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EMBER
Stomach beyond full, I lean back in my seat and watch the party rage around me. These pixies, they just don’t stop.
Falcon sits on the other side of Rina, lovingly gazing up at her every few minutes. They worship this woman—that much is clear. But why? How did she give them this place? What role did she play?
Rafferty remains silent beside me, having only spoken a handful of times when asked a direct question. He’s clearly uncomfortable, and I imagine it has more to do with the magic around us than the pixies.
Magic that can alter the energy in you? Definitely something to be concerned about, even if the effects are positive. It’s the same reason I steered clear of pain meds. Having them would have been easier, but using them would mean altering my brain for as long as they were active, and I never cared to have something else controlling me.
Silly? Probably, but that’s how I felt. How I still feel.
“Ember,” Rina says, turning toward me. “Do you wish to ask me anything?”
“Falcon says you gave them this place.”
“I did,” she replies as she sets her cloth napkin on top of her empty plate. “The pixies were hunted by the fae—a sadistic sport that led to the near-extinction of their kind.”
I whirl on Rafferty.
He nods, and I gape at him. “You guys hunted them?”
“I never partook,” he replies. “Though I do know it was done.”
“That’s horrible.” Shifting my gaze back to Rina, I try to imagine a world where that would be okay. Humans hunt animals, and maybe, to the fae, it’s the same thing, but it seems so barbaric.
“It was horrible,” Rina agrees. “And when I witnessed Falcon here stepping in front of an arrow aimed for another of his kind, I knew I had to help.” She gently caresses his head, and he pushes up against her hand as a cat might. “Falcon was trying to find a safe place for his kind, somewhere they could live freely, so I crafted this world within a world for them. Here, they cannot be harmed. Here, they are allowed to live as they wish.”
“That’s amazing.” My respect for this woman grows infinitely.
“The magic permeating the air, the same magic that prevents fae from locating this place—even if they’ve been here before—” she adds, a pointed look at Rafferty. “Is what is making you feel stronger, what is making your companion here feel less burdened by the darkness waging war inside of him.”
Rafferty stiffens. “How did you know?”
Rina smiles. “You’ll find there is very little I do not know should I put my mind to it.”
“Do you know about Taranus?”
She arches a grey eyebrow. “You mean do I know of the bond between the two of you? Yes. I have heard whispers.”
“Can it be broken?” I hate myself for asking, for potentially plaguing this otherwise lovely evening with a truth I refuse to face, but I have to know.
She smiles softly at me, her expression somber. “No. As long as you both breathe, you will be bound to one another. Fae magic is not something that can be undone in life,” she tells me.
My heart falls.
Straight plummets, and I turn back to face the front, not wanting to look at Rafferty.Fae magic is not something that can be undone in life.Which means, in order to be free of Taranus, I have to die.
But in that death, I lose Rafferty.
Tears well up in my eyes, but I swallow hard, trying to shove them back down.
Warm fingers entwine with mine beneath the table, and I glance over at Rafferty. He’s staring straight ahead, watching two pixies in what appears to be a random dance battle. All joy I felt earlier is gone, all warmth at my strength vanished.
“My advice to you, should you care to hear it,” Rina starts, so I turn back to her. “Live tonight,” she says. “Live and know happiness, for I fear your life is going to get quite dark before it gets better.” Then, she pushes back. “I am going to get some rest. Thank you for a lovely welcome.”
The pixies all cheer and wave as Rina turns and makes her way across the clearing. She disappears from view when she rounds a corner, so I turn back to Rafferty.
“I think I’d like to get some sleep since I stand the chance of being able to actually rest.”
