“It’s from my world.” When he said the proper name, it was an unrepeatable jumble of consonants. He continued, “It’s similar to an enchanted hummingbird.” He tilted his head with a thoughtful look on his face. “In human—” He paused.
“English,” I chuckled.
He dipped his chin. “English. In English, the closest would be Hum-Fairy. When our people are fortunate enough to find one, we provide it with food, water, and a home. Sometimes it chooses to stay, sometimes it chooses to go. But we always leave it unfettered, free to make its own choice.”
I studied the small creature.
“I’m glad you made the choice to free him,” he whispered.
Choice.
There was that word again.
I stared into Arún’s warrior eyes, softened by a gentle expression. I’d seen the hard side of him, the side that killed without regret. I couldn’t be the queen he wanted, couldn’t continue the royal line or heal the blight in his kingdom. I didn’t even know if I wanted to try. I hadn’t been this new me long enough to know who I was, but he understood that I needed the freedom to find out. And that stirred something else in me.
He eased the box from my hands and moved it to the plain table.
His love was beautiful. His heart held no strings. He loved me for me, not what I could do, and not for what he needed from me. For now, it was enough. Even if I wasn’t sure I returned it.
I took his hands in my own and offered him a choice. “Will you stay with me? I thought I wanted to be alone, but now… I’m not so sure.”
And the gift had me on the edge of another emotional breakdown.
He made a feral sound low in his throat and crushed me to him. He cupped my face in his hands and stared into my eyes, as though searching for any doubt.
“I hope,” he said, “that someday you will ask me to stay and mean it as my mate.”
I smiled, my eyes wide. “How do you know you won’t change your mind between now and then?”
A blue glow exploded around us and woke every nerve ending in my body. My heartbeat thrummed and everything tingled. I’d have to tell him the truth eventually—that I could never be his queen—but, for tonight, I wanted to listen to his heartbeat, to not spend the night alone.
He gathered me in his arms and carried me three steps to the edge of my tiny bed. He eyed it dubiously.
“We’ll fit,” I said. I didn’t want him to change his mind.
He’d better not chicken out. Not when I’d finally decided to let my heart be open to him.
“As you wish,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. “My Queen.”
He lowered me to the mattress and climbed in beside me. He wrapped me in his arms, pressing me against him. I arched against him, and his breathing turned ragged.
“Are you alright?”
He shifted, and my breath caught.
He was so… handsome. His muscles rippled beneath my hands. He was a moonlight lion waiting to pounce.
“I have dreamed of holding you. Just this way.”
“Just this way?”
He grinned. “Maybe with fewer clothes between us.”
“Well?” I thought he might try to convince me. Maybe I was anticipating it.
No, not just anticipating, I hoped he would. He could be my first. Jason edged into my thoughts, and I pushed him out. Jason would never love me for me first.
Arún kissed the top of my head. “It is not Fae custom to take a maiden in that way. We must finish the bonding. To have relations without doing so is a grave action, and I would not disrespect you in this way. You are too precious to me.”
“I never offered, either.”
He froze and drew back. “Should I go?”
I laughed then. He didn’t catch my joke, but the back and forth made my heart happy. I was the cat. He was the mouse. Or vice versa. I didn’t care which. At that moment, I would have given him anything he asked for, even after his speech.
He was beautiful. He was my anchor as I sorted through the tumult in my heart. A mate I wished to know. However that looked for us.
I wanted him to remain. I wanted to explore. Bound by propriety, Jason would never be free enough to let me explore him and how my body always responded to him. We had a history, a memory together, but it wasn’t an option with Jason. It would require too much of the straitlaced man.
Arún pulled me close.
“Stay,” I said. “I like being this close to you.”
“You admit it freely?”
“Why would I hide it?”
“May I kiss you?” Nothing hid in the depths of his eyes when he asked. No ulterior motives, just something that burned—a fire I wanted to dive into.
There was no right or wrong answer to him. Just what was. The depth of his respect stoked an intimacy that yearned for consummation.
“Please,” I whispered.
His arms enveloped me, and I shivered. Invisible hands grazed my cheeks, stroked my hair, and fingertips drew designs down my spine until I gasped. I didn’t even know what I said. The exquisite pain of expectation filled my mind.
His tongue teased the edges of my mouth, until I opened, gasping when our tongues danced together. I arched against him. He summoned magic and it descended over us like a nightlight fog, every nerve ending tingled.
When the light disappeared, his hands stilled. “Should I stop?”
“No, I’ve never… I didn’t know…” I didn’t know how to express that I wasn’t ready to do that. How did I tell him that I was both terrified of what might come next and wanted it more than anything else. I shivered, tremors moving through my body.
He drew back slightly, making space between us. The absence of him left me unbalanced, and my lips puckered.
“It pleases me to please you,” he said, “but I will never ask for more than you wish to give. Without reservation.” Then he drew me close pressing his face into the nape of my neck. “You must promise to always tell me when it’s far enough.”
“Like the tooth mic.”
“Like the tooth mic,” he said, his mouth crooking to the side in a lazy smile.
I pressed my ear to his chest, listening to the slow thud-thud-thud of his heartbeat. I wondered if his sounded like mine.
