“Yeah, I’ll be all right.”
“I’m glad I made you happy, Devin the human. At least…in your dream.”
Then she was gone. The water tracked out in dark ripples, but other than that and his achingly spent body there was nothing left to say she had ever been there.
That’s how he knew beyond all doubt Aliya was real. If he had created her as a sort of fantasy, if all this had been just his imagination, she never would have gone. He’d have found a way to keep her with him forever.
She made him happy? Hell. More like she ripped out his heart.
Chapter Five
Kyne buzzed over the tree line that bordered the banks of the Great Lake and followed the crowded roadway there along the shore. He’d spent the night on the distant, deserted shore, avoiding Raea and all others of his kind. It was better for everyone that way.
But now it was morning and he had his work to catch up on. He had to monitor the seasonal progression of local plant life, insect activity, air currents, and other things that humans so easily took for granted while they bumbled along in their daily lives. They were such busy creatures, always coming and going somewhere. The start of the day seemed to be especially full of activity for them as they bustled here and there, caught up in their lives and oblivious to so many things around them.
A flash of pink sparkle caught his notice. By the Skies, what was…could that be Raea? Yes, as a matter of fact, it was. She came skimming long the tree line from the opposite direction, moving with definite purpose and aim. Kyne ducked into the leafy shadows and watched as she came nearer, then left the relative safety of the tree line and zipped up high, soaring toward the very top of a nearby tall building.
What could the Wish Fairy be up to, glittering in the early sunshine and putting herself in such a position where she might possibly be seen? The Veil protected them from most human view, but every now and then someone was not caught up in mundane life. Every now and then some human was unexpectedly searching for magic, opening his eyes to the possibility of more than just what he knew. Those were the humans to watch out for. Those were the ones Wish Fairies like Raea were supposed to be keeping distracted.
Is that what she was doing now? She moved so rapidly and seemed so sure of her direction…he thought maybe he ought to check it out. This was exactly the sort of unexpected behavior the Fairy Council had asked him to be on the lookout for.
Not that he was the spineless little patsy they seemed to think him. When the leaders from his previous region had transferred him here, he hadn’t raised up a fuss. When he was called before the council and told that he was under investigation on interference charges that he knew for a fact where purely invented, he’d played the part they all wanted him to play. He let them think he was afraid, but he wasn’t. He was simply keeping his boiling rage under control.
The Fairy Council was using him. They’d heard the rumors of his unusual birth and they’d sought him out. He’d been investigated relentlessly, the council hunting until they found some so-called discrepancies in his behavior that they could use against him. To avoid punishment for them, he must follow their orders. They demanded he act as their spy.
They wanted him to track other fairies for them and report back, gathering bits of information they could use to turn more well-meaning fairies into their cowering cohorts. If he did not do as requested, it was clear what the council would do. They would punish him by making his background known and expelling him from the Realm. Then they’d simply find the next willing sap to dance to their bidding.
By the Skies, Kyne had lived with rumor and suspicion all his blighted life. He was practically an exile already. Whether the council humiliated him or not made little difference to him. What he couldn’t abide, though, was the knowledge that his own kind could be so ruthless and duplicitous.
Everyone knew humans were capable of such barbaric behaviors, but fairies were supposed to be beyond such pettiness and schemes. They were not governed by the same animal passions as humans. They were above greed and envy and power-lust. He needed desperately to believe this, to have hope that a half-breed like himself might overcome the base instincts he inherited on his human side.
But if it was true that fairy nature was above all that vulgar humanness, why was the council so worried about fairy behavior? Why did they need to blackmail him into betraying his own kind?
The whole purpose of the Fairy Council was to defend fairies, to guide them in ways that built up and strengthened the Veil for their own protection. He’d always admired the council for that, he’d trusted them and been a stalwart supporter of the firm barrier between the mundane and magic. He, more than anyone, understood the need for such a thing.
But now it seemed not even his own kind could be trusted. The council was suspicious of those it purported to protect, and he certainly was suspicious of the council. Now here was Raea, a well-respected fairy he’d seen on numerous occasions buzzing about places he was sure that she had not needed to be.
Maybe the council was right to have their suspicions. Not that they’d ever seemed to notice Raea for anything…yet. Kyne had noticed her on his own. Something about Raea had attracted his attention from the first day he’d seen her.
She always had such a spark, always put so much of herself into her work. He liked that. He also couldn’t deny he liked looking at her, but that was nothing he was particularly proud of. Not only did he notice and respect Raea for her excellent fairy qualities, but there was something in her that appealed to his human side, too. And that was reprehensible.
He had a hard enough time keeping his human side under control; the last thing he needed was to torment himself by trailing around after a fairy he found…well, he found her attractive. In that way. A human way.
The way that made him go hot and uncomfortable in his oversize, over-, overly humanlike organ.
