by Sarina Dorie
Trust. It sounded like such a little thing, but the idea made me want to shrink away. It went against everything I’d been taught about Fae.
“Now, for my first boon. . . . It’s time for my kiss. You’ve kissed me before. This shouldn’t be a difficult one.” He leaned forward.
“But—” I leaned back. I’d only kissed him a couple of times. What if Thatch was right, and Fae saliva was a gateway drug. He would lull me into complacency. I tried to think of some excuse. “You said I had Thatch breath.”
“I used magic to cleanse him from you when I changed you out of those clothes.”
I ran a hand over my belly, noticing the glass beads of the flapper dress had been replaced with my Rainbow Brite pajamas. They weren’t fashionable or sexy. The fabric was so worn and soft they felt like a second skin. Somehow, he’d known these clothes would make me feel comfortable. The gesture was sweet. At the same time, he still didn’t understand the basic human mind enough to comprehend why removing my clothes without my permission might be considered presumptuous.
“I don’t like you changing my clothes for me. It’s too invasive.”
“Very well. I won’t magic your clothes away.” He scooped me up on his lap. “But you aren’t getting out of kissing me. I have named my price, and now it’s your time to pay in full.”
I held up a finger. “Just one.”
“Unless you find me irresistible and decide to grant me more.” The sly edge to his voice hinted that he would take more if I lost control with him like I had with Thatch.
“You don’t understand. I can’t. I need you to promise you’ll stop at one, even if I don’t want to stop.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Pray tell me what the harm is in kissing you? It’s not as if I am asking you to lie in my bed naked or to perform some unspeakably naughty act.”
I hugged my arms around myself. I didn’t know how to talk about this without giving myself away. I didn’t know how to ensure he didn’t take advantage of my affinity. He wouldn’t even understand what he was doing.
“One kiss,” I said.
He smoothed a finger over my cheek and across my jaw, studying me. “One kiss and one chaste and brotherly embrace to accompany it. No more excuses. No more procrastination. I need to know whether you can kiss me with passion or that’s only something you reserve for Felix Thatch.”
I doubted there would be anything brotherly about an embrace from him, but I nodded. There was nothing about his request that was risqué or unjust. Not if someone didn’t understand what I was.
He slipped an arm around my shoulders. He tilted my chin upward. The light of the fireflies reflected the green kaleidoscope of his eyes shifting into blue. They were a dark azure like the deep water of a lake. He leaned in, but he didn’t touch his lips to mine immediately. His breath swept across my cheek, and he inhaled.
His magic tingled against my bare arms, making goosebumps rise on my flesh. I closed my eyes and savored the warmth of his hands on my back.
He pressed his lips to mine. I drank in the honey of his lips. An avalanche of desire crumbled away my façade of control. He tasted of sunlight and silver moonbeams. There was no room for darkness with that kiss. All the guilt and yucky feelings that had been building as a result of my encounter with Thatch evaporated. I was simply there in the moment, drinking in luxurious happiness.
Bliss opened up inside me. I pressed closer to him. My affinity throbbed. Magic swirled like a cyclone in my core. It broke through the shield keeping it hidden inside me. I kissed him—and couldn’t stop kissing him—just as I’d feared. Only, I couldn’t recall why I had feared this so much.
A thousand budding flowers awakened inside me. Electricity crackled under my skin. I laced my fingers through his silky hair.
“You can stop any time you want,” he murmured into my ear.
But I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. I continued kissing him, pressing closer.
My body mourned when his lips parted from mine. He held me close, cradling my head against his chest. I tried to circle my arms around his neck, but he held me so tightly I couldn’t do so.
He was winded. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“I never said I thought it would be bad. I was afraid it would be too good.”
“Your Witchkin logic never ceases to amaze me.” He laughed. “And was it too good?”
“Yes.”
“Better than his kiss?”
My rainbows and sunshine were burst with those words. I drew back. “What is it with you two? Does everything have to be a competition?”
“Did you notice how I was able to resist you?” he asked. “Even though you used magic on me.”
“I didn’t use magic on you.” Had I unwittingly used my Red affinity? I tried to think of an explanation, but the lies in my voice sounded shrill with panic. “You even said—I don’t have any magic. It’s all gone. I was drained.”
“When are you going to tell me the truth about what you are?”
I didn’t answer. I wanted to believe he was confused about what I could be. His next words smashed any hope I had of hiding my affinity.
“Were you ever going to trust me enough to confide in me about your Red affinity?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Caught Red-Handed
All my fears came crashing down on me. This was going to be like Julian. Like Derrick. Thatch had been right. I couldn’t trust him. I tried to pull away.
He held me. “I told you before. I am not going to hurt you. This doesn’t change anything between us.”
“Yes, it does.” How could I have been so stupid?
“I’ve known about your secret since the day we met. I’ve never used it against you. I would never do what he did. Haven’t I proven myself tonight? I was able to resist you, and I made you stop because you were the one who insisted that was what you wanted.”
