The Winged Fae (The World of Fae) (12 page)

It was Ritasia’s turn to stare at Alicia in disbelief. Then she reigned in her skepticism, realizing that Alicia hadn’t lived with the fae all that long. “Sorry. I thought your Morcalon scholars would have taught you all about the different fae kingdoms by now.”

“Are you tired yet?” Alicia asked. “Do you want to get something to eat?”

Ritasia hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon, and it was nearly time for the evening meal. “I’m starving.”

“Good.” Alicia motioned for a servant to take the bow and arrows, then grabbed Ritasia’s hand and stalked toward the garden path that led to the keep.

Courtiers followed them at a respectable distance, and Alicia kept her voice low. “I have learned about the major kingdoms, the rulers, the important history, and some of the languages. I feel that I’m so stuffed full of fae knowledge I will burst if they feed me anymore. I can’t keep everything and everyone straight. So what is the winged fae’s story?”

“Princess Serena is daughter of the queen of the Mabara. The only daughter of Queen Verbenia. And Serena is betrothed to Micala.”

“I knew the part about her betrothal. I just didn’t know the Mabara were winged fae.” Alicia made an annoyed face, her mouth and brows pinched. Then she gave a small smile. “That could be good—if Micala must wed the Mabara. Then maybe that will stop his interest in Cassie.”

“The problem is that Serena is interested in marrying the dragon fae, Sir Reginald.”

Alicia didn’t say anything as she led Ritasia in through the servants’ passageway to the kitchen. The rest of the courtiers paused at the doorway as if not sure if they could stoop so low as to walk down the servant’s corridor.

“Well, that presents a problem,” Alicia finally said. “As a dragon fae, I have to support my fellow fae, who seek alliances with another kingdom, right?”

Alicia was so new to all of this business, Ritasia had to smile at her. Then she sighed. “Yes, but you see it causes other problems. Micala is betrothed to her. Queen Irenis will not feel kindly about losing the princess to a knight of the dragon fae court, not when the queen had already drawn up an agreement with the Mabara. Serena’s mother will be put on the spot also.”

“And since I’m hoping to be Deveron’s bride, if his mother is angry enough with the Morcalon, she may say we can’t marry. Hmm. So what were you trying to do today at the Renaissance fair—
exactly
?

Ritasia truly didn’t wish to explain her failure but she did anyway, reminding herself that Alicia would be her sister once she married Deveron. “I was trying to encourage Sir Reginald to take an interest in me instead.” Ritasia smiled when she saw the look of shock on Alicia’s face. “Just for pretend. I have no interest in the knight. I must not have as much appeal as the winged fae.”

Alicia shook her head and squeezed Ritasia’s hand in a comforting way. “He was wary of your intentions most likely realizing you had no desire to truly pay him any mind.”

“True. Do you know what Tuttle said to me?”

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“He said the knight always has a late night of it. His reputation with the ladies must be maintained.”

Alicia cocked one brow heavenward. “Perhaps the knight doesn’t have enough duties to perform. I will personally check into it.”

Ritasia smiled.

They heard clanking of pots in the kitchen, cooks’ voices, and smelled the aroma of freshly roasted game hens. Which reminded Ritasia just how hungry she was.

A guard rushed into the hall behind them and Ritasia was sure he was coming to place her back in the dungeon. Although now that she was no longer shackled, she’d just fae transport out of here.

“Princess,” he said quickly to Alicia, “Prince Deveron is at the castle gates, shouting that if Princess Ritasia isn’t released at once, he will call in his army to storm the castle.”

“My brother to the rescue,” Ritasia said, seizing Alicia’s hand and hurrying her into the kitchen. She was starving and wanted a bite of all that smelled so good in here. “Can you invite him to share a meal with us?” she asked Alicia, not about to give up a well–deserved meal for anything short of going to war.