Thank the Clouds that the council had never asked him about that. He would have certainly incriminated himself if they had. All his life he’d carefully governed his actions, his appearance, even his thoughts. He’d been a full fairy to everyone who had met him. Deep down inside, though, he knew the truth. Even his own mother never knew how fully human parts of him were. Magic helped him somewhat, but mostly he stayed in control purely due to his single-minded determination. For the rest of his life, he intended to keep it that way.
It wasn’t easy, of course. Especially around Raea. Sometimes—like last night—after being near her he needed some time off on his own before he could get himself under control again. Especially when he encountered her granting one of those kinds of wishes. By the Skies, if only he weren’t so damned sensitive to noticing those human passions. And her.
Life would be so much easier without those aspects of his being. He wished he could avoid everything that brought out the worst in him. He tried hard every day, but sometimes he failed and let himself be drawn to things that brought only torment. Like passion. And Raea.
Despite his internal chastisement, though, he didn’t think twice about following her now.
Toward the top of the building she paused. The interior space of this high-rise facility opened to a marble-and-tile balcony. Apparently humans enjoyed viewing their domain from high places, and this would certainly provide quite a view. The double doors leading into the building were open on this sunny day and Raea found a sheltered perch on a nearby potted plant.
The natural state for fairies was small, of course, and fortunately so. While mermaids tended to be every bit proportionate to humans in their size, and some magical creatures, like dragons, were positively huge, fairies were small. This made it much easier for them to remain hidden beyond the Veil, and Raea was taking full advantage of this now.
Kyne hoped it would work for him, too. He was slightly larger than most fairies, and no one else realized how hard he had to work at forcing his body into this tiny form. It seemed his human traits weren’t limited merely to forbidden inclinations and one reactive private b
ody part. One of the reasons he needed seclusion at times was because it took so much of his energy to maintain this size. Too much energy, in fact. Plus, it used up quantities of his Fairy Dust that might make the council ask awkward questions. Sometimes he just couldn’t do it. He would go off on his own and let his body simply do what it would.
So far, fortunately, no one had ever caught him in his larger state. Today would be no exception. He was fully in control of his human inclinations and tucked himself behind a large concrete urn. He could see Raea clearly, though he could tell she was blissfully unaware of him.
All her attention was on the man pacing nervously just inside the doors. He was mumbling to himself, too, though Kyne could not hear his words. They were enough to make Raea noticeably nervous, though.
She listened, put her fingertips to her lips in a most distracting show of distress, and then buzzed her wings almost to the point that Kyne expected her to be heard. What was that man doing or saying that was causing her so much agitation?
Kyne moved nearer, positioning himself behind a sturdy wooden chair. He could see the man clearer now, but some sort of human heating and cooling device was too close for him to hear the man’s words. He could see his face, though, and it made him buzz his own wings in agitation.
The man from the boat. Yes, Kyne recognized him, even wearing clothes and not pumping his body over some female. He was dressed in the sort of attire often seen on men of business. Given the apparent quality of this man’s clothes and the obvious affluence of the building around him, Kyne determined he must be a man of some power or wealth, at least by human standards. They gave too much credit to such things.
But why would this man cause Raea concern? Were his wishes as distasteful to her as she had claimed last night? She certainly hadn’t seemed uninterested in them, or the dozens of other such wishes he’d found her granting when he let the passion those humans emitted lure him out to watch. Why was it usually her and not any of the other Wish Fairies assigned to this region? He still felt she had not been entirely truthful about her interest in such things.
All the more reason he did not regret that stupid wager he’d made with her. Did this have something to do with that? Was she here with this man in hopes of finding some way to win at their bet? If she was it did not appear things were working in her favor.
Good. Kyne was right to insist she needed to take the Veil more seriously. All of them should. He would actually enjoy winning this bet and seeing the look on her face when she would acknowledge his point. He’d have to think long and hard on what wish he’d ask her to grant.
Long and hard. So very hard…and she’d beg him to wish it again, over and over and…
By the Skies, he was getting carried away. Damn it. He couldn’t afford to think that way, especially not over another of his kind. He’d made that bet with her to prove a point, not to find a way to take advantage of her. Although what a pleasant thing it would be to finally take advantage of those luscious pink lips and that tight little winged body and…
He’d been getting carried away again and it almost cost him dearly.
The man was leaving the interior of his office space, coming through the doors out onto the balcony. Raea darted off out of view, and Kyne hurried to hide just beyond the jutting marble cornice over the building entrance. But a jet of air coming up from the heating and cooling device threw him off course and he lost his lift.
Unbalanced and unsupported, he tumbled over the side of the balcony, falling a good two stories down before he was finally able to catch himself. He probably wouldn’t have been so out of control if he’d not been letting his mind wander as he had, but now he was righted. He dodged windows and made his way upward again, slowly rising above the high wall surrounding the balcony, careful to keep himself unseen. Given the human’s erratic behavior and Raea’s reaction to him, this human could very well be a danger to them. Clearly he was often touched by Raea’s magic. Everyone knew the warnings about humans who required excessive magical intervention to keep them content. They were possibly the most dangerous kinds of humans.
