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He brought me closer to him and dipped his head to speak close to me, warm breath tickling my ear. “The veil is more than you can see. The magic of Fairy, you do not yet understand.” His hands slid from my arms around my back and I tipped my face up for his kiss.
But his lips had not yet descended to mine when a voice cut through our moment.
“Are the two of you here for the gathering?” I didn’t need to turn to know who spoke, but I did anyway, out of courtesy.
“Hello, Ciara,” I breathed, caught between the spell Bain had cast and the one that always surrounded the librarian. If I’d had to describe a nymph, before I ever met any type of fairy in person, it would be Ciara. She only came up to my chest, and I am not terribly tall. Her hair, the color of old mahogany that has nearly lost its reddish tone with age but glows from within. Today, she wore it pulled back in a single ponytail that fell to her thighs. I’d never seen hair as long as on some of the instructors in this place, and a few of the girls. And somehow, I’d always thought if anyone did let it grow like that it would be in bad shape, but no… I wanted to reach out and pet that ponytail just to feel the silk slide through my fingers.
“What gathering?” Bain’s voice broke the spell entirely and I blinked, trying to focus. “I was here for…”
I looked over my shoulder and could feel Ciara’s gaze heading in the same direction, as we both waited to find out what Bain was here for. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he popped up like this whenever anything was about to happen to me. Falling through the veil or, as he put it, falling flat on my face.
Finally, it became apparent he wasn’t going to continue, so I picked up the conversation. “Ciara, I was looking for something like,Fairies for Dummiesor maybeFairy 101? I didn’t know there was any kind of a get-together today.”
Ciara nodded. “I think I know what you need. It’s not so simple as that, but why don’t you take Mr. Conversation here to the other side of the library. There’s a small party on the patio out there with some cakes and lavender lemonade, tea… Just laid-back. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
“Thank you.” I reached for Bain’s hand. “I’ll check back with you later then, Ciara?”
“I’ll find you when I have the volumes you need. Have fun.” She turned away, and I led my often-rescuer in the direction she’d indicated. Lavender lemonade. That sounded very fairy to me. “Bain, why did you go silent like that? Are you crushing on Ciara?” I rushed on to say, “Not that anyone could blame you. She’s lovely, and her voice is like music.”
He came to a halt, and because we were holding hands, I had to stop, too. “Endy, do you think I’m crushing on someone else? Do you think I run around rescuing other people besides you?”
“No?” I breathed, the intensity of his tone holding me as surely as his arms had.
“No.” He bent close and brushed his lips over mine. “Just no.” And then he kissed me for real, deeply, parting my lips with his tongue to stroke softly inside.
We didn’t get to the gathering for a while. But I still got to taste the lavender lemonade.
It was delicious.
Chapter Four
“I don’t understand what this is, but it’s the prettiest...cookie I’ve ever seen.” I held up the shimmering tangerine-colored circle. It was puffy like a macaron, but there was something marshmallowy about the taste, with the tang of raspberry.
Hell, it was probably another fairy berry I’d never heard of. I would have to review the fairy foods section of those books Ciara got for me.
I hadn’t even managed to get through the first one. I had a notebook full of notes and it was striped neon, thanks to the highlighters my mom had snuck into my bag.
“It’s a cookie, not a spaceship. Someone put on the damned movie. This first week has been a shit show for me and I need some good, cheesy romance to wash it all away. I need this night.”
Another one of our suitemates, Trixie, flopped herself onto the couch and crossed her legs at the ankles rested on the coffee table. We all were decked out in our pajamas, not cute or cuddly ones but just whatever we put on. I had a pair of flannel pants on with cartoon vegetables of all things. This week had scrambled my brains in the best way possible. I had new classes and was spending every free minute studying my ass off in between. I even hunched over my lunch every day with a book in my left hand, teetering it, balancing it, so that I could read while I simultaneously ate.
The night before, I’d passed out at my desk and woke up this morning with the most vicious ache in my neck.
But it was worth it. Today in class, I actually knew the answer to a question. I didn’t raise my hand to answer, of course, plagued by self-doubt, but I knew it when called upon. The teacher confirmed I was right.
It gave me a new boost in confidence. I was learning. Maybe I could pull off this fairy shit after all.
If only my wings would come out.
I thought back to Titania. I had another tutoring session later this week but didn’t look forward to it at all, other than seeing Bain again. I tried in the bathroom once to get my wings out on my own. I looked more constipated than anything, so I hadn’t tried again since. My parents were adamant I had wings and, when I needed them most, they would appear, but I still had doubts. Maybe I was like one of those fireworks that you lit but never did spark.
Or perhaps I just had a longer wick than everyone else. It was hard to stay positive, but I was trying.
Junk and romance movies should do the trick to making me relax, at least for the night.
“Girl, it was a weird week for all of us. What are we watching anyway?”
Turned out it was a 90s movie where the hot guy took a bet to turn an artsy girl into the next prom queen. Of course, they ended up falling for each other.