Chapter 10

Niall caught his breath as Serena rested atop him in the faery meadow where she’d taken him when they’d fallen from the tower at her castle. “You could have warned me.” She’d nearly given him a heart attack when she’d thrown herself at him and knocked him from the bars he’d been holding onto for dear life as tired as he’d been. Before he’d fallen to the ground, they had landed in the meadow, cushioned by a bed of fragrant flowers that he remembered so well the last time he was here.

She smiled down at him, so wickedly innocent, pinning him to the ground. “You rescued me.” But he noticed then, her eyes shimmered with tears that she quickly blinked back.

He combed his fingers through her silky golden hair, thinking how very lucky his cousin would be when he wed the girl.

“We must return to my hut in the meadow for the potion I was preparing. I was almost finished with it when they caught me. But as soon as my mother’s advisor warns everyone I’ve disappeared again, the alarm will sound, and they will search for me everywhere. Probably here first since this is where they found me the last time.”

He was too tired to move. But more than anything, he just wanted to lie here with her, breathing in the fragrance of the flowers, feeling the warmth of the sunny breeze, feeling the warmth of her body pressed against his.

She sighed as if she was thinking the very same thing. Then she rested her head against his chest, and he continued to stroke her hair. “You are beautiful,” he whispered.

But she was betrothed to his cousin, he reminded himself.

She finally placed her chin on his chest and looked him in the eye. “As much as I hate to leave this place, we must.”

She reached for his hand, grasped hold, and before he could say a word, she transported him to her hut in the meadow, filled with drying herbs and flowers he recognized seeing before. He stared at the mural on the wall. The same one he had admired before with the brilliant blue sky and the birds flying high above or half–hidden in the meadow flowers below.

Before he could ask her anything to clear up his confusion, she made him lie down on a mattress stuffed with feathers. As he sank into the comfortable bed, he tried his darnedest to stay awake—waiting for her to finish making the antidote as she moved to a collection of bowls and began to add flower petals to one of them. But he worried also that she’d be whisked away again and abandon him if he closed his eyes. Unable to prevent sleep from taking possession of his every thought, he finally closed his eyes in defeat.

Serena hastily mixed crushed herbs into a pot of boiling water and cooked it for a few minutes. Then she added it to the mixture that she had already made, worried someone would come here looking for her soon. Glancing over at his sleeping form, she hated to wake Niall as sound asleep as he was, but as soon as he drank the concoction, he would feel revitalized enough to stave off the need for sleep for hours, just like he normally would do.

She crossed the floor to the bed and touched his shoulder, then gently shook him. He didn’t respond. She said, “Niall, the antidote is ready.”

He didn’t twitch.

She knew it wouldn’t work, but she wanted to anyway and leaned over to give him a kiss. As soon as her lips touched his, his mouth curved up in a small smile. Before she could punch him for being awake and pretending he was not, he reached up and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her down to embrace her…and kiss her.

She melted against him, feeling a surge of something deeper for him, a feeling of connectedness that she had never felt with anyone else. She enjoyed being with him, even if she was annoyed with him. And when she was in the tower, all she could think of was reuniting with him. Not just to keep him safe from her people, or cure him of his sleeping sickness, but just to be with him.

When he lightened his grip on her, he said, “Waking me in that manner is preferred to any other.” A hint of a smile played in his eyes, but he seemed serious, too.

“You faked being asleep,” she scolded, so unfamiliar with the feelings that were welling up inside her, she wasn’t sure whether to attempt to ignore them or glory in them.

He smiled then. “No. I heard your voice from far away, but not what you said. And then I felt your mouth seeking a kiss from me, and that’s when I fully awoke.”

But she could tell he was still groggy, the way his eyes were half–lidded, his speech still tired.

“Drink the brew,” she said, pulling away from him to get the mug of the antidote, wanting him to feel so much better. She helped him to sit up and offered him the fragrant potion.

“It is not poisoned, is it?” he asked, taking the mug in his hands.

She frowned at him, folding her arms. “Why would I poison you?”

“Not you, Serena. You could not finish the process yesterday. What if someone threw something else in the pot in the meantime?”

She leaned over and smelled the concoction. “No, it has the right scent. Hurry, Niall, and drink up before we’re caught. You don’t want to wait to overcome this condition you suffer from for another two months, do you?”

