Lukas reached toward me and plucked something from my hair. It was a calaech flower that had broken off its stem. Holding the base of the bloom, he glided the soft petals down the side of my face and across my lips. I breathed in the flower’s mild spicy fragrance, and lost myself in his warm blue eyes.
“Do you remember the morning we found you on North Brother Island?” he asked, surprising me with the shift in conversation.
I arched my eyebrows. “How could I forget?”
Lukas’s eyes took on a faraway look. “When Faolin told me you were one of two hunters presumed drowned after a kelpie hunt, it felt like he had punched me in the stomach. I convinced myself it was guilt for not repaying you after you had warned us of the assassination plot. After we found you, I told myself my debt to you was repaid.
“Then the men attacked you in your apartment the following night, and I wanted to kill them for hurting you. I could no longer deny that I cared about you. Somehow, you had slipped beneath my defenses, and I never saw it coming.”
I started to speak, but he pressed a finger to my lips.
“You didn’t want to become Fae. It killed me to know you were hurting and that I couldn’t go to you after the conversion. But at the same time, I was selfishly happy because I wouldn’t have to give you up. I brought you to Unseelie, but I allowed my father and Faerie’s problems to keep us apart. I won’t do that again.”
My throat tightened, and the only response I could come up with was, “Good.”
He smiled. “In two weeks, my father and I will go to Seelie to continue the discussions about the barrier. I’ll have work to do here until then, but I intend to spend part of every day with you. We can do whatever you want, but I am going to court you as you deserve.”
“Is Fae courting the same as dating?” I asked a little breathlessly.
He tucked the flower he was holding into my hair. “Yes.”
I bit my lip as my stomach fluttered nervously. When I opened my mouth, I couldn’t stop the words that tumbled from me. “Does this make you my boyfriend? I’ve dated, but I’ve never had a boyfriend. Are boyfriends and girlfriends even a thing in Faerie?” My face flamed, and I clamped my mouth shut to stop my rambling.
Chuckling, he dipped his head to kiss me long and slow until I forgot to be embarrassed. When we finally came up for air, he said, “I am whatever you want me to be.”
“Vaerik,” Faris called, and there was no mistaking the laughter in his voice. It wasn’t hard to guess what we were doing down here.
“Yes?” Lukas answered.
“There is a storm coming. We should head back before it hits.”
I shot up to a sitting position. “A storm?”
“Not the kind you think. It’s a rain storm.” Lukas got to his feet unhurriedly and held out his hand to me.
“Oh.” I took his hand, feeling foolish. Of course, they got rain here.
Lukas pulled me up and smirked as he brushed grass and dirt off me. He took my hand, and we walked to Faris and Conlan, who smiled knowingly at us.
“Did you enjoy your walk?” Conlan asked me when we drew near.
I smiled back. “Immensely.”
We headed toward the group, and Lukas pointed out the dark clouds in the distance. “It’s coming in from the ocean, and those storms bring the most rain. They usually hang around for a day or two and give the valley a good soaking.”
Roswen and the others had also seen the approaching storm. They were packed up and ready to leave by the time we returned. Lukas’s sister took in our joined hands and practically beamed at us. His father would not be so happy about us dating, but at least, one member of his family approved.
Tennin looked pleased as well, and he winked at me as he took his reins from one of the grooms. A few feet from him, Rashari stared at us with a sour expression. Whatever she’d hoped to accomplish today had not gone as she had planned. I was not at all sorry to be the cause of her disappointment.
Lukas mounted and lifted me to sit in front of him again. I leaned back against his chest, and it felt more intimate after our time alone. I sighed happily as we started home, neither of us feeling the need to fill the silence between us.
We were still a few miles from the mountain when the first raindrop hit my face. Lukas spurred his tarran into a gallop, but there was no outrunning the storm. We were both soaked to the skin and laughing by the time we made it home.
He dismounted and helped me down. “I’m sorry the rain ruined our outing,” he said as he brushed dripping hair off my face.
“It didn’t.” I smiled up at him. “It was a perfect day.”
“Was? It’s not over yet.” He took my arm, and we headed inside. “Dinner tonight?”
I shook my head. “Sorry. I think I’m having dinner with my boyfriend.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Yes, you are.”
Chapter 17
I looked down at Gus’s huge shadow on the water and sighed. I never thought I’d get sick of seeing the ocean, but this flight had proven me wrong. We’d left the island hours ago, and there was still no land in sight.
Closing my eyes, I focused on much more pleasant thoughts, most of them involving Lukas. The last two weeks with him had been some of the happiest of my life. We’d spent time together every day doing whatever I wanted, whether it was training, visiting town, teaching me to ride, or talking. He had refused to attend more of his father’s special dinners, opting to dine alone with me in my quarters. And we ended each night making out on my couch until I thought I would combust.
While Lukas’s kisses and touches left no doubt how much he wanted me, he had taken it no further than that since the morning after the royal dinner. He kept our alone time out of the bedroom, and to my eternal frustration, he went back to his quarters at the end of the night.
I wondered if this was how Fae courting worked, but I didn’t have anyone to ask. Though Roswen and I were friends, there was no way I was talking to her about me wanting to have sex with her brother. I missed Violet so much, and I wished I could talk to her about this. She would know what to do.
Lukas, the king, and the Unseelie contingent had left yesterday for the meetings in Seelie. That gave me two days to figure out how to talk to him about us when he got back. If he was waiting until I was ready for sex, I had to let him know I was. Or I could jump him and show him what I wanted. I smiled to myself. The latter option sounded a lot more fun.
Gus growled, and I opened my eyes to stare at the horizon. I squinted. Was that land? Please, let it be land.
Last night as I was having my first solo dinner in weeks, Aedhna had come to tell me that today, I would take the ke’tain to the Mab desert, which happened to be on the other side of the Ellyon Sea.
Fortunately, I had a drakkan who could make the trip in six hours instead of the three days it would take by ship. Unfortunately, flying in the claws of a drakkan wasn’t the most comfortable way to travel, and my whole body felt cramped from being in the same position for so long.
Half an hour later, I could make out a white land mass in the distance. At first, it looked like we were flying toward a glacier, but as the details became clearer, I realized it was huge sand dunes.
It was another twenty minutes before we reached the coastline where the water was a pale aquamarine and waves rolled against a blindingly white beach. Vegetation here was sparse except for a few clumps of grass, and the wind felt hot against my face.