us that “dose” of reality you speak of, my love,” he replied with a warm smile.
“Oh, I’m not just talking about me. I was referring to the daughter we’re going to have,” she stated, patting her stomach.
Dáire felt as if all the air in the room had been sucked out. Looking down at Augusta in shock, he couldn’t seem to form the words that were bouncing around in his head. It seemed that he wasn’t the only person at a loss of words. A hush had fallen over the crowd after Augusta’s declaration.
“You look so shocked Dáire,” Augusta whispered, caressing his cheek.
“Are you sure?” he asked hesitantly.
“Quite,” she replied with a smile.
Reaching down, he placed his hand gently on her still flat stomach. It was almost too much for him and yet he knew that there was far more in store. Looking into Augusta’s eyes, he could only smile and think how happy he was and how right everything felt in his life.
“You seem quite confident that it is a girl child. After all, there are four of us,” Caedmon said, breaking the magical moment Dáire was experiencing.
“Little boy, when I decide to do something, I make sure to do it right the first time,” Augusta said with a wink.
Laughing, Dáire gathered her to him and whispered, “That you do my love, that you do.”
**Janet**
Janet Eckford
Like most great superheroes (or super-villains, depending on who’s telling the story) Janet Eckford lives a double life. By day Janet is a mild-mannered crusader for justice (or nefarious deeds, depending on who’s telling the story) and by night an indestructible creator of prose (or pathological liar, depending on who’s telling the story) while munching on her favorite cookies—oatmeal raisin. A native West Coaster who hails from the sunny state of California Janet, has loved the romance genre ever since she convinced her dad it was required reading when she was eleven. Janet believes love shouldn’t have a color code and strives to create stories that represent that belief.
Send her your praise and adoration and she will return it in kind.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
Janet Eckford
Life in Two Parts Page 4