Niall wasn’t about to wait a second longer to get rid of this perpetual tiredness. He gulped down the fragrant drink that tasted like peppermint and lavender combined, not sure he liked the unusual flavor.

“I wish to go to South Padre Island,” Serena said, much to his surprise.

“Why there? Do you still think I cannot joust successfully against the dragon fae?” he asked, not liking that she might believe that about him, but realizing as soon as he said it, he shouldn’t have assumed that’s what she was thinking. He set the empty mug down on a small table next to the bed.

“No, of course not. The Renaissance fair is only open on the weekends. With all the time that it took for you to free me from the tower, and the time that you slept again, the fair is now closed. You’ve missed your chance to joust with him anyway.”

Before Niall could say anything further, she grabbed his hand and whisked him away to the white sand beaches of South Padre Island. He knew just where they were as soon as they stood in the middle of the beach, invisible to humans, the warm wind caressing their skin, the sun still high in the Texas sky because of the summer night, the songs of seagulls floating on the breeze.

When he was sure about most things, Serena was a woman who unbalanced him. One minute, he was in charge, the next, she was. And he kind of liked the way she decided things for them sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes.

He took a deep breath of the salty air. Something about the island not only reinvigorated him like the potion had done, but it also made him feel relaxed, at ease, as though all the burdens he was feeling were lifted off his shoulders at once. He felt lighthearted and for the first time since he’d met the winged Mabara princess, he wanted to just have fun—
with her.

Humans strolled along the sandy shore, while others frolicked in the surf, but most were done playing on the beach early this evening.

But then his wariness kicked in, not so much of her, but of his own people. “So why are we here? If any of the Denkar become aware you are here again, they may very well lock you right back up,” he warned, worried that any Denkar might spot them, report back, and the royal guard dispatched at once.

“In your dungeon again?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Certainly not. At least I assume they wouldn’t. That is if they know who you are now. So why are we here?” he asked again.

She shrugged, pulled off her sandals, and smiled as the sand sifted through her toes while she walked toward the blue water. Her fae silk skirts fluttered in the heavenly breeze, and she looked as though she felt right at home here, and beautiful, just like the first time he had seen her, but this time her golden hair floated around her shoulders.

“Do you come here often?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“Sometimes,” Niall said, dumping his boots next to her sandals.

She turned her gaze toward the water again and he yanked off his leather pouch and tunic. Then he rolled up his breeches so that they rested in wrinkly cuffs at his knees.

Their clothes would remain unseen lying on the beach as long as they didn’t put them on and then the fae make themselves visible. So their gear would be safe from thieves, unless a fae decided to steal the items. Which was a lot less likely than humans purloining anything left on a beach unattended.

“To chase after the girls?” She lifted her brows in question, her gaze shifting from the Gulf to see Niall’s response when he didn’t answer, and her eyes widened to see his golden chest bared.

“No,” he said, belatedly, amused that she seemed perturbed by the notion he might chase after other wenches. Was she jealous of his interest in other girls?

He was loath to admit he felt that way about Sir Reginald’s interest in Serena. When Niall had no claim to her!

***

Niall was gorgeous, his legs just as tan as his chest, his golden hair dusting his shoulders. Serena’s gaze shifted to his face. “No?” she asked, sounding as if she didn’t believe him, which she hadn’t meant to. “Just ogling the human girls then?”

He smiled.

Self–assured fae.

She snorted and headed for the water as Niall followed behind her.

“What is the fascination with human females anyway?” she persisted.

“None.”

Now
she didn’t believe him! She glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes rounded.

“None for me. I cannot speak for other fae.”

She still didn’t believe him. Why would a blue–blooded male fae not be intrigued by the human girls wearing string bikinis? “What do you do here then?”

“Swim.”

“Swim?” She reached the water’s edge as it swept over her toes and pulled back. “You swim.”

Looking sufficiently serious, he nodded. “Don’t you?”

She fluttered her wings in an annoyed manner. “If they get wet…”