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“Have you thought of selling your art?” I asked.
“Who’d buy it?”
“I would.” I’d have to save for months to afford something like this, but it was as magical as Tylik. “You’re more than just an herbal apothecary.”
He grinned. “Don’t forget. I’m an almost-duke.”
“Who doesn’t want the title?”
“Would you?”
“Nope. I’m a simple person, and I’m happy that way.”
“Imagine growing up with royalty all around you, along with backbiting and many who’d do anything—even commit murder—to gain a favor.”
“Money’s not everything.”
“Neither is power.”
I studied the painting again, picking out more details, before he took my hand and urged me across the living room.
“Let me show you the rest of the place,” he said. Inside his own home, he seemed relaxed, as if he’d shed the constraints placed on him in the fae realm.
He took me upstairs, watching as I strolled around his loft, shifting the cozy rocker by the rail where he must sit and read a book or look out the front windows.
I stopped at the easel with a rough drawing of a woman who looked vaguely familiar. My breath caught. “That’s me.”
He shot me a nervous smile. “I hope you don’t mind that I plan to paint you. I started this last night.”
“What am I doing here?” I pointed to the area beneath me on the canvas. “I’m lounging on something.”
“I thought I’d set you in the fae realm. I realize few humans are allowed to travel there, but I could picture how much you’d enjoy it.”
“I can’t imagine going to a place like that,” I said. “Can you feel magic everywhere?”
“It floats across your skin. You breathe it in and release it until you don’t know where you stop and it begins.”
“How could you give that up to live here?”
“I like it here. The fae and elves are . . . flighty? I’m not sure how else to name it. And too often manipulative.”
“So are many humans.”
“Here, however, I feel like I can see it before it smacks me in the head. Humans feel more alive, perhaps because their lifespans are shorter than ours. In comparison, we feel dull. I’m not sure how to explain it.”
“How long will you live?” This was something I hadn’t considered.
“No longer than a human. Without magic, we age like everyone else in your realm.”
Interesting. “And you’d give up living almost forever to be here?”
He shot me a soft smile. “I already have.”
We went downstairs, and he took me to a room on the right after the living room.
“My place is small,” he said. “Only one bedroom, but I like it that way. If I want to expand, I could add another room on the back or finish the loft.”
“And lose your contemplation space? Nah,” I said with a laugh.
