The Changeling (Book One of The Síofra Chronicles) (10 page)

He moved his hand and cupped my face, leaning down and brushing his lips softly over mine.  I stiffened for a moment, surprised at the contact, but didn’t stop him.  His hand slid around and grasped the back of my head, pulling me closer, and I closed my eyes, his kisses growing more heated and searching.  It was pleasant, and I relaxed against him, wrapping my arms around his neck and willing myself to return his kiss.  He groaned and pressed me against the door, his hands tangling in my hair as his mouth moved hungrily over mine.  I felt a cold shiver run up my spine and I turned my face away, breaking the kiss. 

He pressed his forehead to mine, his breath heavy and his eyes closed.  When he opened them, they were dilated until there was nothing left but the gold.  They mesmerized me, hypnotizing me again, and I forced my own eyes shut.

"I'm sorry," I
said.  "You caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting you to kiss me."

"You're a beautiful girl, Cassie. You should expect people to want to kiss you.  Especially me.  I couldn't resist trying, but I don't want to rush you."

I looked back up at him, surprised to find that his eyes had shifted again, the sapphire blue of his eyes dominant again as his breathing became normal and even.

"You're worth the wait," he smiled, lightly kissing my nose.  "Go get some sleep and I'll call you in the morning." 

I opened the door and offered him a grateful smile before closing the door and leaning back against it, burying my face in my hands.

His kiss had been pleasant enough and I’d enjoyed the feel of his arms around me, but it hadn’t been his face I’d seen behind my closed lids when I’d returned his kisses.

It’d been Aleksander's.

Chapter Twelve

I was in danger of falling for Aleksander.  The shock of recognition consumed me as I wandered to my room, stripped off my costume, and sat on my bed.  Just a day before, I would have thought that it was a good thing and would have been excited to get to Otherworld to see him. But now everything was different.  Now my stupid heart was throwing more complications into an already complicated decision and all I wanted to do was cry.  Instead, I curled up in bed and struggled to keep my eyes open on the reruns playing on my television. 

It didn't work for very long, and when I found myself on the beach with Aleksander waiting for me, I almost cried.  He was sympathetic, misunderstanding my sorrow, giving me my space and suggesting we walk along the water for a while.  He was quiet, letting me process my thoughts and my emotions, and for that I was grateful.

"Cassie?" he called softly as we reached the far edge of the beach.

I jerked my eyes up from the water and looked at Aleksander.  His eyes were curious and kind. I knew he could see that I had been distracted all evening, enjoying the steady pull of the water, its constant motion soothing to my chaotic and frayed emotions.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I know I threw a lot at you the other day. I shouldn't have waited so long to tell you about it, and I definitely shouldn't have done it while you were still so sick.  I'm afraid I didn't do a good job breaking it to you gently."

"I’ll be fine," I replied quietly.  "It would have been hard to hear no matter how you broke it to me, Aleksander. I can't imagine a life without my family, but I can't imagine leaving all this behind either.  It's going to be a rough decision-making process."

I swung my gaze back to the water.  That was only part of it, but I wasn't about to tell him it wasn't the looming choice that was keeping my head spun up, but his proximity and my own inability to figure out what I should do about the feelings I was slowly becoming aware of.  

He regarded me intently, his face unreadable.  I flushed a deep red and hoped he couldn't read the emotions on my face.  My mother had always said that I was an open book for anyone to see everything I was feeling at any given time and that I would be a lousy poker player. 

"I have just the thing to take your mind off of things for a while," he said finally, reaching over, grasping my hand, and winding his fingers around mine. Then the corners of his mouth turned up into a grin.  "You've been coming here for weeks and I haven't introduced you to any other Fae. I've been selfish, keeping you to myself.  I think it’s time I took you to Court."

I blinked at him. "Court? Like, with a judge? Did I do something wrong?"

"No," he chuckled, his eyes dancing with merriment. "Not that kind of Court.  The Seelie Court is more than a system of government, Cassie.  It’s how we define ourselves as a society.  I think it’s time I introduced you to others of your own kind. What do you say? Are you up for it?"

"Absolutely," I smiled. Any kind of distraction would be welcome right now.  I hadn't been looking forward to a long night of awkward silences and trying to sort out my emotions.  A trip to
Court would be a fantastic distraction and I could stick my emotional head back in the sand for another few hours.   "That sounds like fun."

