Pinkish hues formed on the elf’s cheeks. “You’ve seen the condition I’m in. How can I possibly let her see me like that? She’ll fall out of love with me as quickly as she fell in. As soon as I’m better, I’ll tell her. Then she can come and live with me.” He stared at the place where the faerie had stood. “I miss her already. Do you think she’ll come back?”
“I can guarantee it.” She was trying her best to manipulate him, but his ego was overriding hers.
“Sometimes I feel confused, though,” he said. “I want to be with her, yet part of me wants to run away and can’t. I feel like a tree, rooted to the earth.”
“Because deep down, part of you senses that she’s dangerous.”
Ronald laughed lightly. “Dangerous? My sweet Leanne? Impossible.”
I had to try to break their connection. “She’s not who you think she is, Ronald.”
“Then who is she?”
“She’s similar to a succubus.”
He made a dismissive face. “Leanne isn’t a succubus. She wants more than sex from me. She wants a whole life together. As soon as my health improves, she’ll have everything she wants.” He clasped my hand. “Can you help me get better, Maya?”
I looked into his desperate, shining eyes. “That depends, Ronald. Do you want to heal?”
“Yes,” he said, with slight hesitation. Poor guy was being tortured from the inside out. Narcissists had nothing on Leanne.
“Then I’ll do everything in my power to help.” Leanne had him ensnared, but there was still a chance we could cut him loose. The faerie had probably been doing this for centuries and she was very good at it. In fact, I was shocked a slight elf like Ronald had managed to last as long as he had. He should’ve been dead by now.
The wind picked up again, and I felt a tug toward the gate. My time here had almost reached its end.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said.
But first I had to find Leanne in the real world and break her hold on him.
“Maya,” he began. The tether snapped, and I was yanked back through the forest, past the gate, to his bedroom.
I looked up to see Dr. Adam watching over me with a tense expression. His features relaxed when he realized my eyes were open.
“Any luck?” he asked, hopeful.
I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. “It’s the breakthrough we’ve been hoping for. She’s a bright, shining star named Leanne. I think she’s a leannán sídhe.”
“Fae?”
“Yes.” Which was why the ward around Ronald’s bedroom wasn’t helpful. I’d designed that to combat shadow magic, not fae. “And now I know for certain what she looks like.” BlessRonald. If he’d been more talented as an artist, maybe I would’ve known sooner.
“Yes, but now she also knows what you look like.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Sounds like you’re on top of things, as usual.”
If I were more on top of things, I wouldn’t have a dead Darlene and a fading Ronald. Maybe I shouldn’t have scared away Justine’s applicants.
I grabbed the edge of the dresser to hoist myself up. As I rose to my feet, my gaze snagged on one of Ronald’s photographs. This one was another of young Ron at the beach, surrounded by a group of friends. An odd detail stood out to me, nestled between Ron and his closest companion. Frowning, I gave the other photos a second look. There was only one constant in the photographs aside from Ron.
His cane.
Why would young, fit, healthy Ron need a cane? For that matter, why would Ronald need one now? Dr. Adam mentioned that the elf was fit and healthy and spiking volleyballs two weeks ago. The cane didn’t make sense.
I picked up the beach photo and carried it to his bedside. “Ronald, can you hear me?”
Although his lips moved, no sound came out.
