“I’m sorry for getting so defensive. Sometimes I get carried away.”
She softens. “So that’s why he’s always sick? I should have realized illness is a human weakness not suffered by fae.”
I sigh. “They’re just allergies. Though we don’t get those either, so it really should have been your first clue.”
“Right.” Her brows pinch, her face set in thought until she jerks upright. “Hey! There’s a trader who comes to the capital sometimes, a gatekeeper. He’s human. I could never meet him, but he brings things from all the other worlds. I bet he’d have human medicine, or could get whatever Johannes needs from Terra.”
She says it so easily it’s clear she’s forgotten her disguise. The moonstone glows softly again, and those sapphire eyes widen. A moment ago, I was upset with her. Now I want to reach out and tug her into my arms for thinking of a way to help Joha, even if it’s completely impractical, and she obviously spoke without thinking. There’s a compassion to her I wasn’t expecting to find in Point Fae royalty.
“Sure,” I tease to cover her slip. “We’ll just waltz into the capital full of Point Fae, locate a globe-crossing gatekeeper, and pay him a small fortune to get medicine for sneezing.”
“Oh. Well, when you put it like that…I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I can’t hold back any longer, reaching out with one arm. She leans into the half-hug, spreading warmth up my left side as the clean smell of soap and fresh snow wafts up.
She lifts her chin to look at me. “I’ll help,” she says, quiet but firm.
I blink.
“Not just with the engagement for your hearing, but the rest too. Moving in, helping with the costs.”
I turn to face her properly, staring down at the unexpected kindness of the woman in my arms. “You’re serious.”
Her emphatic nod loosens several blue curls. “I still do need your help with the cleaning stuff, though. I don’t know how to mop.”
I tug at a curl, a smile curving my lips as it bounces back into place. “You want to know a secret? Mopping is just pushing dirt from one place to another and hoping no one notices.”
It startles a laugh from her, the last tension melting away, and warmth unfurls in my chest. I should drop my arms…let her go…
I can’t go catching real feelings in a fake arrangement. She’s only being nice.
But for the first time since Frederik died, it feels like I won’t have to do this alone.
I know it’s only temporary.But even that reminder doesn’t dampen the feeling.
It’s warm in the dim light, with the scent of soap and clean linen around us. Eevi has finally settled into sleep. The snow outside has muffled the world. And we’re here, in this space between reality and possibility.
Quiet awareness lingers between us—a thread pulled taut, a hum of energy. She’s warm and solid in my arms, looking up at the real me, the truth no one but my family sees, and offering me more than I could dare to ask for.
I glance at her tempting lips again before I force myself to pull away, missing her as soon as cool air fills the place where she was. Why did I promise her no flirting? Silly, stupid rule. Having her under the same roof is going to test me in more ways than I realized.
“We’d better get you moved in the morning then,” I say with a grateful smile.
Her answering sparkle is full of warmth and hope, and the promise of what’s next. I’m still glowing when I lay Eevi down in her bed after returning to the cottage. As I finally crawl under my own covers, I find I’m more excited for tomorrow than I have been in ages.
Chapter 16
Talvie
Snow drifts across the pink sky in fluffy flakes. The sun’s still up for a change—cleaning shifts end much earlier than my kitchen duties. Judging by the other cleaner, who finished ages ago, it took me much longer than it should have to clean the dozen rooms assigned to me, but I got it done. Now my body hurts all over, muscles I didn’t know I possessed making themselves known in bursts of pain as I walk. I can’t wait to go back to the steady pace of the dish station and its predictable messes. Leftover food may be disgusting, but at least I know what most of it is and where it came from.
I shudder and draw my scarf tight around my chin as I hurry across the courtyard toward the cottages.
“Lumi, please tell me I never left such horrible messes for the palace maids.”
Lumi would rather not lie.
Okay,ouch,but how many times did I cast aside clothes or abandon dishes without a thought to the people who would have to clean up after me?
