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“That you are,” I said, a broad, mischievous smile spreading across my face. “I can give you wings, if you’d like.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Maybe in a thousand years, when I get bored of these feet,” she said with a nervous laugh.
I tucked my nose at the crook of her neck and kissed the skin there. “Whatever you want, mi amor.”
She exhaled, and I wished we didn’t have to dine just now.
“I guess the legends had it wrong,” she said. “It wasn’t a red macaw that wed the sun, but a plain little dove, the one he’d meant to sacrifice.”
My face snapped up to stare into her eyes. “I suppose altars have a way of showing us what we love most.”
She laughed as I crouched down and lifted her off the ground.
43
Talia
The first warm glow of dawn lit the horizon as Rafael, Hector, and I rode toward Starfell. From atop Phantom, the world looked less foreign, despite the enormous tree houses and twinkling, magical lights that bobbed along the road.
As the house came into view, I smiled at the incredible sight, and a wave of emotion swept over me. This was home. I’d not realized what that meant until this moment.
I glanced at Rafael as the sun broke over the horizon. His eyes were pressed shut and his mouth in a tight line, as if struggling against three centuries of anticipation.
Hector’s horse jittered underneath him, revealing Hector’s eagerness to move ahead, to begin the enormous task of handling all the cursed creatures still locked up in the second barn. Rafael had brought back with him, thanks to a gift from Everence, a spell strong enough to break their curses, but they would need someone to help them reacquaint to their renewed fae bodies and fill them in on the changes in the world that had taken place. Those whose minds had embraced madness would never fully be healed. They would likely need care for the rest of their long lives.
Rafeal’s eyes were red when he looked at me. He laughed through his tears and wiped them away with his riding glove. “You gave this to me,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “This will be the first day I spend as a man in my own house.”
My smile faltered. I’d only been a bear for a few minutes—though I’d never forget it as long as I lived. Enduring that mental and physical agony for hundreds of years would have turned my mind to mush. I had no idea how he’d held on to his humanity, but now I had a thousand years to uncover all his secrets. He’d told me my mortality would mix with his immortality. Fae vows really did make two people one.
Rafael cleared his throat and blinked a few times. His eyes sparkled with mischief, and my pulse thundered. He leaned forward. “See that knoll over there? There’s a cave there, and it’ll be entirely empty right now. Race you?”
I flashed a broad smile and, calling on the magic in my veins, whispered to my horse to win.
