by Lucia Ashta
“It is. But … what the fuck is going on?” I asked just as the door flung open and Rina and Wren rushed inside. Eyes wide, scanning the room in an arcing sweep, Rina and Wren’s attention settled on Ky.
He sat up in bed, blinking at all of us like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights. “This isn’t what it looks like.” He tugged the hem of his boxer shorts further down around his legs, where they’d ridden up, and pulled my comforter back up to his waist.
“Ky!” Rina snapped. “What are you doing here? Not even Leo and Dave sleep with us. You know you’re not allowed.”
On cue, invisible bells began tinkling across the room. The persistent melody wafted up from the hardwood floor and down from the ceiling; it even rang from the walls. After only a few seconds, I wanted to smack something to make the alarm stop, but it didn’t until two identical and consecutive pops delivered two very sleep-mussed fairies.
Nessa’s wings beat lazily as she rubbed at her eyes, taking in the room. But Fianna, well, the flaming-red-haired fairy looked murderous. Her tiny hands bracketed her hips as she glared, first at Ky, then at me, where her diminutive eyes worked hard to sear a hole right through me.
Ky put his hands in the air like Fianna was holding us up at gunpoint and repeated for his new audience: “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“I don’t like to be woken up from a deep sleep,” Fianna started as if Ky hadn’t even spoken, her aggression deepening her usual voice by several octaves. “Sleep’s good for me. Hell, it’s good for all of us. Good sleep should never be disturbed.”
“I totally agree,” I said.
“And yet you disturbed everyone’s sleep with your … lurid affair.”
“Good word, Fi,” Nessa mumbled, but Fianna only glared doubly at me.
“Boys aren’t allowed in the girls’ dormitories between 9 PM and 7 AM,” she said.
“Unless Sir Lancelot has authorized special dispensation to break the rules,” Nessa added, “like he did last semester. When Rina, well, y’all know.”
“It’s the middle of the night,” Fianna snapped at her slightly smaller cousin. “Could you stay relevant? Everyone here knows what happened.”
We did, and we weren’t likely to soon forget it.
Nessa directed a pout at her cousin, but Fianna ignored it, crossing her arms over her chest and looking as fierce as a hummingbird-sized creature could. Her tiny eyes were narrowed, her brow furrowed low, and her crimson lips pressed into a severe, disapproving line.
I laughed before I could stop myself, and Fianna zoomed toward me, stopping a foot in front of my face, where her wings beat out her fury.
“You think this is funny, Jasmine?”
It was my turn to narrow my eyes at her. “Actually, yeah, I do. Because Ky and I didn’t go to sleep together. He just appeared in my bed. I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Yeah, right, and I’m four feet tall and sweet tempered,” Fianna huffed. “You actually expect me to believe he isn’t here for some of the wild hanky-panky?”
Nessa gasped. “Fianna, you aren’t allowed to say things like that to the students.” Her whisper was low and urgent.
“I wouldn’t have to tell them anything of the sort if they’d just follow the bloody rules. If they want to do the hanky-panky, they have to do it during permissible hours. Preferably in private where they won’t bother anyone.”
Nessa gasped again, and Fianna huffed louder. “Drop the condemnation, will ya? It’s the middle of the night and I can’t help myself. I’m grumpy when I don’t get my beauty rest, so leave me alone already.”
Fianna did look slightly deranged. Her shoulder-length hair was tangled in all sorts of directions; her little red skirt was crumpled; her wings drooped a bit as they beat behind her, and her eyes were bloodshot—or at least they looked like it; it was hard to tell since they were approximately the size of grape seeds. Either way, she was putting off clear don’t-mess-with-me vibes.
I just didn’t care.
“Fianna,” I said with patience I didn’t really have. It was taking everything inside me not to freak the eff out. “Ky just popped up in my bed. Just now. Out of nowhere. So instead of giving me grief about what’s out of our control, will ya help me figure it out?”
I reached under the thin tank top I slept in and clutched at my pendant. It was suspiciously hot, like it’d been sitting in the beaming mid-day sun for a while.
