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I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to decide what to say when Edrich pointed to a large red and white spotted mushroom. Fairies dipped their heads out of the small windows carved into the stalk, passing out small plates of food to paying customers.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Do you even have to ask?”
His answering smile made my heart thunder in my chest.
Frolicking Centaurs… get it together, Lina.
When we had a sampling of several specialties, and a large canister of fairy Sangria, we walked over to a small stream that wound around the Great Tree.
We chose a spot by the water, tasting a bit of everything, making conversation in bits and spurts as if we were amenable strangers.
While the food was spectacular, the Sangria stole the show. We made it a game to see who could eat the most fruit from the wine the fastest and found ourselves laughing like children as we fought over the final piece.
I managed to grab the last bit of strawberry when Edrich wrenched it from my grasp and popped it into his mouth with wild abandon.
“Hey!” I laughed, and pushed his arm. “That’s cheating!”
“And I’m not even a little bit sorry.” He threw his head back in laughter.
I hadn’t seen him this carefree in years. Was it the missing weight of his obligation to me that made it so much easier for him to breathe, or was there another reason he seemed almost… at home here?
As beautiful as Ellaria was, it was hard to focus on it when all I could watch was Edrich taking it all in.
His eyes roved over the great tree, his neck bending and straining to look all the way up to the canopy. He watched families picnicking near the stream in front of us and the laughing children playing with a tree frog near the water.
Being my size gave me new things to notice about him. The subtleties in his expression, or the small quirk of his lips when he was amused.
I could watch him this way forever.And yet, he’s leaving me tomorrow…
Edrich turned from watching a bumblebee dusting itself in pollen to find me staring. I thought he would call me out on it like he always did, but instead, his expression was thoughtful.
When his eyes caught mine, I couldn’t look away. I didn’t want to.
In the silent seconds that passed, there was more honesty between us than had ever been there before, and I didn’t want it to ever end.
46
Edrich
It was hard to believe I was leaving this place, leaving Lina for good, in just a day. Not that I had any reason to believe she wanted me to stay, even if tonight had been the most fun I had allowed myself in years.
The moon was high in the sky and I was just changing into my borrowed nightclothes when I heard a tentative knock on the door. I finished pulling the tunic over my head, but didn’t bother lacing it before I pulled open the door.
Lina was standing there, a bottle of wine and two glasses in her hand. Her teal eyes roved down to my open laces and back up to my eyes, her lips parting.
“I thought—,” her voice came out raspy. She swallowed, trying again. “Since tomorrow is the ball, it’s your last real night here. I thought we could enjoy a pilfered bottle of wine, for old time’s sake.”
Her lips tugged up at the sides, but there was apprehension in her eyes. I stepped back, inviting her in.
“You didn’t steal that bottle.” I chuckled.
“Well, no,” she admitted. “But that sounded better.”
We sank down into the two armchairs by the window and I opened the bottle, pouring us each a glass.
“We used to just drink directly from the bottle,” I reminded her.
