“So, I have magic like you? Can I use it?” The thought of being able to start fires in my hands was awe inspiring. But for a human to do that, it would cause a lot of commotion in both worlds.
Helios shook his head. “No. The magic is in you, but for the most part, unusable.”
A bud of disappointment bloomed inside. “Oh.”
Even so, it was amazing that I had something like that in me. And alarming, as reality set in. Humans did awful things to try and get the magic in Fae. Stole their Nectar, kept them as slaves, and even sold their body parts as good luck charms in the black markets. What would they do to a human with Fae magic in her?
“But it seems that my … my desire to protect you,” he paused and swallowed, “affected the magic in you too. It’s created a protective charm around you that will ward off most Fae’s ill intentions.” His hand lowered and smothered the magic between us. “But if you ever need me, I’ll be there. I promise.”
A smile softened my face as his vow lifted the heavy burden in my heart. It didn’t matter what was going to happen now. Knowing that Helios would be there still, I could handle it.
I lifted my free hand. A breath away from his cheek, my fingers stopped, close enough to feel him breathe. “Okay,” I whispered.
For a second, his eyes lowered and he shifted like he was going to lean into my hand. Then he let go of my hand and stepped back. “Good night, Fae Eyes,” he said softly and flew away.
Clutching my precious bracelet to my chest, I watched him disappear into the night.
Chapter 5
My thoughts just couldn’t seem to stop, running around in circles with endless worries. Sometime before dawn, I finally fell into a rough sleep. The sounds of my family getting ready for the day awoke me. I knew I should go help them, but I couldn’t seem to make myself move. I didn’t know if Papa was aware of how little I slept that night, but he didn’t holler for me to get up for once. Instead, I heard the front door open and close without my parents saying a word.
When the homestead settled into a relatively quiet state, I climbed down from my room and came out. In the distance, I could see nearly everyone working to seed the last field. Several of my nieces and nephews ran around the houses, playing under the watchful eyes of a caregiver, since they were too little to help elsewhere. I didn’t have an excuse like that.
Still, I walked around the barn to the small green patch shining in the morning light that was just mine, out of the whole homestead. When I was younger, I hated this place. It was nothing but a useless flower garden that I was left to tend because I wasn’t able to help with the rest of the farm.
Now, it was my small sanctuary. In the past year, it’d doubled in size to almost as wide as my parents’ house, as the dull flowers were replaced with herbs that Aine gave me as she slowly taught me how to use them. This garden was a special secret my family kept. Many of these plants were impossible to find outside of a Fae’s garden and valued at more than half of our farm. I’d worked so hard to get this far, earning the Fae’s trust and finding what things they would trade for.
I crouched next to a peppermint plant and rubbed a dew-covered leaf between my thumb and forefinger. The smell of the leaves permeated the air and rubbed off onto my fingers. I breathed in the scent, relaxing. It wasn’t just any peppermint. Fae husbandry had changed it somehow so the smell was as sweet as it was minty, and soothing as a morning breeze.
Throat burning with emotion that I couldn’t control, I sat back on my heels and looked about my garden, wiping at my tears with my knuckles.
In the far corner, the purple flowers of the comfrey plant swayed like bells as the leaves rustled in a way that no wind could cause.
I blinked in surprise and stood up. The farm cats normally didn’t bother my garden. The animals seemed to instinctively know this place was off-limits. Carefully, I walked through the mazelike pathway to the comfrey plants. I reached down and moved aside some of the soft bristly leaves.
A Fae about a foot tall with stout legs, a round body, and wrinkly head jumped in surprise. Its floppy ears swayed as it ran out from under the plants and scurried over the bottom board of the garden’s fence.
I yelped in surprise and fell onto my backside. The Fae’s mostly brown appearance made me think it was a Red Cap, out to get me again. It wasn’t until the Fae stopped and looked at me from outside the garden boundaries that I could see it well enough to realize it was a gnome. What was he doing in my garden, in the middle of a human settlement?