Even so, this was nuts. Pendants didn’t just make hot guys appear in beds.
Though if they did, I could have some fun with this…
“Jas,” Rina snapped.
“Huh? What?”
“Where’d you go? Now’s not the time to get distracted.”
She was right. I had Ky in my bed. Right where I’d been working hard to get him for three whole terms, and all of this semester so far. I should be ogling him while he’s here.
I moved to slide back into the bed.
Fianna zipped forward, bisecting my approach. “You will not get in bed with the male student.”
Holding up the corner of the comforter, I plastered an innocent look on my face. I had it mastered.
“Well, I just feel awful about the misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to wake anybody. Now that I see it’s just Ky, and the alarm bells are nice and quiet, we can all go back to sleep and deal with this in the morning.”
When Nessa joined Fianna to double-down on the glaring, I shrugged. “Hey, we need our beauty sleep, don’t we? Gotta keep the complexions nice and fresh, especially for creatures as small as you. Since you’re so tiny, the effect of sleep is probably concentrated. It’s even more important for you.”
Nessa snapped her head around to look at Fianna. “Is that true, Fi?” The blue fairy ran both hands along her cheeks. “Do we need our sleep more than anyone else so we don’t get shriveled up and ugly?”
Fianna wasn’t biting. Her angry stare never left me. “No, Nessa, she’s just messing with us so we’ll leave her to the hanky-panky.”
“Hey, you can’t blame a girl for trying,” I said, and Fianna offered me a nod of respect.
“True, but there will be none of the hanky-panky, not on our watch.”
“Fianna,” I said when I couldn’t take it anymore. “It’s not the hanky-panky. It’s just hanky-panky.”
“What? Why?”
“Because it’s like sex.”
“I know it’s like sex.” Nessa puffed her chest out in pride. “I looked it up. It means to—”
“No,” Adalia interrupted. “She means it’s like sex in that you don’t say the sex.”
Fianna and Nessa both opened their mouths, and Ky cleared his throat.
“Uh, would anyone like to know how I feel about all of this?”
“Yes,” I said right away, but I was the only one, and Rina gave me the stink-eye once she’d voiced her no.
“Okay, now that I’m clear that my feelings don’t matter,” he said, “will someone please explain what I’m doing here?”
Silence. We all looked around at each other.
I turned back to Ky when I felt his gaze traveling across the stretches of bare skin around my small bikini panties and tank top, which had ridden up to expose much of my stomach.
He met my eyes and held them.
“Guys, could you not do that with me here?” Rina interjected.
“You can leave,” I said without diverting my attention from the gorgeous man in my bed.
“He’s going to leave,” Fianna scolded. “And right now. Come on, Ky, get up and move.”
“I’m in my underwear,” he said.
“So is everyone else by the look of them,” Nessa said, eyes wide. “Whatever happened to nightgowns? I thought that’s what everyone wore.”
“Not anymore,” Fianna said. “We’re outdated.” She patted Nessa on the shoulder. “We’ll fix it, don’t worry. We’ll be hip as them for the hanky-panky.”
My eyes rolled of their own volition.
&nbs
p; Ky still hadn’t moved, and I tried to inch my way into bed again.
“Up. Now,” Fianna ordered.
Ky sighed, and my heart soared in hope that he might be sighing because he wanted to spend time with me.
“We’re in charge while Sir Lancelot’s away,” Nessa said. “Which means we need to run a tight ship—ah, school. No boys allowed. Off ya go.” The little fairy grinned, pleased with herself.
“You weren’t supposed to tell them Sir Lancelot’s away,” Fianna hissed, and Nessa’s grin vanished. “It’s a secret.”
“Why would it be a secret?” the gentle Wren asked, while she ran her fingers through her very long bark-colored hair, untangling it.
“Oh,” Nessa pepped back up. “It’s a secret because—”
“Because it’s a secret,” Fianna snapped. “Seriously, Nessa. You’re worse than trolls on feast days.”
