My Saraphina.
She may have belonged to the Earth and arcana, but nature treated her for her other side. Her Seelie side. It was an interesting side effect for our kind, that this realm loved us so, when so many of my kind did not reciprocate. But Saraphina was made for this realm. She loved it so fervently it was contagious.
It’d been six months since I was sent here to be her guardian and she’d changed me forever. Any preconceived notions I had of this realm were dust in the wind because of her. But it was not only my mind she’d changed. She’d changed my heart. Each and every day it only grew worse.
With a heavy sigh, I watched as the object of my desire walked into a clearing within the forest. This was my favorite place to watch her, for every time it was like the Earth itself sighed in relief at her arrival. The ground glittered gold under her feet at every step. The air cooled. And although the sky was not yet black, fairyflies swarmed around her.
I cursed and leaned my head against the trunk of the tree.
This job was bittersweet. Not for the first time I wondered if Prince Thorne hated me and chose this assignment as punishment. Though I knew it not to be the case, especially since he had no way of knowing the ways I loved her. They were my deepest, darkest secret…and there they would remain. For no one could know the depths at which my heart hurt for her.
I had a job to do, and my duty was my pride.
Prince Thorne and Princess Sage had plans, plans I wished to aide to come to life.
So I would push aside my heart and live by my mission.
All I could do was pray that one day, when this was all over – when whatever her purpose was was finished – maybe then I would be free to feel what I felt. But those were dangerous thoughts, ones I did not allow myself to have when near her.
Olli, Saraphina’s adorable little hound, leapt forward and howled.
I froze and pushed out with my sense. Damn. We were not alone. I let myself get so carried away by her that I stopped paying attention to anything else. But I was now and I instantly knew trouble was headed our way. I smelled the stench of their alcohol and body odor before they stepped out into the clearing where Saraphina was.
Five men marched toward her and it took everything inside of me not to pull my sword.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here, James?” The taller man in the front said.
James scratched his bulbous stomach and shook his head. “A young girl out by herself at dusk? Suspicious activity, Samuel.”
Saraphina stood tall with her head held high and her shoulders back.
I cursed and yanked my cloaking ring off of my finger, then leapt into the clearing. Rage boiled inside me. I may not have been able to stop the humans from hanging the humans, but over my dead body would they touch my girl. “I found that hummingbird over— oh, good evening, gentlemen.” I smiled my fakest, most human smile and tipped my hat.
Samuel paled. “Zachariah, I did not – are you out here with her?”
I smiled wider. “I am, we were searching for hummingbird nests. Is there a problem I may assist you with?”
James frowned. “Not at all, we were just out for a stroll.”
The three other men exchanged glances with each other.I held my stare steady.
After a long moment, Samuel sighed. “We will leave you be. Come along, gentlemen.”
I smiled and waved as they left the area – but not without passing glares at Saraphina. Olli hopped over to me and jumped up on my leg, so I crouched down and ruffled his long ears.
“I did not know you were out here either,” Saraphina whispered once the men were out of earshot.
I stood up straight and smiled down at her. “Forgive me, I saw Olli running through the forest and thought he’d run from you yet again. By the time I caught up, I saw you were with him.”
“Oh, thank you, that was kind of you.” She smiled and her cheeks flushed. “But why did you lie to them?”
I stepped up close to her then tucked her fiery hair behind her ears “Those men just hanged poor Bridget Bishop yesterday. They are mad. Unstable. More likely to be witches than the women they accuse. I would not dare give them a reason to accuse you.”
She frowned. “Walking my dog hardly makes me a witch.”
I grinned and brushed my fingers over her cheek. “What have the others done to deserve it?”
Her face fell, then she nodded. “I suppose you are right. I must be careful in times like this…with those…monsters.”
I reached down and took her hand in mine. “Come, let me escort you home so I may know you arrived safely.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Saffie
December 13h 2018 – present day
“Saffie?”
I jumped and looked up – and found Ms. Kelly standing a few feet away. “Oh, hi, Ms. Kelly.”
She smiled and tucked a stray red hair behind her ear as she walked toward me. Of all my teachers she seemed the most casual, but she was also clearly the youngest. She couldn’t have been older than her mid-twenties. Today she wore an oversized ivory sweater, pale jeans with holes in the knees, and bright white sneakers. I like that. I should try that.
She sat down in the wooden chair next to mine and turned to face me. “Are you in trouble?”
“Metaphorically, perhaps, but no.” I sighed and leaned back. “All my classes have midterms but none of my teachers want to test me so they send me to sit here. Well, all of them except you, of course.”
Ms. Kelly’s face scrunched up. “Oh, God. That’s awful. Here? I mean, I understand why they won’t test you but at least send you to the library.”
I frowned. “What’s a library?”
She gave me a small smile. “It’s a place you go to borrow books for free. When you finish, you return it and get another.”
My jaw dropped. “Why didn’t they send me there?” I threw my hands up and groaned.
Ms. Kelly chuckled. “But other than this travesty, you’re doing all right? I can’t imagine this is easy.”
I gnawed on my bottom lip. My gut reaction was to shrug it off but there was something about Ms. Kelly that was comforting. Maybe it was because she was closer to my age than any of the other adults. Or maybe it was because she’d asked.
“It’s…okay. Sometimes I even forget that I have amnesia, if only for a little while.” I twirled my hair around my finger. “But I do, and it’s more frustrating than I have words to describe.”
She looked at me with sad eyes. “I am so sorry, Saffie. I wish I could just snap my fingers and make this all go away for you.”
I smiled. “Thank you. Even if you can’t fix it.”
“You know what?” She stood and fidgeted with the hem of her sweater. “I can’t fix your amnesia, but I can fix your being stuck here. Come with me.”
I jumped up and grabbed my backpack off the floor, then hurried to catch up to her in the hallway. “Where we going?”
“Busting you out of here.” Ms. Kelly grinned then waved for me to follow her.
I let her lead me down the hall and out the front doors of the school. It was the afternoon in December in Massachusetts, so the sun had already begun its descent.