"It will be," he promised, squeezing my hand firmly, and we set off through the woods away from the beach.  It was a path we had never taken before, through the edge of the woods, heading away from the path we usually took to get to the Pool. 

The trail was smooth and well maintained.  It widened as we traveled, eventually meeting a cobbled road.  I was surprised to find something as mundane as a road in a place I'd come to associate with wild fantasy.  None of the places Aleksander had taken me had shown any amount of modern civilization—or society for that matter either.  This was the first indicator that others lived here too.

I could feel my curiosity building as I considered the mystery this presented.  Things I probably should be considering when weighing my options.  I couldn't very well choose a
life as a Fae if I had no idea what that life would be like.  I wasn't the adventurous type. I liked to know what the temperature of the water was before I jumped in.

"What do you mean it's how we define ourselves?" I asked as we walked.

"We are Seelie Fae," he smiled.  "There are two Courts here.  The Seelie, which is us, and the Unseelie."

"The Un-Seelie?  Is that like the Anti Seelie?" I snorted at my awful joke. 

"Actually, yes.” His grin dazed me for a moment. "The Seelie Court is another way to say the Summer Court.  The Unseelie is the Winter Court.  Do you see those snowy mountains?  That is where the Unseelie live."

I looked in the direction he’d gestured and found myself staring at a beautiful snow-dusted mountain range clearly visible in the distance.

"So that's it?"  I was intrigued by the idea of separate Fae nations.

"Not quite," he explained.  "There are qualities that we possess like empathy, kindness, morality. 
Things that the Unseelie do not.  Like opposite sides of the same coin. Niall is an Unseelie Fae, if that tells you anything about the kind of people they are."

I suppressed a tremor of anger when I thought of Niall. If he was an example of what their
Court was like, I wanted nothing to do with them.

"You said my empathy was what suited me to be a Fae, why I was so good with the dreams.  How do they work with dreams if they don't have compassion for the dreamers?" 

"They don't," he said, his voice cold. It startled me, and I swung my gaze up to meet his with surprise.  "The Seelie have charge of the Dreaming.  The Unseelie are forbidden to have anything to do with it or with mortals. Their Queen forbids it, and our Queen as well.  Nobody wants someone guarding mortals when they couldn't care less whether the mortal dies from fright or not."

"There are queens?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from the darker turn it was taking.   "Like actual ruling royalty?"

"Of course," Aleksander smiled, the darkness disappearing from his face.  "Like I said, it’s also our government.  Mab rules of the Unseelie.  She has a distaste for mortals and for Síofra who have not immediately declared their choice. I would warn you to avoid her, but you will not meet her until after you have made your choice. Queen Titania and King Oberon are the rulers of the Summer Court and they keep our Síofra safe."

"You mean like in A Midsummer Night's Dream?  I thought that was a play."  I racked my memory, trying desperately to recall the play I'd been forced to read in high school. 

"Rumor has it William Shakespeare was a Síofra as well," he grinned at me as we rounded a bend in the road. "He chose to remain a mortal and wrote a play with the ghosts of memories he kept."

I turned to fire another question at him but felt it die in my throat.  The tree line broke away and before me there was a town. There was a town! Not just any town, but the prettiest town I'd ever seen.  Each of the beautiful little buildings were cream-colored, tidy little structures with wide-paned windows, arched doors, and cheerful gardens full of beautiful flowers that were too large to be real. 

We walked through an arched gate, and followed the road through the town.  I gawked at the Fae who moved through the town, most smiling and waving cheerfully if they felt my gaze rest upon them.  I waved back hesitantly, overwhelmed at the friendliness.  Most of the Fae looked like mortal college students, young and lithe with smiling faces and dancing eyes.  I caught sight of one or two Fae who looked different to me, as if their features were larger than normal.  Wide eyes and wider smiles, their faces were all angles and planes, and I felt a tremor of fear rip through me.  They would have looked exactly like Niall, except where he had looked cold and disinterested, these Fae looked cheerful and warm.  The effect was stunning, but it still left me feeling uneasy.

"Aleksander?" I whispered fervently.  "How come the man over there looks different than everyone else? Is he Fae too or something else?"

He followed my line of sight and grinned.  "Oh Jackson?  Yes, he is a Fae too. He looks different because he was never a Síofra.  Síofra's souls are a reflection of their mortal bodies in appearance.  That is why you still look like you and I still look like mortals.  Fae who are born into Otherworld without becoming a Síofra are a reflection of pure Fae.  You see it more often in the Unseelie Court than you do here. Jackson was my Caomhnóir when I was a Síofra as a matter of fact."

