“Sir? I don’t understand. Was it hard to reach?” Poor Tagel sounds distraught.
I rub my hands over my face. “Someone has it in their possession. A woman.” And what else does she have? Does she have my heart or is this a simple fancy? I can’t separate my true feelings from any glamour I might be under.
“Excuse me, sir. Did you say a woman has the Stone of Theribas?”
I nod. “A human woman, Tagel.” I can still feel her delicate hands in mine, her long paint-stained fingers. I breathe in, conjuring the tangy scent of the pigments as my chest squeezes.
“Forgive me, but that is impossible, your highness.”
I turn to the mage. “What do you mean? I saw it with my own eyes. It has been set in a ring made from fae gold.”
The mage shakes his head. “A human could never touch lamendium. They aren’t strong enough to carry that energy. It is known, your highness.”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t know. But anyone in possession of the stone couldn’t possibly be merely human.”
My heart feels lighter than it has felt in more than a hundred years. I don’t wish to wait another week for her to return, but it will be an exquisite torment as each day passes. I realize that I don’t care a whit about the stone, and that frightens me.
I wish only to savor this feeling until I can return for more. For the first time in my entire life, I am caught between what I want and my duty.
Chapter Six
Mila
“What are you doing?” I pull into the parking lot, my hands white-knuckled on the wheel. The lake looks like it always does at sunset. The mountains are the same. The grass looks exactly like it did yesterday. Everything is normal.
Then why do I feel like I am standing on the edge of a cliff?
I haven’t stopped thinking about Ansel. The way his hands felt on mine. The way he kissed me and got inside my head. The taste of him.
“What are you doing, Mila?” I ask myself as I pull on my jacket and step out of the car.
I know it’s ridiculous. “I am going to meet a stranger in the middle of nowhere at sunset.”
But Ansel feels like more than just some stranger. Relegating what happened yesterday to just meeting a stranger is unfair and it diminishes what happened—what we shared here last night… Meeting him felt like lighting a spark inside me.
I walk down to the lakeshore and then turn to the right, heading for the trees where the mist appeared. There is no path through the trees this close to the water, no trail leading to a cabin tucked somewhere in the hills. It’s just thick forest evergreen and aspen as far as I can see.
I walk back to the spot where I usually paint and spread the blanket down on the grass. I feel juvenile coming back here so soon, but I have to see him again. I need to know if the things I felt yesterday are real.
I have no idea if he will be here, but I decided to take a chance.
I made a pledge to live my life. I told myself I was strong. I know that all of this is crazy, but I don’t care. I feel more alive right now than I have in forever.
A hawk springs from the top of an evergreen and circles above me. I lie back on the blanket to watch him as he rises higher and higher in the air, the image of perfect freedom without a care in the world. I close my eyes and imagine being so free.
“You’ve returned.” His voice startles me.
I open my eyes to find Ansel standing there, this time dressed in a deep blue coat and green wool trousers that disappear into his leather boots. When I sit up, he is next to me, kneeling on the blanket, reaching for my hand.
When he touches me, the fire ignites and the blaze burns through my body, waking up every cell, every nerve. My heart races.
“I didn’t expect you so soon,” he says, cupping my cheek in his warm hand.
I cover his hand with mine, delighting in the feel of him. “I couldn’t stay away,” I whisper.
“Oh, Mila.” He bends toward me, drawing my mouth to his.
Chapter Seven
Ansel
When Tagel sent for me with word that the surge was back, I didn’t want to believe it in case he was mistaken. It has never come two days in a row, and yet… the readings were there, plain to see.
I haven’t slept a wink, and I have been drifting through the day, unable to eat or to drink, wanting only to think about Mila. Unable to stir a thought for anything else.
What is this hold she has over me? Surely it cannot be the mist glamour and the pull of that stone? It defies belief that I could be across the other side of the castle and a day away, and it still has a hold on my heart?
And now I am with her at the lake, holding her in my arms, the bolts of heat and light warring inside me as I devour her, claim her with my mouth.
She fingers the laces at the neck of my tunic. “I wasn’t sure you were real.” Her words are a whisper.
I laugh. “I felt the same. The longer I was away from you, the more I was sure you were a figment. I was in agony thinking it would be another week before I could see you again.”
Something in her face changes and she pulls away. “What makes you say it would be a week?”
“Don’t you normally come here once every week?”
She eyes me with a wariness I dislike immensely. “Have you been watching me?”
Awareness dawns. “I must sound like a predator. Mila, no. I… I am not from here. I… by the stars this is difficult to say.”
“Just say it. I am all ears.”
“Last night, I didn’t come here to see you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I happened upon you while I was seeking something else.”
“But you said you knew I came here every week. How do you know that?”
I reach for her hand and turn it so the ring is between us. “It has to do with this.”
“My ring? You’re joking.”
I shake my head. “The stone is called lamendium. It is quite possibly the rarest stone in all of creation. Only three of them exist.”