He stared at me with a wrinkly, puzzled look, eyes full of mistrust.
I took a breath to calm my frayed emotions and smiled, shifting into a more appropriate position. “Hello, I’m Maira. Can I help you?”
His bright green eyes flicked from me to the surrounding plants, then back. Without saying a word, he turned and darted into the field, easily blending with all the fresh dirt.
Absently, I thought about calling out to him to get off the dirt so the seeds didn’t get ruined, but I’m sure he wouldn’t listen anyway. He might not even weigh enough to actually damage the seeds.
I sat there, staring at the place the gnome disappeared to. As unexpected as my encounter was with the gnome, it was a pleasant distraction from my confusion. I still didn’t know what to do, still wasn’t any more okay with the idea of marriage, but the interaction brought my attention from internal to external.
Slowly, I became aware of the hot summer sun directly above me, baking anything it touched. I blinked and looked at my plants. “Right,” I whispered and stood up. My garden wasn’t attached to the irrigation that watered the rest of the farmland. I had to water it by hand. A year ago, it took four trips to the family well with my bucket. Now it took eight.
I was just finishing my last trip when Papa and Mama walked up to me.
I couldn’t make myself look them in the face. If I did, I’d feel ashamed that I wanted to run away from my responsibility. Instead, I slowly set my bucket down and stared at the shadows they cast on the ground.
Mama tilted her head to the side, voice gentle as if understanding. “Are you ready to go? We did make plans to visit the Deaglan ranch today.”
“Oh, right.”
I didn’t want to go. But I had a duty to the family that had sacrificed so much for me.
I took a breath, calming myself. I’d spent my whole life working through pain, pretending it didn’t exist. Like the Red Cap curse that had plagued my legs and made me feel like I was damaged, nothing but a burden. That injury was gone, now replaced with an emotional ache.
But it was something I could—had to—deal with.
I nodded and looked up, smiling as much as I could. My eyes filled with moisture, but I wouldn’t let it go any farther. “Should we go?”
Mama and Papa glanced at each other, as if they saw through me but decided not to comment. Papa reached out and looped his arm around my shoulders, hugging me to his side like when I was little girl. “Let’s go, Maira,” he said softly and used his arm to guide me to the house so I could clean up quickly before we left.
*****
Mama spent most of the long ride braiding ribbons into my hair. Papa tried to keep the wagon as smooth as he could on the dirt road that connected the cluster of homesteads in our valley with the ones in the next valley over, but even he couldn’t prevent every bump. Several times Mama was forced to start all over as a result. But she had enough time to make sure she was satisfied before we got there.
I’d left my valley before, but it was always to go to the market in the valley south of my homestead. This was my first time going north. It was also my first time leaving the perimeters of the Sun Fae’s kingdom—not that my parents would notice something like that. As Mama worked on my hair, I watched the forest, thick and green.
What would the man I was going to meet think of me associating with Fae? It wasn’t something I wanted to give up.
The trees opened up to pastures filled with cattle, milling across the g
round and chewing on cud. I wrinkled my nose at the sudden smell. It was definitely not like a fresh breeze through the trees. Even so, the amount of cattle and ranchers moving them around was impressive. This wasn’t a small, barely there ranch. It was obviously doing well.
Papa turned off the road onto a small lane between two fenced pastures.
My heart started to race as we got closer and closer to the houses that made up the Deaglan homestead. There was still time for me to turn back. I could jump off this carriage and run back to where I came from. And shame my family forever.
I sat still and twisted my fingers together on my lap. Papa pulled the carriage up to the buildings and stopped the horses. Almost immediately, an older man walked out of the open barn door to our left. He wiped his forehead with a rag and tucked it into his back pocket then strode up to us. A younger woman wandered out just behind him, stood a ways off from him, and crossed her arms, watching us.
“Ho, Nigel,” the man greeted Papa, smiling wide. He was a little shorter than Papa, his hair already white against very tan skin.
Papa hopped off the carriage and clasped hands together with the man. “Ho, Cormick. Good to see you.” Papa let go of his hand to help Mama and me down.