I nodded, feeling heat climb my neck when Jackson felt my gaze and smiled widely as he waved at me. So this was the voice I had heard while I was sick. He looked as young as Aleksander and me, with dark, curly hair and unlined skin, but his eyes reflected a maturity and gentleness that put me at ease.  I shyly returned his wave and hurried after Aleksander, embarrassed to have been caught staring.

Aleksander led me through the streets to a beautiful garden in the center of the town.  Large trees grew around the edges of the garden, giving shade to its lush green grass and flower beds full of a riotous tumult of every color I could imagine and a few I hadn't ever seen before.  The smell of honeysuckle hung heavy in the air, and I felt a calmness creep over my soul as I inhaled its heady fragrance. 

"These are the village gardens," Aleksander said as he steered me toward a young couple sitting on a bench near the flowers.  "It’s a common meeting area.  I thought perhaps you would like to meet others like ourselves."

The Fae stood as we approached, and I slipped my hand into Aleksander's, gripping his palm nervously.  He squeezed back and it reassured me.

"This is Erik. He is a Caomhnóir like me." 

My gaze traveled up until they finally rested on the face of the tallest person I'd ever seen in my life.  He had to have been well over six feet and probably closer to seven.  Aleksander released my hand and Erik reached forward and grasped it, shaking it firmly, his meaty hand practically swallowing mine. I might have been intimidated if it weren't for the kindness in his eyes and the big grin on his face.

"Erik, this is Cassie Marshall, my charge." 

I swung my gaze to Aleksander, a frown creasing my face.  His charge?  I didn't like that term. It made it sound like he was my babysitter.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Erik replied, oblivious to my inner drama, his voice deep and rich.  "And this is Caroline Walters. She's a Síofra like you." 

"Hi!" Caroline had a kind face, her smile wide and her eyes bright and untroubled. She bounced around his side and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly while I blinked in surprise.

I felt the sudden urge to return her hug, but she released me first, and I stood with my arms awkwardly stuck in the air. She pushed her long dark hair over her shoulder and grabbed my hand, pulling me over to a shady spot beneath the tree. 

"Come sit with me.  I haven't met any other Síofra yet, so I am probably going to pester you until you get tired of me and try to send me away. I say try because it isn't going to faze me any, but I'll pretend to go along with it for about ten minutes or so if it makes you feel any better."

I snorted.  She was up front and I liked that. I sat in the grass next to her and stretched my legs out in front of me, watching Erik and Aleksander conversing several feet away.

"So where are you from?  Have you been here long? Nutella or Peanut Butter?" 

"One question at a time," I laughed happily.  "I'm from California, I've only been coming here for a few weeks, and I have no idea what Nutella is so I'm going to have to go with peanut butter."

"Blasphemy!" she exclaimed, a look of fake despair sweeping her face as she clutched her chest dramatically.  "Nutella is only the nectar of the gods!  Chocolate and hazelnut mixed together into tiny little jars of epic. You have to promise that you'll go buy a jar in the morning and then come tell me how right I was tomorrow night."

"I suppose I could give it a whirl.  But if I don't like it, I'm blaming you.  That is assuming of course if I can even find it."

"Oh you'll like it," she reassured me, plucking a blade of grass from the ground and sandwiching it between her palms, attempting to whistle from it.   "And if I can find it in Kansas, you can find it in California.  It's going to be the only thing I’ll miss about the mortal world."

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. She had my full attention now.

"So you've already decided?"

"Oh yeah!" she nodded.  "It wasn't exactly a hard choice to make.  I work a cruddy job flipping burgers at a fast food place and I live with my mom.  We don't exactly have an ideal mother-daughter relationship if you know what I mean.  So when Erik there told me I had to choose between staying here forever with him or hiding all my wire hangers from Mommie Dearest in the real world, I jumped at the chance. I'm guessing it's not wrapped up in a pretty box with a bow on it for you, is it?"

I chewed my lip as I thought about it.  I was sad that her choice was so easy to make. I loved my mom and dad.  Going away to college had been pretty rough on all of us as it was and at least then they knew they would get to see me on long weekends and holidays. 

"No, not really," I admitted sadly, my mind wandering to my family.  No matter what Aleksander said, I knew my memories of them would never fade.  "I have a lot I'd be leaving behind."