“Really?” She moves the ring in the dying sunlight. “It looks like a piece of crystal.”
“Where I am from, this crystal is life and death.”
“What do you mean? Where are you from?”
It is forbidden for anyone to reveal our world to the humans. Time has shown their nature to be at odds with everything we hold dear. But I refuse to lie to Mila.
“May I tell you a story?” I ask. “It may shed some light on this.”
“All right. If you insist.”
“It’s a children’s story, so you must indulge me.”
She takes my hand and nods.
I clear my throat. “A long time ago, in a faraway land, there lived a prince who had a restlessness inside him which simply wouldn’t be satisfied. No matter how much work there was to do, he would always steal away on an adventure, anything but stillness for our prince.” I run my thumb over the lamendium on her finger, remembering Tagel’s words that no human could touch it.
“One day, while on one of his excursions, the prince met a girl with whom he shared an irresistible affinity. Some say it was a fated bond, a soul-connection so rare, it has only happened twice in recorded history. You could live a hundred lifetimes and never know such a thing.”
“Sounds so romantic.” Mila smiles and I feel my chest tighten.
“Indeed. The prince was so taken by her, he took the most precious thing he knew and made it a gift for her. You see, in his world, there were these three jewels called the Stones of Theribas. By taking this jewel from his world, he was dooming the world to drift away and die.”
“That’s terrible. Why would he do that?”
“He didn’t know. None of us knew. And once he left his world for this one, he disappeared with his princess and the stone, never to return.”
“What happened to his world?” Mila asks, concerned.
“It’s still there, but it is showing signs of stress. It is no l
onger possible to travel between the realms as readily as before. Some doors have shifted, and some have closed off completely.”
“And the stone?” she asks.
I lift her hand and kiss her fingers, looking at the lamendium crystal sitting in a nest of spun gold. “The lost stone of Theribas has returned.”
Chapter Eight
Mila
“Mila, say something, please.”
I stand with my hands bunched into my hips. “So you’re telling me that you’re from this far away land?”
“Yes.”
“And you came here looking for this.” I indicate my ring.
“Yes.”
“And all of this…” I wave my hand between us. “All of this has been a game to… What? Catch me off guard so you can steal it from me?”
He looks like I slapped him. “Gods, no. Mila, I never expected you. I couldn’t have foreseen what has happened between us.”
“So you had to pivot, change your plan on the spot.” I say, fighting everything in me that yearns for him. “You’re good. You’re really good.”
“Mila, I sense that you’re upset.”
“You sense that I am upset?” I try not to shout, but my voice echoes across the valley anyway. “You could say that.” I thought I was taking a leap. I thought I was trying to live again… now I see that I was a fool. Blinded by my need for something I was stupid enough to think would appear in the middle of nowhere. I blink back the tears. I refuse to cry.
I get to my feet and grab at the blanket, forcing him to get up. “You make up a fairy tale story and seduce me. You’re going through a lot of trouble over a ring.” I crumple the blanket into a ball and trudge up the hill to the car.
“Mila, wait, please. I beg you.” Something in his tone tears at me.
My heart squeezes as I walk away. I don’t want to leave. But I can’t stay here and keep my dignity, knowing that he lied. “Why?” I turn around to face him.
He’s on his knees. “I am telling you the truth. I came here looking for the stone—which happens to be in your ring. We have a way of sensing its proximity… I came here looking for a stone. And I found you.” The urgency in his words is palpable.
He shakes his head and looks around as if the words he needs are in the grass. “Isn’t it possible that both of these things are true? I don’t know how to prove to you that my feelings for you are real. But they are. They are more real than anything I have felt in my life. Which sounds incredible given that I have spent only a few hours with you, but… Don’t you feel this too?”
I do feel it. I have no idea what it is, but it lives in my chest and it wants me to be as close as I can get to him. “Where are you from?”
His shoulders drop. “I am from the land of Fae. A realm apart. I could be killed for uttering those words.”
“You’re a fairy?”
He laughs. “No. I am Fae. Fairies have wings. I do not.”
“What do Fae have?”
“We have the ability to harness certain elements, certain natural powers. It varies.”
“Show me.”
He glances around us as if someone might be watching. Then he raises his hands in front of him and a white ball of light glows in his hands, spreading out around him. The ball continues to grow until it encompasses me.
I step backward, stunned at the vision unfolding before my eyes.
“Please don’t be afraid of me, Mila.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know what I am… but what I am feeling is not fear.”
“I am still the same man you met yesterday.”
Inside the ball of light, it’s like daytime in a flower garden, except here the flowers are unimaginably gorgeous and the smell is incredible. A silver butterfly flutters through the air, its wings look like they were dipped in glitter.
“What is this?” I can barely speak.
“This is Fae.”
I drop my blanket and step closer to him, unwilling to walk away without feeling his touch at least one more time. I drop to the grass in front of him, the two of us kneeling face to face.