Cormick offered his hand out to Mama. “Mave, it’s good to see you again.”
Mama took his hand and smiled in return. “Hello, Cormick.”
Cormick turned to me. “You must be Maira. Last I saw you, you were a wee lass.”
I smiled and shook his rough hand, hoping he wouldn’t notice how mine had just started to sweat. “Hello.”
The woman behind him sniffed.
Cormick took a breath and pasted on a smile, motioning to the woman behind with a jerky hand. “This is Nora, the wife of my first son.”
She came forward, her long, plain, maroon dress kicking out as she walked and nodded her fair head. She wasn’t exactly smiling. “Hello.” She kept her arms tightly folded.
“Hello.” Her attitude was a little off-putting. Was she always going to be so stiff, or would she loosen up in time? I glanced at Papa and took a breath. It doesn’t matter, I’ll handle it.
Cormick clapped his hands together. “Right. Nora, run off and get Seamus,” he suggested. He turned back to me and waved a hand, smiling kindly. “His anxious fidgeting got on my nerves, so I sent him out to the fields to wind down.”
Nora looked at him quickly, as if to refuse. She glanced at us then stomped away without a word.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Cormick sighed. “Sorry about that. She’s a shrew. And a smart lesson for me. I discovered that I needed to be more selective in the girls my sons marry.”
Mama and Papa nodded in agreement. “Yes, I also found that out myself,” Papa muttered. I’m sure he was thinking of one of my sisters-in-law who was a handful.
I bit my lips, started to grab my dress, but made my hands smooth out the fabric instead.
Cormick gave a short laugh with a lopsided smile. “Never you mind Nora. If she does something, come get me. Although, I know Seamus won’t let it get that far.”
I nodded, still not sure what to say.
“So, the oldest son will inherit the ranch?” Papa asked. It was actually something that was becoming an issue between all of my brothers as Papa aged. In our family, Papa was officially the head of the farm, but Uncle Albus handled the dealings and that worked just fine. Uncle Albus didn’t have any children, but with my seven brothers, the farm just didn’t produce enough to feed all the families they would have in the future. So which ones would get to stay on the farm?
Cormick shook his head. “Nah. My oldest is a blockhead when it comes to business. He might be a great rancher, but he’d run it into the ground. Not to mention his wife would ruin anything he didn’t. With all my daughters married off, Seamus is actually going to inherit the ranch.” He smiled as if encouraging me. After all, it would put me in an elevated position, to be the wife of the owner. “He has a good head on his shoulders. And knowing your Pa, I’m sure you do too.”
I looked up at my parents. “I try not to disappoint them.” Although, honestly, I couldn’t say I’d been completely reliable lately.
Papa patted my back. “We are proud of her.”
I smiled under his praise, even though the words seemed to add extra weight on my shoulders.
I looked back at Cormick and finally noticed that his whole forearm, visible from his rolled-up sleeves, was covered in scars, white against his tan skin. Very familiar scars, like the ones I used to have on my legs. His weren’t in symbols, but the width and depths of them were identical. They were made by Red Caps. My eyes widened.
Cormick followed my gaze and held his arm up. “Ah, that.” He glanced at Papa as if asking for permission before going on. “I got these on your tenth birthday.”
“W-What?” I stuttered. Was he born on the Fool’s Day too?
“Your Pa, your Uncle Albus, and me go way back.” He waved his hand. “And I came to visit them, coincidentally on your tenth birthday. After some time of visiting, your Ma realized you were gone. I helped with the search. Having children myself, I knew the terror of a parent. Your Pa and I were the ones to find you, then I helped dispose of those evil Red Caps.” He flexed his arm, moving it around and revealing the scars that covered his whole arm. “Got this from those Hell creatures.”
Mama sighed in regret. “I’m sorry, Cormick.”
He laughed and waved a hand. “No, it’s a small price to pay for a child.”
“Did you get sick?” I asked. Some Red Caps were poisonous.