“What do trolls do on feast days?” Rina asked.
“They’ll tell you anything you ask.” Nessa smiled. “Even their deepest secrets. They can’t hold back. They’re magically bound. It’s actually really funny. You can tell they don’t want to reveal anything, so they’ll have this really grumpy face, but the truth pops right out of them.”
“Sounds familiar,” Fianna muttered. “Except for the grumpy face. Yours is always cheery, even in the middle of the night.”
But I was focused on the gem they’d just shared. “When are these feast days?”
“They won’t tell you if you ask.”
“Unless you ask them on a feast day,” Nessa added helpfully.
Fianna had a point. No one had the right to be this peppy when it was still dark out.
“Thank you for that most helpful contribution,” Fianna said, laying on some serious sass.
“You guys,” Ky interrupted, shaking his chestnut head. “Shouldn’t we be focusing on how I’m here instead of troll traditions?”
“No,” Fianna and I snapped at the same time. It was merely habit for me. I didn’t like to be told what to do. From the chagrined blush spreading across the apples of Fianna’s cheeks, I suspected the answer had blurted out of her without thought as well.
I liked her a little bit more.
Of course we should be focused on how Ky appeared in my bed. Because … what the fuck? And also, how did I get it to happen again—sans the alarms?
“Get back to your dorm,” Fianna ordered Ky, plowing on like she hadn’t just sounded like a tiny, irrational woman.
I was digging her style.
“We’ll get some sleep,” she continued, “and then we’ll discuss at lunchtime so you don’t miss any classes. Just be sure you don’t reappear in Jas’ bed, Kylan, because I won’t look kindly on a repeat of these shenanigans.”
“And how, exactly, should I prevent these shenanigans when I didn’t cause them in the first place?” Ky asked.
“By behaving,” Fianna said. “Now, off with you!”
Apparently Ky decided he wasn’t going to get any more clarity than that. He slid from my bed, remaining covered till the very last moment. Then he hopped out of bed, brushed his hand against the sliver of bare flesh along my waist—on purpose—and booked it from the room.
He gave his sister and Wren a wide berth, circling around where they stood at the exit, but then he paused before disappearing from view.
Despite the company, he trailed his gaze up and down my body, lingering on my face.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I could stop the naughty smile that tugged at my lips.
His eyes were heated, devouring every inch of me. And as I allowed myself the indulgence of sweeping up and down his glorious, mostly naked, broad-shouldered brawn, I was sure of it.
The man wanted me as much as I wanted him.
He was just too complicated for his own good.
“If you guys don’t stop this eye screwing right this second, I’m going to hurl right on your bed, Jas,” Rina said. “I’m his sister!”
“Yeah.” I nodded, naughty grin still firmly in place. “What of it?”
Ky’s warm chuckle trailed him all the way from the bedroom, through the common room, and out the door.
Before Rina could say anything else, or anyone could, I shooed them out the door.
“Come on. Seriously, it’s the middle of the night. Let’s do the sleep thing and meet for lunch to figure it out.”
A few mutters were all my suggestion received in protest before everyone but Adalia left. Fianna and Nessa popped out of sight, and Rina and Wren pulled the door shut behind them.
“You okay, roomie?” Adalia asked as I turned out the light.
“Probably,” I said truthfully.
I couldn’t be entirely sure anymore. I just realized that I’d been dreaming of Ky … in nothing but his boxers … in my bed … when he’d appeared.
And he’d been wearing the exact same boxers. Dark gray with light gray wolves on them.
What. The. Fuck?
9
All of us gathered at lunch the next day to discuss the nighttime interruption. The meeting really just consisted of the addition of Fianna and Nessa to our usual table in the dining hall. Even after updating Leander, Boone, and Dave, no one could make sense of what might have caused Ky to appear in my bed like that.
The consensus was that some kind of magic had been responsible. But that had been obvious from the start.
I debated whether to tell them I’d been dreaming of Ky when he’d appeared in my bed beside me. In the end, I hadn’t shared the fact. He had been wearing the same boxers, but that was far from the weirdest thing that had happened at this school since I’d begun attending it, and there was only so much a girl was willing to admit to.
