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“Let’s move our girls’ night to the forest,” Harper suggested. “I found a nice spot with some fruit trees by a stream when I was walking around with Dissiri earlier.”
Everyone agreed—though Ivy made a joke about the chaos that would reign if any of our men came looking for us and couldn’t find us because we weren’t where we’d said we would be.
But twenty minutes later, we were sitting on the edge of a river with our feet hanging down into the cool, crystal clear water as it flowed lazily away from the city. There was a bit of a ledge between the surface of the river and the bank, so it was the perfect place to sit. Piles of fruit surrounded us, and while the wind fae plants weren’t my favorite, I was perfectly content to eat them.
“Have you guys had the fae version of pasta yet?” I asked them, out of the blue. It was strange for me to start a conversation, but the thought had struck me, and I wanted to try to mend things. To repair the damage I’d done by being bitchy for so long, and show them that I appreciated the friendship they’d extended, despite my shitty attitude.
“What? The fae have pasta?” Ivy demanded.
“Yup.” I nodded. “Quake and I ate an assload of it while he was training me, in his cave. It’s even better than the human stuff.”
“You can’t tell me that while I’m eating fruit,” Ivy groaned at me.
“I think I’d kill to have pasta again,” Ayla admitted. “With chicken, and Alfredo sauce… yum.”
“I was never the biggest pasta fan. But pizza? Whew. I’d consider trading my magic for a big ole’ pepperoni pizza,” Harper said with a sigh.
“Are the fae vegetarian?” Ayla wondered. “I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten meat since I got out of the Aboa. And down there, I mostly ate that weird seaweed plant.”
I wrinkled my nose at the idea of living on seaweed.
Ivy shook her head. “They’re not really vegetarian, they just don’t believe in killing animals while there are enough plants to feed everyone just fine. When they run low on crops, they eat meat. But it rarely happens; they have an assload of plants. The fruit we’ve been eating is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been making Tariq teach me about their plants, but it’s kind of overwhelming.”
I nodded, agreeing with her completely. “There aresomany kinds. And everything lasts a lot longer after it’s been picked than it did on Earth. Quake literally had a few herb plantsgrowingin his fridge. I don’t even know how long they’ve been there.”
“At least a decade,” Ivy said. “Maybe longer. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an exact amount of time given for how long they were insane.”
“I don’t think anyone really knows for sure, because no one knows exactly how things went down when the kings killed the guy whose magic made them insane,” Harper said.
“The whole thing sounds like a mess,” Ayla admitted.
We all made noises of agreement.
“So has anything gotten steamy between you and Flood?” Ivy asked Ayla.
She laughed. “No. Neither of us want that. We don’t even share a room or anything.”
I saw Ivy and Harper exchange grins.
They didn’t think the lack of desire was true at all, if I had to guess. And I had to agree with them, given the way everything had gone between me and Odin.
“What about you and Quake?” Ivy asked me, and they all looked at me.
My face heated. “Things definitely got steamy. He knows a story about a female fae who was deaf, who got her hearing back when she and her mate did the deed to solidify the bond. He was so damn hopeful about regaining his sight, and it’s not like I’m afraid of sex. So… we sealed it. No luck, though. He tells me that there’s a way for the lunar fae to connect a couple’s mind and magic, and that he could probably see through my eyes if we did that, but he’s not even willing to consider it.”
“Is it dangerous?” Harper asked.
“Apparently. Some things are worth a risk, though, you know?”
All three of the girls nodded.
“He wasn’t making jokes when you guys got back,” Ayla said. “That seemed out of character.”
“Yeah. There was this whole thing with his family. And it was good, until it wasn’t.” I gave them a quick rundown of how they’d told him that he wasn’t welcome in his own land anymore, and everyone’s eyes widened.
“Damn,” Ivy whistled.
“Yeah. I think he might’ve decided he’s like… done with me or something, now that he’s not the king anymore.” The words came out before I could stop them, and I pressed my lips together tightly as I stared out at the lake, kicking my feet a little. My fire was practically boiling beneath my skin, trying desperately to force its way out, but I held it back.
