Page 65 of Fae Games

“Now, you can enter my home at any time,” he said.

“Thanks.” We continued down the darkened hallway in silence with me placing a hand on the cool, earth walls. The starlights illuminated the way, so I didn’t bump into anything or fall flat on my face.

“How did you learn magic?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” he said.

“Ummm…” My brows drew together. I thought the question was simple enough. “Did you join the academy as a student? Is that where you learned to make tunnels and fix dead trees and turn men’s parts into mushrooms?”

“My innate power is linked to the earth, and I developed that on my own.”

“Didn’t the faerie bringing you up teach you anything?” I asked.

“She was a winged dormouse,” he said. “Their lifespans are very short.”

My stomach dropped. Couldn’t the duke and duchess have given him to a faerie who could communicate? Dormice were practically animals. I wanted to hug Pokeweed, but that would probably make him feel awkward.

We continued down the passageway until daylight streamed out from arched doors. I quickened my steps, eager to see Pokeweed’s home, imagining a hut with huge windows and a great view of the lake.

“Thanks for hiding me,” I said.

“If the Duke of Medietas wasn’t so blinded by grief, he would realize you were his daughter’s friend, not her enemy.”

My shoulders slumped. “I used to feel bad for him, but he’s got some rigid ideas.”

“Indeed.” Pokeweed pushed open the door. “A parent should keep his or her child at their side, no matter what.”

“Right.” The depth in Pokeweed’s words faded to the back of my mind as I took in a circular room of uneven, whitewashed walls that were supported every few feet by thick branches that grew from a moss-covered floor. “Pokeweed, is this a house?”

“We’re standing at the roots of the largest apple tree in the orchard,” he said. “Would you like to enter my home?”

I stepped inside, and my gaze followed a staircase fashioned out of trees, which spiraled up several stories leading to a high, open-top verandah. Along the handrail ran a vine that produced cherry-sized berries in violet, magenta, and lilac.

“How long have you been building this place?” I asked, my voice breathy with awe.

Pokeweed smiled. “Since I arrived at the academy. May I take your cloak?”

I shouldered off the invisibility cloak and handed it to Pokeweed, still looking around at the treehouse. “It’s gorgeous.”

“What do humans say? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” His black eyes lingered over the gossamer dress, then they met mine in a stare so heated, my cheeks burned.

I snatched my gaze away and stared at the green carpet of moss.

“Forgive me,” he whispered.

My heart ached. If the princes hadn’t already wormed their way into my heart, I might have given things a try with Pokeweed. At least with him, it would be a quiet life.

I placed a hand on his muscled arm. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I keep coming here—”

“Nonsense.” He stepped back, ending our contact. “I value these times we have together.”

I swallowed hard through a throat that thickened with emotions. Guilt for relying so much on Pokeweed and giving him nothing back. Fury that someone had cursed him with an exterior the complete opposite of his inner beauty. “Things will be different when I get the wishbone.”

With an absent nod, he wandered to the space beneath the stairs to a stove that looked molded out of clay. “Would you like a cup of dandelion coffee?”

Warmth spread through my insides. It was what I used to drink with Sicily. “Yes, please.”

“What kind of milk? Colanut or chestnut?”