I’d made it plenty clear I was interested in Ky from the start. I didn’t want to have to own up to dreaming about him too. A girl had to play hard to get at least a little.
When Nessa promised she and Fianna would send messages both to Sir Lancelot and the wizard brothers, she revealed that all three of them were absent from the school grounds, away on secret business of some sort. At that point, Fianna clamped a hand over her cousin’s mouth and all but dragged her away.
We had no answers about Ky’s magical appearing act, and no assurances we’d receive one.
Days passed until they merged into weeks, and nothing else overly bizarre happened—emphasis on overly.
I found myself staring at a little round butt as a pygmy troll with a rainbow fro-hawk scolded students at a neighboring table. For what? Who knew? It might be as trivial as placing a dirty fork directly on the table instead of on the preferred tray.
Wren elbowed me in the side. “You’re staring,” she chuckled.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like I can help it. His butt’s in my line of sight.” I gestured at his backside and Wren rushed to push my hand down.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “What if he notices?”
I shrugged. “They should wear pants under their aprons if they don’t want people to stare.”
“Fair enough,” Wren sighed.
Rina nodded from across the table, where she sat so close to Leander that they were practically hugging while they ate. “It’s like a train wreck. I can’t help but look, and I kinda hate myself for it.”
Boone laughed from farther down the table. “I know what you mean.”
It was our usual crew: Rina, Leo, Wren, Dave, Boone, Adalia, Ky, and me. We had the same lunch period, and I’d grown to look forward to the regular time slot we shared each day.
Someone’s attention pricked at my back. Never one to shy away from a confrontation, I turned.
Tracy, Stacy, and Swan.
Of course it was them attempting to glare holes straight through the females seated at our table.
The bitchy crew of girls apparently believed they’d staked their claim on Ky, Boone, and Leo when the six of them had begun their studies as oners three semesters ahead of the rest of us. The fact that the boys clearly weren’t interested
in them didn’t dissuade the Bitchy Bunch in the least. They simply increased the push-up factor of their bras by a few clicks, applied brighter lipstick, and fluffed their hair more. They were beginning to resemble an ‘80s theme party on a daily basis.
When they noticed me staring, they executed perfect bitchy stares. I grinned at them, sneering a little, directing the full blast of it at Tracy, who still did her best to imitate an extra appendage on Ky whenever he was within arm’s reach, draping all over him whenever he’d allow it, which was most of the time.
Apparently, he didn’t want to hurt her feelings because they were friends. Leo and Boone spouted some of the same bullshit about Stacy and Swan, who made their own attempts at feeling the boys up every chance they got.
It didn’t bother me half as much as it used to. I’d never witnessed Ky look at Tracy the way he did at me. Even if he was still pretending he wasn’t into me.
Boys, they could be such idiots. Why fight what was between us when we could be doing the hanky-panky all day long? I’d have to corner him to talk. His notions of chivalry where they concerned not upsetting his sister by dating her friends were ill placed. Rina was dating his friend. Rina and Leo were practically attached at the hip. There was no way they weren’t getting it on at every opportunity.
I had a strong argument to allow me to do the same with Ky.
Tracy’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits of mascara-lengthened lashes.
I chortled and turned back around, picking up my fork. I sliced off a piece of gooey, cheesy lasagna and slid it into my mouth. No matter what could be said for the surly, bare-assed trolls, they sure knew how to cook.
Ky leaned closer to me by a fraction, leaning on his elbow. “You shouldn’t mess with them.”
I swallowed. “Why not? They have no problem being all handsy with you guys when they shouldn’t be.”
“So what?” He chuckled. “Are you defending our honor?”
“Uh, no. I’m defending my right to be all handsy with you.”
He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and the dark stubble on his cheeks made his copper eyes seem brighter. I was ready to be all handsy with him right the hell now.
“Is that so?” he finally said, low enough that our surrounding friends wouldn’t necessarily hear.