“It’s a toilet,” I call out. “Where you, you know, relieve yourself.”
“Toyylet,” he drawls, reentering the room. “Such a strange word.”
“You’re strange,” I counter, linking my hands behind his warm neck. “But I like you a lot. When are you going to kiss me again?”
“Tomorrow.” He pushes me onto the bed and climbs over me, looking pleased with himself as his lips brush mine. “It seems lying is possible in your world. That was a test.”
“Well, that new skill should make life easier for you.” I pull him down and don’t stop kissing him until my lips are almost too tender to speak. “Take off your t-shirt.”
He looks at his pants, and I laugh, showing him what I mean.
Running my fingers first over the tips of his ears, his sulky top lip, then his chest tattoo, I ask, “So did you just walk out of the kingdom? And what’s happening with the curse?”
“It progressed while you were gone—only one week passed in Faery. Now I am here, I feel reborn, no pain, no hint of the sluggish black poison in my veins.”
“And Raff?”
His expression darkens. “It will already have a hold on him. I must go back at some point and find a way to end the curse.” His fingers stroke feather-light over my belly. “But I will stay as long as I can, and then come back. I would not want to miss the birth of our child.”
“What? How could you know about that?”
“Magic, I suppose. So, it is true?”
“Yep.”
He smiles, huffing a delighted laugh. His hand snatches at the air, then his palm unfurls between us. “I’m returning something of yours.”
“My dragonfly necklace! Thank you!”
I grasp it between my hands and kiss it. Laughing, Ever takes it and places the chain over my neck.
“What about the queen…”
“She’s not quite as heartless as she would have you believe, Lara. If she wants to lay eyes on her grandchild or see me again, she must accept you. She’s made some promises. She will keep them.”
“So, your magic still works here?”
“A little. It will weaken without my bathing at the source.”
“Will you be able to keep your glamor up?”
“I don’t know. We shall find out.” He tucks hair behind my ears. “Your cousin with the yellow hair, she saw through it.”
“What?” I spring up and rest my weight on an elbow. “How could you possibly know that?”
“She could not take her eyes from the gold circlet, the tattoos glowing brightly on my arms.”
“No. Surely she was just taking you in. You’re quite a sight, you know, even with your faeness turned down.”
“If you say so,” he whispers, lips brushing mine.
For a moment, the bright feathers of Isla’s orange and purple tattoo flash through my mind, and a dark shiver creeps along my spine. I push the horrible thought away, the one that niggles and taunts and terrifies me.
Isla’s tattoo is of a firebird, not a dragonfly. It’s fine. I don’t know what I’m thinking. I’m being morbid. Paranoid. Silly.
I inch closer to Ever, hugging him tighter. “Thank you for following me.”
“Always. I’ll always follow you. This world and the next, I’ll be by your side.”
At the beginning of today, I never could have guessed that at the end of it I’d have the very thing, the very person I longed for right here in my arms. Life is magic. Magic is life.
Well, I guess, I’d better make the most of it then.
“Come closer,” I say.
And he does.
Chapter 24
THE PHOENIX
Ever
Three weeks later, we sit at the kitchen bench that Lara’s family call the island even though I’ve explained many times it doesn’t fit the definition. One edge of the long rectangle is attached to a wall, which makes it either a peninsula or a headland. Each time I remind them, they only laugh.
I like much about this human world, camping in the woods with Lara, fast cars, and Netflix, and Max’s Vinyl City where I eat a lot of fried food. But so much of this realm is nonsensical, especially the many untrue things that come out of mortals’ mouths. Most times they speak, I have to hide my laughter, so I don’t look demented as Lara calls it when I crack up.
For example, if I ask Clare to do something simple such as pass the salt, she says, ‘that’s a piece of cake, honey’ as if she’s about to turn the salt-shaker into rose petal scones. The first few times, I waited with great interest, but she couldn’t make the transformation happen, even after I begged her to try.
If Isla doesn’t want to go out with her boyfriend—that’s a strange word in itself—she tells Sam she’ll take a rain check and then doesn’t even bother to look out the window or phone him back.
Isla and Lara like to shoot the breeze, which I imagined would be some version of human archery. Turns out it means talking about unimportant things for endless periods, and it’s nowhere near as exciting as hunting draygonets with a bow and arrow.
Friends often tell Lara to break a leg before choir performances, sounding meaner than my mother. And even though I check each time I visit one, I’m yet to witness a mortal relaxing in a public restroom.
Needless to say, I’m not fond of cell phones or computers, because they only remind me of the Merits. I miss Balor, and Jinn, and fae with green skin, needle-sharp fangs, and rainbow-colored wings.
But because this is Lara’s world, it’s the best one in all the seven realms. And though I harbor many dislikes about mortal cities, I’ve never known such happiness as I’ve experienced here with her. No poison. No pain. Only love. And love is everything good.
“You’re thinking about home again, aren’t you?” Lara nudges my knee with hers, jolting me back to the kitchen peninsula.
“Yes.” I admit. “I worry for Raff. I must return soon and find a way to help him.”
She pats her belly. “And what about us? Can we come too?”
A smile tugs my lips. “You would truly return after what happened with Aer?”
“As long as your mother won’t throw our baby in the soup pot, of course.” She points at her throat. “And I have my not-so-secret-weapon, remember.”
“My mother wishes me home. She’s promised not to harm you and vowed to keep the Merits away. We can do this if you wish it. When the child is strong enough, we’ll go back to the Land of Five. And, even though you insist it’s not necessary, we must marry before we leave—the bond of the vows will provide additional protection for you in Faery.”
“I’ve been wondering about that hnefatafl bargain we made. How did you know you’d need the word yes to make me leave your land?”
I smile. “At that point, I had no idea what I’d use the word for, but I knew I’d need to make you do something for your own good that you wouldn’t want to do before too long. You are headstrong, my little troll, and I love you for it.”
“Troll!” She smacks me, then kisses me, and my black heart sings.