“The realm responds to the threat.” Astaroth ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “I assure you, this was the safest choice while you recovered.”
“I believe you.” Strange thing was, I did. There didn’t feel to be any strings attached or manipulated meanings behind his generosity. His actions were almost… human.
“I would never lie to you, Calista.”
I thought about that as I drank the last of the water and my previous response to that same declaration. If Astaroth wouldn’t hold my human qualities against me, should I hold his fae qualities against him? The rational side of my brain told me “No” and to accept his way of life the way he accepted mine. The emotional part of my brain screamed “Fuck that! He’s not even human, so his way of life doesn’t count.” I chewed at my lower chapped lip, biting off a bit of dead skin as my thoughts warred with one another and went to set the cup on the table next to me.The wooden music box I found at the market set there. I stroked the image on the lid, following the smooth carved lines of the tree.
“You said you nursed me back to health.”
“I did. It took you longer to recover than one of us. I feared you had succumbed to the toxin in the pollen.”
“Pollen?” Confused, I turned to him.
“The Bluebell is a dangerously beautiful flower—one of the deadliest things in the realm. There is nothing to counteract the toxin.”
“There was a pixie in that jar.”
He shook his head. “Impossible. It would have died. The sweet wheat can make you see things that aren’t really there if you eat enough and aren’t used to its effects.”
“I wasn’t hallucinating, Astaroth. Isawits face. It looked exactly like the one that flew out of the garden.” I hugged myself and felt for the missing pendant. “Then that rat bastard stole the necklace you gave me.” All the questions I had wanted to ask him popped into my mind. The skin on my hands remained the same. I glanced at his ungloved hands that gripped his knees as he sat crossed-legged and realized this was the first time I’d seen them uncovered. I wondered if my eyes would change first or if they would remain the same cornflower blue.
Astaroth nearly growled, “He did not get far.”
“You caught him?”
“Fortunate for him, he dropped it while evading capture.” He pointed to the box.
I placed it in my lap and opened the lid. Nestled inside was the wishing stone. The curious melody began to play, amplified by the stone walls, and singing to a part of me that recognized it.
“When will I become one of them?” I blurted. The fear refused to be silenced and tumbled from lips before I could stop it. “My brother started changing within hours.”
Astaroth’s lip twitched as he reached into the box and took out the necklace. He scooted closer, and I looked up at him as he draped it over my head. A flashback of the first time he did this played in my mind, making me ache to see Kaiden and assure him I was alive and would find a way back to him. The moment the pendant touched my chest, the stone thrummed in tune with the music box. I was conflicted about the peacefulness flowing through the thing that shackled me to this prison.
Astaroth gingerly touched the stone with his fingertip. Surprise flitted over him when it shocked us, but he didn’t drop his hand. The thrumming intensified until the stone vibrated like a tuning fork. The sensation was too much. I pushed his hand away.
Astaroth
“You didn’t answer the question.”
Nor did I want to. Doing so would push her farther away from me when all I wanted was to lie down and go back to sleep with her in my arms. My energy had depleted from sitting vigilant at her side for days, infusing her with my draining magic.
“I will answer it when the moment is right.” She scowled, little wrinkles forming between her brows. “I am exhausted and won’t last much longer.”
Calista looked down at the clean gown she wore, tugging the blanket up to cover her breasts, then to my dirty attire. “Did you undress me?”
“No.” I rose from the bed and went to my wardrobe. “That’s not how I wanted to see your nude form in my bed for the first time.”
She stiffened as I pulled the soiled shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor to soak up her vomit. I’d leave her to figure out the meaning of my words.
The muscles in her jaw ticked as she struggled not to look at my bare chest. “If I have my way, you never will.”
Calista gasped when I blipped in front of her and raised her chin with my finger. My hair fell around her face as I bent over her, shimmering in the soft candlelight. Her eyes dipped lower over my body and jerked back up to settle on my mouth. She refused to meet my gaze.
“You made your choice. We will not discuss it henceforth. When the time comes to fulfill your bargain, you will do so.”
She whimpered slightly and bared her teeth. “I was a child.”
“So was I,” I said, my patience wearing thin on the topic. She jerked back as if I slapped her. “We were both old enough to know what we were doing.”