Cormick nodded to the side. “I did for a while. After it got out of my system, I got up and immediately sold all the Fae on the ranch. It might cost more to hire humans, but I sleep better. My ranch is a safe place.” He made a humming sound and scratched his chin. “Come to think of it, I had a few Red Caps pop onto my land about a year ago. But I notified a Fae slaver quick to come get them and haven’t had a problem since. Nasty lot, those slavers are. Leading those Fae around with nooses. Makes my skin crawl.” He shivered.
I let a breath out of my mouth, conflicted. I hadn’t had good experiences with them either. I hated how they used a slave Fae to magically pull another Fae’s free will out of their body. It was horrible. At the same time, I hated Red Caps more than slavers and always would. If there were any Fae I wished didn’t exist, it was those.
Cormick nodded. He had a kind look. “The last time I saw you, lass, you were so tiny and bloody. Crying in your Ma’s arms. It is such a pleasure to see you so grown and healthy now.” He shook his head. “Seamus doesn’t know everything about that. Just that you were hurt by Fae. Which is why I never thought I’d hear about you interacting with Fae as much as you do. Are the rumors true?”
I nodded my head. “I don’t know which ones you’ve heard, but I do have many Fae friends and a garden that’s important to me,” I added softly. My special connection to Helios and Aine that I never wanted to lose.”
“Hmm.” Cormick didn’t add anything else.
From inside the barn, there were sounds of horse hooves on boards and a horse’s agitated snort, a thud, a male groan, then heavy boot falls coming closer to us.
Chapter 6
A young man jogged out of the barn. He was still shoving his hands through his blond hair, trying to tame the thick, curly locks. I wouldn’t call him handsome, but he was pleasant to look at. From his broad shoulders and thick arms, it was easy to see his strength, but his movements were smooth, as to not use excess energy. He skidded to a stop when he saw us—me—standing there. His hazel eyes widened, and he took a deep breath.
“H-Hello. I’m Seamus Deaglan from the Deaglan ranch,” he said very quickly. And his ears turned bright red.
Oh, that’s kinda ... cute, I thought.
Papa snickered into his hand, and Mama smiled in amusement.
Cormick laughed out loud. “Come here, boy.” He waved his son over and put a hand on his shoulder. “This is
my boy, Seamus.” He motioned to us. “Seamus, this is Nigel, Mave, and of course, Maira.”
Seamus gave Papa and Mama a strong handshake, smiling. When it came to me, he paused, hand outstretched and looked at a loss for what to do.
I was just as confused. This was my potential marriage partner. What should we do? A hug was far too familiar, but a wave seemed too cold. Finally, I smiled and took his hand, shaking it, trying not to feel too awkward. He held my hand softly, like I was going to break.
“Hello, I’m Maira.”
His neck turned red. He let go quickly and cleared his throat, the red diminishing a little. “Hello,” he said again.
Cormick snorted. “Right.” He looked at Papa and Mama. “We had a couple late calves. Mave, would you like to come see them?” He motioned to the side.
Mama nodded. “That would be wonderful.”
The three of them walked away, leaving me and Seamus. Alone.
I watched them, debating on yelling at them not to leave me. I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t even thought about needing something to say. I turned back to Seamus.
He looked just as lost. He took a breath and motioned with his left hand in the opposite direction. “Ah, do you—do you want to go look around?”
I nodded and fidgeted with the bracelet around my wrist. “Okay.” I took a couple steps ahead then waited for him to catch up so I knew where we were going.
While walking with Helios, I’d become so accustomed to looking up at his height. It was a little jarring to have to look even higher into Seamus’s face. At the same time, it almost felt like I was wronging Helios by walking side by side with Seamus. I blinked quickly and put a hand up, pretending it was the sun in my eyes that made them water.
Seamus glanced at me then around at the fields. “Ah, so this is Deaglan ranch,” he started as if he needed something to say. “We have our Dexter cattle over here,” he pointed at the brown cows on our right, “and Kerry cattle on this side.” He pointed to the black cows on the right.
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