I forced myself to breathe slowly, to listen to his words. He had listened. He hadn’t used my affinity against me.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“It was the first night at my father’s ball. Electronics didn’t affect you, and you could control electricity. You broke through my father’s spell with it. They thought you were concealing your magic, and then later they thought you had brought Morty magic, but I saw you were drained. Even though you had no magic of your own, you were able to steal it from everything around you when you touched someone. From the atoms and electrons, I believe Morties call them. The cost was great to you, though.”
“How do you know this?” The Red affinity was a secret to most Witchkin, and Fae didn’t bother themselves with how our powers worked.
“My sister drained my late wife. Carolyn was Witchkin. Quenylda thought she could torment Carolyn and make me want to discard her. Quenylda didn’t realize a Red could regain her power. Nor did I. In any case, I didn’t discard Carolyn, only hid her away to protect her. Carolyn’s powers came back stronger than before.
“I figured out what you were at the ball and tried to keep your secret for you. I protected you from my father if you don’t remember.”
I did remember. I had wondered why Elric had changed his mind so quickly. He’d gone from teasing and treachery to being worried about my personal safety.
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” I asked. “It would have saved me a world of worry.”
“Would it? Or would it have made you worry more? Had you known, you would have feared me even more.”
I started to object.
He shook his head. “No more lies between us, Clarissa. And no more lies to yourself. Not about this.”
Perhaps he was right. I would have feared he’d use the information to blackmail me. I would never have agreed to the bargain or to date him. Even now, trepidation stole over me.
Elric lifted me off his lap and set me on the log beside him. He held my hand, eyes melancholy as he gazed at me. “I assumed y
ou would confide in me. I wanted to give you the chance to do so. But you never did. I thought if I showed you I was trustworthy, you would fall in love and tell me the truth. My late wife did.”
“How can you expect me to be honest with you? Fae have a history of subjugating Witchkin. Your people exterminated the Red affinity because you hated our magic. You deemed us a danger.”
“No, Witchkin exterminated the Red affinity. Fae helped because it served their needs at the time. My people didn’t want a house made up entirely of half-breeds whose powers outmatched ours. Fae and Witchkin alike didn’t understand what you were or how your magic might ensure our survival. They feared your magic. Your electricity.
“I played no part in that destruction. It was before my time. I never felt the same prejudice as my family against humans or Witchkin. It didn’t matter to me if I married a woman who was Amni Plandai, a Morty, or a Red. All that mattered to me in the beginning of a relationship was that she was an artist.” He smiled at that, his expression wistful. “It must be the muse in me. I have a thing for artists, musicians, and dancers. Carolyn was all three. I have noticed Reds have an aptitude for the creative arts. Perhaps the Red affinity is an art.”
Both Thatch and I were painters. Imani was an artist and dancer. I didn’t know about my biological mother.
Elric stared off into the distance. I wondered if he was still in love with his late wife. He had spoken about her before. It had been close to a hundred years since Dox’s mother had died. Only I didn’t remember him calling her Carolyn.
“This was Dox’s mother?” I asked.
“No. Deborah was my last wife. She also was a dancer. Carolyn came earlier. Perhaps you forget, I am nearly five hundred years old.” He smiled sheepishly. “I’ve had more than one wife.”
That made sense. Sort of. “Why not just marry a Fae? She would live forever.”
“And drive me mad for all of eternity!” He chuckled and shook his head. “You’ve met my family. Would you wish to marry one of my brothers? Fae don’t feel as Morties and Witchkin do. They’ve lived so long most have forgotten how to love.”
“But you’re different . . . because you were raised by Morties?” I asked.
“Exactly. I didn’t have it trained out of me from an early age that humans are inferior toys only meant to be used to entertain myself.” He placed a hand on his heart, though I could tell from that mischievous twinkle in his eye he was about to tease me. “Witchkin complain Fae enchant them with their magic. My complaint is that your capacity for love bewitches me.”
I wondered if he meant me personally or humans in general.
Elric’s eyes changed from green to gold. “Times have changed since the human discovery of iron and electricity. Few Fae can sire children. Infertility has grown in the Witchkin population as well. Few have ever understood the relationship between the electrical component of the Red affinity and conception. Even after marrying Reds and seeing the difference in the results of fertility myself, I confess not to understand the science behind it. I’ve studied Morty magic and their forbidden science in secret, but it remains a mystery. Only Alouette Loraline understood, and now she’s dead, perhaps because the Raven Queen didn’t want her to share this knowledge with everyone and allow the Red Court to rise again.”
I had patched together pieces of this already, though I doubted the Raven Queen had wanted her dead. “The Raven Queen paid my mother to do research and find out the truth. She still wants to know how to conceive more heirs. Which is why she wants me—she thinks I can help her with the Fae Fertility Paradox.”
He nodded. “Yes. It’s incongruous, isn’t it? The Raven Queen wanted the truth to use it, but rumor has it she killed Alouette Loraline.”
“Witchkin killed my biological mother.” Thatch had told me as much.
