The Winged Fae (The World of Fae) (13 page)

“You can’t fly?” he asked, sounding more than surprised.

She frowned at him. “I can’t fly, period.”

“Right. I didn’t mean that. I mean, oh, I don’t know what I meant.” He let out his breath in a huff, looking like he hated himself for having said something so idiotic that might have offended her. He probably had heard the Mabara were touchy about having lost the ability to fly, even though it had been centuries ago. “Do they get…waterlogged?” he tried again.

“I…I don’t know. They get wet in the bathwater, but it’s not the same as swimming in that.” She motioned to the Gulf where seagulls sailed overhead and small white caps gathered at the top edge of breakers.

“Do you want to try it out?” he asked, offering his hand.

She studied the water, wanting badly to swim, but afraid her wings might drag her down when they got too wet.

“Come,” he coaxed, taking her hand and gave her a gentle, reassuring pull. “If you don’t like it, we’ll go back in.”

Serena tucked her wings back as she carefully waded into the water, hand–in–hand with Niall. She loved the small intimacy he shared with her when they held hands. Though she recognized that since she was betrothed to another, she should not be so bold with Niall. But it felt right with him, and besides, he was only ensuring she didn’t drown. That was all.

She stepped off the shallower sand bar and into deeper water up to her collarbone, her eyes rounding with fear. He immediately pulled her to the next sand bar, waiting for her to agree to go out farther or stay here. She loved how concerned he was about how she felt. If she’d been with one of her fussy old tutors, he would have tsked, folded his arms, and waited until she got up the nerve to conquer her own fears. He probably would have stood on the shore, staying dry while he motioned for her to get on with the task.

“How do you like it so far?” Niall asked.

She wasn’t certain yet. She took a tentative step forward into the darker Gulf and sank into the warm salty water up to her shoulders. At once, she felt both panic and exhilaration.

He joined her, still standing much taller, and wrapped his arm around her waist, making her feel secure and protected.

She relaxed, jumping a little to crest a small wave, looked up at him studying her carefully, and beamed. “I…I love it.”

That’s when his anxious expression melted away, the furrow of his brows disappeared, and he smiled broadly. “I like coming here to get away, to swim, to walk on the beach, mostly without anyone seeing me.”

“And to check out the girls,” she said pointedly, knowing he couldn’t come here and not take his fill of the bikini–clad girls. She almost wished she had one of those shimmering blue ones she’d seen in the shop where the clerk was trying to talk the customer into buying the hideous dress.

But because of her wings, Serena could never appear on the beach unless hidden from the humans’ view. Not at least until she had control over making her wings invisible.

As if he knew what was bothering her, he said, “Your wings are beautiful.”

She glanced up at him. He looked dreamy–eyed and sincere.

“I didn’t think other kinds of fae thought anything of the sort. More that we are oddities in the fae world.”

He smiled down at her. “You’re beautiful, Serena. Don’t ever let anyone else tell you differently.” Then he stiffened a little. “You’re not worried that Micala won’t want to marry you because of your wings, do you?”

“Micala.” She scowled and pulled away from Niall. She meant to stalk off to the shore, but she stepped into a trough and submerged completely under the water with a squeak.

Niall was there in a flash, pulling her from the water, holding her tight. She sputtered and coughed, trying to catch her breath.

Before she could scowl at how ridiculous she felt, Niall lifted her into his arms and kissed her cheek, and headed into shore.

Serena felt like the proverbial drowned rat, yet his touch was heating her inside out.

“I can walk,” she insisted, sounding horribly irritated.

“We can have another swimming lesson later,” Niall said cheerfully, ignoring her complaint.

He didn’t think she was a complete idiot?

“How are your wings feeling?” he asked, sounding concerned.

She unfurled them behind her and flapped them. “Wet.”

“But they’re all right?”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“Good. Next time, I’ll show you how to float, dog paddle, and ride the swells.”

“As opposed to drowning?”

He chuckled. “I didn’t expect you to fall in a hole or I would have kept hold of your hand.”