Later, I lay with my back to his chest, and he held me tight against him. When I found a decent paying job, I was going to buy a bigger bed, then I wouldn’t feel like I was about to fall out. That was one of those things I couldn’t ask Jason for. The sputtering priest would have a heart attack, but the thought made me grin.
“I will bring a bigger bed,” he said. “I can carry one without help.”
“You’re awake.” I wondered again if he could read my thoughts.
“I have not been sleeping.”
If he was going to be staying over, it would be simpler if I let him bring the bed. Then I wouldn’t have a reason to talk to Jason about it. “Okay, then… I’ll bring the sheets.”
I don’t know why I said it, but I did. I could probably find some decent ones at the church. I bet Vic might even have a spare set.
“Woe,” Arún rumbled near my ear. “Next time you see the priest, tell him I have a plan to deal with the Boss. Jason is the only one who cares about keeping things balanced.”
That wasn’t quite true. The idea of keeping the ilk that murdered Hannah off the streets appealed to me.
He squeezed me even more tightly against him. “Warn him that I’m not going anywhere as long as you’re here in New Haven.”
“I like the sound of that,” I said.
He promised to take me flying in the Fae realm someday. Soon.
Then he spun me around to kiss me again but quick this time, like he didn’t want to fall into the endless well of yearning that grew between us.
When he pulled me up from the bed, I squealed at the sensation in my middle. He set me on his feet as though I weighed no more than a feather.
He winked. “Did you like that?”
“Ye
s?” It had been a strange mix of happy excitement and the feeling of plummeting off the edge of a building. I smiled. “I was happier in the bed, though.”
“Do you have any food in your fridge?” His stomach growled louder than mine ever had, and he crossed to the refrigerator that was only half his size. He opened the door and wrinkled his nose. The light inside the cold case flickered.
“Nothing in there?” I needed to find some money to go shopping.
“Nothing.” He slammed it closed and turned toward me. “Looks like we’re going to have to head back to my place to get breakfast.” He reached for my hand. “We can’t have you hungry.”
“You mean we can’t have you hungry.”
“That, too. I’ll bring groceries next time. The essentials.”
“You’re my hero with the shiny spatula.”
He bowed and then pointed to the middle of the room. A rectangle appeared, a window into his penthouse. It grew in size until it was big enough to walk through.
“Why do you ever walk anywhere?” The magic portal thing was a lot faster.
“I would miss moonlight and roses.” He glanced at me. “And fallen angels in city parks.”
We stepped into his home.
“We’ll go for a walk after brunch,” he said, moving toward his kitchen.
“Sure.” I spun slowly. I could get used to the way he lived. Arún lacked nothing, and he had a whole lot more going for him. Like a broad and muscled chest in a tight shirt.
I wasn’t sure what Jason would do when he found out that I liked spending the time with Arún. I’d gone carnal, he’d say, and I grinned at that. I couldn’t help it. It was true.
I liked the chesty Fae and his blue tickle-magic. When I finally told Jason that Arún and I were getting to know each other, Jason would probably need lots of time to sulk.
27
Discovery
Jason
In the Cavern
“Any luck?” My voice still had morning scratchiness to it.
I held onto my first cuppa like a lifejacket. Uselessness prevailed until my third or fourth. Pot.
Woe had been gone a little over twenty-four hours, and Vic had been up all night. The dark smudges under her eyes gave it away, and Woe’s shoes were in pieces spread across the work counter.
“A bit. Not much. I haven’t been able to triangulate her location based on her earpiece or tooth mic. She might have taken them out. At the very least, they aren’t broadcasting. Same with the belt.” She gave me a look. “But she called in. She’s fine, you know. Really.”
“I still want to know where he’s got her.” I stroked my beard. The question was whether the radio silence had been voluntary or against her will. It didn’t seem like Vic was trying hard enough to locate Woe. I grimaced.
Vic wasn’t worried at all about what the big Fae might talk Woe into.
“What about the feather?” I asked.
Vic grinned. “Now, that’s the interesting bit, but first…” Vic hopped off her swivel seat and stretched. She swiped a decanter filled with a green goop from her desk and pressed it into my free hand.
“Give that to Lev, and I’ll get the report sent to the Librarian. Unless you have something new,” she jerked her head toward her bedroom, “I’ve got to get some shuteye.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ll get plenty of ‘shuteye.’”
“I will.” Vic put her hands on her hips and grinned like a little girl with her hand in the cookie jar. “Eventually.”
“Incorrigible,” I muttered as I left Vic’s place and headed toward the Atheneum. I slammed the door behind me, knowing Vic wouldn’t take my moodiness too seriously. She didn’t let much get to her. Not even her roulette wheel of bedmates. That “free love” habit was going to bite her in her seventies-loving behind one of these days.
Vic loved anything paranormal. I shook my head from side to side. No telling who she had in there. Last week, things had gotten a little hairy when I’d had to escort a yeti from the building. Lev had to help convince the uncooperative fellow to move on. Privy to a lot of details about the secret side of the city, Vic enjoyed walking wild on the paranormal side.
Lev should be up by now. I knocked on the next door down from Vic’s.