He takes my hand and presses it to his chest. “Mila, tell me that you feel this too.”
I feel his racing heart under my hands and the thrum of heat that comes whenever I touch him. I touch my free hand to my chest and close my eyes. “Ansel, what is happening?”
“I don’t know what this is. I only know that I need to be near you.” He bends to kiss me, and I take him into my arms, holding him against me as the light glows around us. He presses against me, his arousal firm between us.
I wrap my arm around him and pull myself to him, grinding against his hardness and making him moan. He lifts the hem of my skirt, brushing his hands over the outside of my thighs as I undo his belt and untie the strings on his trousers.
I don’t know what this is. I don’t know if I really care. I only know that if I leave here tonight without finding out, I will regret it for the rest of my life.
Chapter Nine
Ansel
I wake to the sun blazing in my eyes and realize I am still in the human realm. A quick glance reveals that I am alone, though I knew before I looked that Mila was gone. The ache in my chest feels like a death that has no form. Gods, how am I supposed to carry on like this?
Her blanket covers my nakedness and my clothing has been folded neatly into a small stack on the grass. My boots lean next to my clothes, all of it waiting for me, and perched on top is Mila’s lamendium ring. Seeing it there is like a kick in to the heart. I have lost her.
She left it for me.
Then she left me.
I pull on my boots as the mist rolls in, not bothering to lace my trousers or tuck in my tunic. I imagine Tagel has birthed a calf in my absence, though he must be able to see the lamendium readings on his machine so he can surmise that I am here and he has not misplaced the crown prince.
I tuck Mila’s blanket and my coat under my arm and walk along the shore, unable to shake the feeling that if I step through the mist, I may never see her again. It is unbearable, and yet, the battle in my heart between duty and desire has been resolved for me. She made her choice; and in turn made my choice for me.
I swallow that bitterness as I step through the mist.
Tagel beams as I hand him the ring. The machine near the wall whirs to life, popping and flashing now that the lamendium it seeks is only a few meters away. The mage hurries over and pulls a heavy lever to disengage the machine. “It defies belief, your highness.” He admires the stone, turning it this way and that in the sunlight shining through the window.
“Hmm.” Is all I can muster at the moment. I feel as though I have tasted bliss only to have it torn away. What cruelty is this? What manner of irony is this that I should take up an adventure on a whim only to have my heart torn in two? I walk through the tower and open the door to leave.
Tagel calls to me. “Sir? We must present this to your father at once.”
I wave back at him. “By all means. Carry on without me. I cannot join you.”
The mage stops ogling the ring and looks at me. “Sir?” He hurries across the room and pulls me inside by the arm. “What ails you?”
I shake my head. “It defies explanation, much as this defies belief,” I say, indicating the ring. “I can no more express the anguish I feel than I can conjure the moon, Tagel. I am bereft.”
“The woman again? The human?”
“Aye. And she has given me this prize in exchange for my heart.”
I don’t look up because I don’t want to see the judgement and disappointment in Tagel’s eyes. It is a folly, he’ll say. It is but a passing fancy. But when I meet his gaze, I find the mage beaming.
“What is it, Tagel?”
He hurries to his cabinet and returns with a heavy volume which he perches on the table near the door. He flips through the pages, searching for something. “Do you feel a burning inside your chest, Sire?”
I arch a brow at him. “I do. Is th
ere a cure for that in your book?”
“Does it feel like lightning surging through your limbs?” More pages, more searching.
“It does. How do you know this? What have I been afflicted with? Can it be cured?” I am unable to hide the alarm in my voice at the thought that this is a sickness of the body or the mind, and not of the heart after all. Which, if true means that Mila is nothing to me and that offers its own lament.
“Do you sense her absence at this very moment?”
I drop my head in my hands. “Like a part of me has been torn away, Tagel. What is going on?”
“I believe, Dear Prince Ansel, that you have discovered your fated one.” He lifts the book so I can see the page, and I take in the diagram of ailments and the way they draw together to prove the soul bond has been cast.
“By the fairies, you can’t be serious,” I say.
“Oh, but it seems to be true.”
“I thought Fae could only bond with Fae? She is human?”
“What if she is partly human, part Fae?”
“Do you know of any Fae living in the human realm?”
“Only one, though I don’t think he still draws breath, sadly. That light was extinguished ages ago.”
“Then how?” I ask.
“What if he left a child? And that child bore a child… it does not defy belief.”
“Are you suggesting that Mila is the descendent of the fae prince who stole the Stone of Theribas all those years ago?”
The mage shrugs. “Why not? It would answer all the questions you raise.”
I want to scoff at the suggestion, though I feel the truth of his words thrumming through me even as I try to deny them. She must be fae. She must be my fated one. And I let her go. I have no hope of finding her now. I feel the blood drain from my face as I drop into the chair again. “What have I done, Tagel?”
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