“Yes, but who do you think sent them? Who found her and revealed where she was hiding? It was the Raven Queen.” He drummed his fingers against the bench.
I wondered if Thatch knew this.
“It would be interesting to know what part Mr. Thatch played in all this. Whose side was he on? Did he collaborate with Loraline against his sovereign, or did he agree that she was evil and decide she needed to be destroyed?”
All I knew was what Thatch had told me. It didn’t sound like he minded that my biological mother had been evil. But he didn’t agree with her experiments or want the Raven Queen to have the answers to the Fae Fertility Paradox either. I didn’t think he would have killed Loraline to keep those secrets silent, though.
I didn’t want to believe he had killed her out of necessity and kept that from me.
Elric patted my hand, bringing my attention back to him. “What I want to impress upon you is that your biological mother, in her attempt to preserve an endangered species, had to reveal the usefulness of the Reds. She proved that Fae could still sire children—so long as it was with a Red.”
“She tried to help the Fae have children without Reds too,” I said, remembering what she’d written in her journal.
“Indeed, and in that she failed. Or she died before she was able to prove how to do so, anyway. If Fae are to continue to have children, they will need to do so with someone who possesses the Red affinity. That’s why you’re in so much danger. Every court would want you for their own if they understood. The Raven Court already does. Although, I suspect the Raven Queen still hopes you might continue with your mother’s legacy and find the cure for her infertility.”
Another reason the Raven Court hadn’t killed me.
“And where do you fit into all this?” I asked. “What do you want with me?”
“I want to ensure you stay safe and no one else finds out what you are. A difficult thing, considering any Fae who remains in your presence for several hours will suspect. The only thing that saved you from complete exposure at my father’s ball was that you were drained. Unfortunately, you haven’t learned to conceal yourself like your mother did. You weren’t able to hide your magic when you broke my father’s spell. He suspects what you are. That’s why he wants you for the Silver Court.”
I rubbed my eyes. The fatigue in them didn’t fade. All this information was more than I could process. There were so many things I needed to know, but I couldn’t decide what was most important.
“Your father’s going to try to snatch me then?”
“He has no need to go to such measures. He already thinks he has you. You’ve agreed to fall in love with me. As you’ve already said, if you don’t, your soul is forfeit to me. I belong to his court. As my sovereign, it is in his right to take anything in my possession. He’s already tried to thwart you and keep you from falling in love with me.”
“And whose side are you on?”
He squeezed my hand. “Yours, of course. I told you, I want to help you.”
“But why? What’s in it for you?”
“At first, it was simply to ensure the safety of your secrets. And to ensure my own knowledge in the matter of Red affinities remained secret.” Elric shifted from the log and kneeled before me. “But you must see. I’m in love with you and want you to consider marrying me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage,
Then Comes . . . Trouble
My heart galloped in my chest. This was utterly thrilling. He loved me despite what I was—not because of it. He wanted to spend his life with me. I should have been completely overjoyed, but the niggle of doubt wormed its way under my skin.
“This is so . . . sudden.” I liked him. That fluttery feeling inside me when I looked at him felt like love. But we’d only known each other for a few months. I didn’t know him well enough for being engaged.
“I know you probably aren’t ready for marriage. I didn’t want to spring it on you like this. I thought it might be better to speak of this in a few more weeks after a romantic unicorn ride at sunset—and we can still do that—but you need to understand my inten
tions have never been dishonorable.”
Elric’s affection for me wasn’t exactly a secret. And now I knew my affinity wasn’t a secret either.
“Are you sure you don’t love me because you want me to bear your children?” I asked. “Because of my affinity?”
“Clarissa, if you never want to have children after all this Fae Fertility Paradox rubbish, I completely understand. Though if you do, I would gladly be the father of your children.”
I believed him. I threw my arms around him and hugged him.
“Thank—” I corrected myself. “Thank goodness.”
“I must correct your bad habits.” He tweaked my nose playfully. “When you are ready to discuss a future with me, you will tell me, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
He kissed my face, making me melt against him. He was the one who pulled away first.
“There’s something else we must discuss,” he said. “My father will stop at nothing to have you. He’s conspired—at least twice—to subvert your affections for me. I wouldn’t know except that my servants gossip with his, and mine are more loyal. They tell me that twice a tall Witchkin man disguised in a hooded cloak has been summoned from the school to see my father. My father is paying this man to interfere in our relationship.”
I thought of Jeb’s sudden mood swings and changes in allowing Elric and me to date. “Do you think this is the principal?”
“Not necessarily. I think this is someone else who stands to benefit if he thwarts your bargain with me.”
“Thatch?”
“I can’t speak of his contract, but I assure you, he doesn’t have your best interests at heart. If he did, he never would have meddled. I wish I could share the details with you to make you understand, but I can’t without consequence.”
I thought of Wiseman’s Oath. “You’ll break out in boils?”
“If only. A physical malady would be nothing in comparison to what I stand to lose if I reveal the secret to you. On that note, let us move on to a more pressing matter.” He took my hand and kissed it. “It’s time for your second boon.”