There was a thud, and Lev’s deep, whale-song of a voice answered. “Who’s there?”
“Jason,” I yelled and then took a sip from my coffee. I kept the smelly green stuff at arm’s length.
“Yeah, come on in.”
When I opened the door, the smell of fresh bread wafted out. “Baking?”
“Well, somebody has to keep her fed,” Lev’s old-man grin showed off his jagged teeth. I set his drink next to a seaweed cigar that smoldered in an ash tray. “Aw, thank you. Nothing like seaweed and algae to start the day,” he said. It always smelled faintly like the ocean in here. He asked, “You told her about us yet?” Short and broad shouldered, Lev scratched his whiskered chin while he studied me. His sometimes-lazy eye stared toward Vic’s place. The man was ancient, but he never took the time to beat around the bush.
“It’s too early to go through this again.” I massaged my temples with the hand not holding my blessed coffee. “Besides, I didn’t get much sleep, yet again, and we’re not quite sure where she’s gone.”
In the middle of his open-floor living area, Lev set the cookie sheet filled with steaming buns down with a loud smack on the butcher-block island. “You lost her?”
“I didn’t lose her.”
“Hogwash,” Lev spat the word out of the side of his mouth. Considering his days as a tugboat captain, I was thankful his curse hadn’t been more colorful.
“Fine. I lost her. That’s what I dropped in to tell you.” I needed one of Vic’s chemical concoctions to get a jumpstart on this quickly-deteriorating day. “I might need you later.”
The gruff old man tucked four rolls in a brown paper bag and handed it to me. I was exhausted and I could already feel the headache coming on.
“If we have to go get her,” I said.
Lev nodded. “I’ll be ready.” He crossed over to a safe and spun the dial. When he pulled on the vault door, it creaked open and exposed a myriad of weaponry spanning the last two hundred years. Lev might be old, but he knew how to fight.
“Thanks.” I crunched the top of the bag in my hand. “I’ll be with the Librarian going over Vic’s report.”
A low growl interrupted our conversation and Lev’s eyes widened when the sound made the bullets in his gun safe vibrate.
“Vic’s got company again,” I sighed.
“Well, hopefully, she’s gotten the yeti fetish out of her system,” Lev offered with a wan smile.
The Librarian read me the report, highlighting the important parts. The carpet fiber had come from an expensive brand of carpet and implied that she was in a high-end location. There were no bits of flesh to indicate that there had been a struggle. And one more piece of information that was rather interesting.
Vic had isolated particles on Woe’s shoes that comprised the royal spell used to create air camouflage. It was a trick Fae royalty used when they came to visit humans.
“Not only is the guy that saved her Fae, he’s a Fae king?”
The Librarian shrugged. “I am uncertain of this position in the court, but his lineage is certain. He is of the royal line.”
I processed this information. I had little shifters after my used-to-be-a secret list of paranormal creatures and a Fae king after my angel. I said as much out loud.
The Librarian nodded. “Indeed. The last time the Fae encroached on the mortal realm, things did not go well.”
That was an understatement. It had been in the dark ages, and my predecessors had worked hard to keep the results out of the pages of common history.
In general, the Fae kept to themselves. Maybe caused a little mischief here and there but they didn’t spend much time in this realm. Mortal humans were beneath them.
Tugging on my beard, I
asked, “Why would the king of the Fae be interested in Woe?”
The Librarian was inexpressive. “Undetermined.”
I scrubbed my hand across my face. “Do we have much information on their kind or their dimension?”
“I will search the archives,” he intoned. “I will contact you if I locate anything of interest. There is one more thing. Something of an oddity.”
“What else?” This should be interesting.
“Vic tested the feather and compared it to the hair that you provided from the hairbrush in your apartment.” The Librarian shifted from side to side, as though he was nervous.
That was unusual. There wasn’t much that made him nervous, other than those topics that impinged on his Victorian sense of etiquette.
“Go on,” I said.
“It seems that Woe is… Well, there isn’t a polite way to put this.” His hand wringing grew annoying.
An influx of x-rated scenarios filtered into my brain. I wouldn’t put anything past the pointy-eared Fae. “What? What is she doing?”
“She is cycling.” He emphasized the last word.
“Bicycling?” That didn’t make any sense. Woe didn’t have a bicycle.
“No, Jason,” the Librarian said with a tug on his mustache. “Despite all we know about angels, fallen or otherwise, it seems Woe is capable of bearing children.”
28
Morning Glow
Woe
Two mornings later, I strolled toward the high-rise kitchen, carrying my empty coffee cup. Time to get back to Jason. Let him know I’ve been fine.
I sighed. And that we slept in separate bedrooms, and I remained unravished.
Arún called, “Well, Juliet, what are your plans for today?”
He had dragged me out to the balcony to watch the sunrise. As a reward for awake participation, he had plied me with coffee and eggs Benedict, which he had made himself.
At the threshold, I stopped short. Arún wiped down his granite counter top, his back facing me, clad only in small shorts. His thigh muscles bulged, and his back muscles rippled with each stroke. I made a noise. I don’t know what noise, and he turned.
Woe for a Faerie Page 16