“Thanks for the rescue,” she demurely said, realizing this was becoming a common occurrence between them. Would Sir Reginald have taken her for a swim? Would he teach her to dog paddle and float and ride the swells of the waves?

“You want to go parasailing?”

She stared at him, wanting to so badly, but how could they do such a thing? With her wings, and no bathing suits, and…well, how could they?

Seeing the hesitation in her expression, Niall must have figured if he pushed her, she would agree. He grabbed her hand and raced with her down the beach.

“You’ll have a blast. Parascending is another thing I love to do when I come here.”

“But…”

He smiled at her. “We catch a ride. We don’t pay. Not when we own the island and everything here is for our recreational enjoyment.”

“But…”

His smile broadened. “Just wait and see. The wind is perfect for parasailing. See that man’s harness is getting hooked up to the parasail? He won’t run after the boat, but instead will resist the pull to keep his line taut. Then one to three steps and he’s airborne.”

“But he has a helmet, and he’s wearing shoes, a life vest even.”

“He can’t fae transport like we can if he gets into trouble. Come on!”

One of the two flight crew members holding the parasail signaled the boat to hit it. The motor boat took off, but not before both Serena and Niall had grabbed hold of the man and held tight. They weighed nothing when they clung to a human like this, but they would make him tingle with a strange numbness.

The man settled into the harness as if he was sitting, and Serena glanced over his back at Niall, who was watching her, not the spectacular view.

She grinned, having the time of her life. She was flying! With a Denkar fae, who had freed her from the tower. What would her mother think?

She glanced at the view of a bank of clouds highlighted in ribbons of pinks and purples with the setting sun, the darkening waters below, rippling with small crests of white bubbles, at Niall, the man who had given her the most fun experiences she’d had in a long time—swimming and now parasailing.

“We’re about 225 feet up in the air. What do you think, Serena?”

“I love it!” He had to know she did from the way she was beaming.

She felt she could do this all night when she realized the boat was headed in closer to shore, then the driver reduced the boat’s throttle. The flyer and the fae began to gently drift down toward the dark waters. And when the boat stopped, the man unhooked from the harness as he floated in the water with the fae. The boat crew quickly picked him up, along with the parasail, and a couple of fae—without the crew or the man’s knowledge.

A first for a boat ride, too, Serena thought happily satisfied. With the breeze in their faces, Niall pulled a wet Serena into his arms, and she snuggled against him, loving everything about him.

She smiled up at him. “Ohmigoddess, that was the most fun I’ve ever had. No Mabara will ever believe I actually flew!”

The man who’d paid for the flight talked away to the crew members, saying he wanted to try a landing on the beach next time. But Serena had loved landing in the water, clinging to the man’s life vest and Niall’s hand and finding that wet wings and all, she could sort of swim, kicking at the water with her feet.

She couldn’t wait to do it all over again another day.

But as soon as they reached the shore and Niall carried her out of the boat and onto the sandy beach, she caught sight of Micala, the dark fae count she was supposed to be marrying. He was walking along the beach in full human view, his hand wrapped around a human girl’s. Serena instantly scrambled to get out of Niall’s grasp.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, nearly dropping her.

She pointed to Micala and the girl. “That’s who I’m to marry!”

Niall stared at the two of them, then shook his head.

“Come on,” Serena said, tugging him in Micala’s direction.

“What are you planning?” He sounded reluctant to take part in this venture.

“I want to see who the human is.”

“We can’t become visible. We’re both wearing fae clothes, or at least you are. I’m half–dressed, and we’re both soaking wet and looking a little bedraggled.”

“So we follow them in our invisible forms.”

“What are you planning to do?” Niall asked again.

“I want to meet my groom–to–be!” She smiled at Niall, whose golden skin suddenly looked pale in the fading sunlight.

Serena studied Micala, his blond hair long like Niall’s. Were his eyes blue also?

He was the same height as both Niall and Deveron, same tall, slim build, wearing wet blue and white floral swim trunks, bare feet, no shirt. He must have been swimming with the human girl just before they had arrived, and his gait was easy and relaxed. The human girl had wet, dark brown curls that the breeze tossed around, and she wore a hot pink bikini, showing off a great figure. On top of that, she was walking way too close to Micala, when he was betrothed to Serena! Micala and the girl were
even
holding hands!