Kyne would be wise to stay clear. Trouble was, though, as he hid off in a corner he could not view the full balcony area. Was Raea still here? Which way had she gone? He had no way to tell, and the longer he was here the more likely his chance was of being discovered.
When a human female voice called for the man from inside the building, it was obvious he was not alone. His companion would be joining him here on the balcony. Things were not safe. Kyne buzzed high overhead to see if he could spot Raea, but she was long gone.
Damn. He’d been trying to determine what she was up to. Was she granting another wish for this man? Were things just about to get passionate with the approaching female?
It was all Kyne could do to pry himself away, but he did. He left the building and the humans in it. He flew off, headed back toward the Circle, the gathering place of his own kind where he knew he’d be surrounded by calm, passionless fairies who might not quite understand him, but who would do nothing to make him crave things he should not.
It took everything he had to leave that human on his balcony, imagining the actions that might be unfolding behind him. Passion, heated coupling, the cries of satisfaction when they reached that illusive climax. Kyne’s body craved the feeling he got when he came near humans engaged in such actions, but he knew it was wrong. These things were not for him. He was a fairy, not some base human creature. Always he was at war with himself. It was maddening.
Let the Fairy Council believe he feared them, worried about what they held over him and what they could do. He didn’t fear them one bit. No, he had someone much more terrifying to worry about.
Himself.
Chapter Six
Devin left the plush confines of his executive suite and stepped out into the morning sun on his balcony high over the city. He wasn’t seeing the spectacular view sprawling around him, though. He wasn’t hearing the traffic or the din of daily life below. No, his mind was full of Aliya.
He could see her, feel her, taste her as if she were still here with him. As if she were real.
Of course she was not. He knew that. Mermaids weren’t real. All his life he’d been told that. Hell, Judith had even mentioned it once when she found him ogling a painting in an antique store. An art deco masterpiece with mermaids frolicking in the sea spray—it was priced way too high but he was ready to pay it. He would have hung it over their bed if she hadn’t put her foot down.
To this day, the painting over his bed was a portrait of her. Not that he actually slept in that bed. No, he’d been in the guest room ever since that night when…when he hadn’t been able to save her.
God, why couldn’t he let himself get past that? There was nothing he could have done. Everyone told him so; the fire marshal, the EMTs, the cops on the scene. Everyone was so very sorry for him, but it was time for him to move on. Even his therapist seemed tired of his constant fixation on the subject.
But the truth was, he could have saved Judith. He could have forced her to take some time off, not to push herself so relentlessly. He could have talked her into going home with him that night and not driving in to work during such a bad storm. He could have made her love him enough that she would have wanted to go home with him.
He paced, wishing Aliya could be here to help him drown out the pain. He could have saved Judith if he’d have been enough for her. But he wasn’t.
She’d wanted more than he could provide. She’d wanted success and everything that went with it. She’d told him over and over that he was going to make it big, that his designs would change the world. Right from the start, she devoted herself to making that a reality.
He’d been a wide-eyed kid at MIT when he met her and she made him believe his renewable energy innovations weren’t just crazy ideas. They were going to make him rich, she said. They would become famous, she said. All they had to do was give everything they had to finally make Sandstrom Industries a
reality.
And of course he’d wanted that, too. But every success they’d achieved just seemed to make her eager for more. She encouraged him to push harder and harder, never to sit back and enjoy their accomplishments but to keep striving for more. Even on their days off, she insisted on spending most of her time in her office, going over marketing plans and drawing up proposals for yet more research grants.
They’d been busy at work until late that last night. A storm was rolling in and they knew that, but she was determined to finish her project. He tried to tell her that inventory could wait; another day or two would have hardly mattered. He asked her to go home with him, to get some sleep. To spend some time as a couple, not just as coworkers.
She’d refused. Frustrated, he’d left. She said she would drive herself home later, so he’d gone and left her there. Alone. With a storm on the way.
It hadn’t been expected to be severe; they’d had the radio on in the workshop where she was scouting through miscellaneous equipment trying to update her parts lists. Why did that have to be her job? Why couldn’t she have let someone else do it? Why couldn’t he make her believe he was on top of everything?
Damn it, if he’d just done things differently he could have saved her. He could have made her go home with him that night; he could have been more important to her than their work. Why couldn’t he have made her love him and convince her it was time to start that family they’d always dreamed of? But she wasn’t ready for a family, wasn’t ready to go home with him that night.
So she’d stayed and she’d worked. She was all alone there in that back workshop when the lightning struck. The power blew out and the interior alarm must not have worked. She’d been trapped there when the fire started.
He’d felt guilty on his drive home so he called her to apologize. When she didn’t answer her phone he was worried. He turned his car around and drove straight back to their facility. He got there just as the first of the fire trucks pulled up out front. The police held him back as he heard his wife’s screams from inside, heard her crying for help. They kept holding him back when those screams finally stopped.
Kissed by the Wave: A Forbidden Realm Novel Page 5