Page 53 of Why Broken Wings Fray

“Imagine that.”

“Imagine that,” he said through a grin. “Enough about pixies, I suppose. What can I get ya’ fine folks?”

“When I was a girl, you used to sell this… Wait, that’s it!” I pointed to the case near his elbow. Within, the strangest combination of cinnamon bun and danish I had ever seen. The outside had that powerful drenching of white-icing and drool-inducing cinnamon paste, whereas the inside was filled with a pastry more akin to a danish, with the custard and fruit pieces to match.

“The cinnamon danish, hey?” the shop-owner, who as he leant to retrieve one revealed his name-tag to be Tony, said. I nodded several times, saliva already forming around my tongue as the thought of biting into it.

“What about for the lad?”

I glanced over my shoulder at Killian, who was crouched down in one of the aisles, his hands moving over something he had found interesting.

“What do you have with a disgusting amount of maple in it?”

Tony’s brow flicked up as he regarded the two of us for a second time. “I’ve got Maple Sugar Candies and a Maple Cinnamon Bun?”

“Sure,” I shot out, my stomach rumbling. “Both.”

He nodded, a grin on his face. “I’ve got a cake in the back, it’s from last night and I have been looking to pass it off all day. You two want it?”

I grimaced at the thought of taking a cake back to the pixies. Killian, Shea, Aisling, and Raegan all full of sugar?

But I nodded, anyway.

“Here.” With a groan, I tried my best to twist and reach deep into my bra for the few bills I knew I had stashed away in there when Rory sent me away.

“None of that,” he snorted as he started to pack things up. “Consider it a treat. For indulging me and my fascinations.”

If only you knew.

“Well then, take these.” As he passed me a bag filled with enough sugary-things to take down Saoghal, I placed the three sunflowers down on the table. Tony’s face lit up with a sort of peaceful admiration.

“Sunflowers. My wife’s favourite.”

“It seems our meeting was not by chance, then,” I said, offering him a parting smile before I turned on my heel and strode back towards Killian. It was a lollipop that he was mulling over beneath his fingers.

“Have a good day, Tony!” I shouted to the shop-owner.

“If you find them pixies, put in a good word for me!” he shouted back.

25

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Sweet-things in hand, Killian and I departed from the bakery and started the long journey up the hill of Marazion, strolling along side-by-side on stretches of stone. The buildings on either side of us were narrow and tall, the two rows confining us into a tunnel of man-made stone, suffocating me from the inside out as I yearned for the open meadows. I could see just a squint of blue sky directly above us, but like most of England it was turning grey as clouds collected and I had never wished for Saoghal’s somehow always-blue skies more than I did then.

Our meander had been quiet and peaceful, Killian still grabbing on to my hand as if he needed it to ground him, until he suddenly went rigid and stopped our walk.

“What is it?”

He motioned for me to stay quiet, then slipped the two of us down a stench-filled back-alley that was home only to a variety of people’s garbage. Once our backs were placed firmly to the stone, he peered his head around the corner and shot back into the alley.

“What is it?” I repeated, my tone softer and quieter.

“Pop your head out, look left.”

I did as he said, crawling along the brick wall until I was at the corner. Convinced that I was going to die the moment I popped my head out, I took a deep breath and braved the sharp turn of the rocks.

There, walking down the road on the opposite side that we had been, were two men. Both tall, both broad, both simply glimmering with charm. They each had their hair slicked back into neat waves atop their heads, their eyes shimmering beneath thick, heavy brows. One of them let out a particularly loud laugh that shook the streets around us, before he returned his focus to smoothing out the suit he wore and adjusting the white colour against his smooth skin. Looking at them, I wanted to do nothing more than stare a little longer, assess them a little further.