Serena wasn’t often jealous, but she envied that the girl could show off a great bod because she didn’t have any wings to hide. Which was part of what got Serena’s own people into trouble centuries ago when they coveted looking like humans and lost their ability to fly. At least they were smart enough not to lose their power over the air elementals.

At that moment, she had the greatest urge to whip up a sand devil and give them both a blast of it.

Chapter 11

“What is her name?” Serena asked Niall as she quickened her pace in the sand, and they drew even closer to Micala and his human girlfriend.

“Serena…,” Niall warned, casting her a glance that said
cool it
.

But she wasn’t going to fight her territorial fae tendencies, even if she didn’t want the guy. If her mother and Queen Irenis said it was a done deal and she couldn’t get out of it, she had every right to protest Micala’s actions. “You know her name, don’t you?”

Niall sighed. “Cassie. She’s a friend of Alicia, Prince Deveron’s betrothed.”

“Why ever would a fae have a human friend?”

“She lived among them.”

“Humpf.”

Niall definitely was trying to forestall Serena’s meeting up with Micala as he kept holding her back as if he couldn’t walk through the sand that quickly. Maybe hoping to change her mind before they reached Micala and the girl and Serena made a scene?

But Serena was betrothed to Micala and if she couldn’t get out of this arrangement, she would be stuck with him. No way was she going to share him with some human girl.

She finally shook loose of Niall’s restraining touch and quickly moved to intercept Micala.

As soon as she appeared in front of him, Micala yanked Cassie to a stop and stared wide–eyed at Serena, no recognition whatsoever that she should mean something to him though.

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asked Micala, her voice concerned.

“What’s wrong,” Serena said, her voice highly ruffled, although only Micala and Niall could hear and see her, “is that lover boy…” She waved her hand at Micala, then planted both her hands on her hips in an infuriated fashion. “…is betrothed to me! And
I don’t
share!”

Niall gave his cousin a half smile, almost apologetic as if Serena was some poor excuse for a bride!

“If Queen Irenis hasn’t informed you yet, you’re to marry Princess Serena of the Mabara kingdom,” Niall said.

“A winged fae?” Micala responded indignantly, his brows pinched together in a dark scowl.

“Well,” Serena said in a huff, “not that
I
want to marry one of
your
kind either, dark fae.”

Niall cleared his throat. “Maybe we could have this discussion in…
private
.” He motioned to Cassie, who was staring wide–eyed at Micala.

“What did you say, Micala?” Cassie asked.

“Winged fae, is what he said, in a totally obnoxious way, I might add,” Serena growled.

Red–faced, Micala, probably figuring the difficulty he was in with having to talk to invisible fae in front of a human girlfriend, said to Cassie, “I just remembered I have a very important meeting I have to attend. I’ll escort you back to the swimming pool at your hotel and see you in about an hour for dinner?”

“No dinner, no escort. Didn’t you hear what I said, Count?” Serena asked, hands on hips again, wings outstretched, flapping slightly, showing her irritation. The gold ring around her eyes was reflecting off Micala’s dark brown eyes, not blue like Niall’s she noted. She imagined that it was only a matter of time before the gold ring appeared around his.

Giving her one last dark look, he spun around and hauled Cassie toward a hotel. “Sorry, Cassie. I don’t know what made me forget that appointment. Well, I do. Whenever I’m with you, I forget everything.”

She smiled adoringly up at him.

Serena stomped in the sand beside her. “Oh,
please
, spare me the human dramatics.”

Niall walked beside Serena and cleared his throat.

She glared at him. “What?”

“Maybe we could go to an ice cream parlor and get some ice cream or something cold to drink while we wait for Micala to join us.”

“With her wings on full display?” Micala said incredulously.

“What?” Cassie asked so sweetly, Serena wanted to puke.

Micala’s face reddened again. “Sorry. Just thinking aloud.”