Chapter 15

Evera stared at the flames that danced in the night before her. Her worries and fears of returning to Morag empty-handed were overtaken by the fear of returning as she now was. How was she to explain this? She passed the time by using the gifts the necklace had unlocked.

The soft rumble of a brook that ran in the west was heard, along with the bat that soared in search of food. The ground was firm and sent vibrations of underground animals Evera knew all too well. The cool air seeped into her skin, giving her the refreshing feeling of life and her wings fluttered as she inhaled the night.

With her senses heightened, Evera wondered of her companion. How did he handle this… situation so well? He helped her to escape while she grew unexplainable wings upon her back, stayed fairly calm when she had vanished from sight, and even accepted the fact she was inhuman as if he knew all along. Whatever thoughts ran through his mind at the moment was hidden under a shield of indifference.

William sharpened his hunting knife with a rock, concentration etched on his face. Every few moments he would steal a glance at her as if he were afraid she would try to slit his throat or claw out his eyes, then return to his work.

The young man across the fire put the sharpening stone down and threw his knife at the ground, letting it stick halfway out of the soil.

“My birthday.” William tried to meet his eyes with the young Fae’s but her gaze never left the burning wood between them. “That’s when I found out.”

Evera stayed silent. Crickets and nightly animals cooed in the night. She refused to move as William continued.

“When I became the man of my home I lost the childhood I was trying to cling to. I had to stop playing and start working.” William scoffed. “Remember me back then? I was never depended on for money. My chores were to help with the sowing and feed the chickens. We never needed many earnings. My father made it all selling our farm’s food. When he died…”

Evera looked at the young man. She remembered that day well. It was the summer before she left. Those few days were the last she saw of William before she was taken to her Ownah.

“Mother and I were left on our own. She tried to help with the planting but she did not know much what she was doing. I had to take my father’s place at the market. Some people remembered him as a good man and bought from us, but once we started selling the vegetables that our naïve hands sowed, no one came. My birthday was the first day my mum let me visit you. My thirteen-year-old self ran to my best friend’s house I hadn’t seen for weeks. I was so happy. I got there and I knocked on the door. No one there. Curious. Why wasn’t anyone answering?” William took a deep breath before continuing, Evera holding on to every word.

“I looked around back and saw the back door open. I called for you. I called for your mother and father. No one answered. Your house was empty, your horses were gone. It was like no one had been there for months. That was the day I found out… you left.”

The young man stood up and threw the rough stone he had used moments ago deep into the forest.

“I left during the first weeks of harvest.” Evera stood up, not liking her companion’s height towering over her. “That was a month before your birth date. It did not matter much for I was a stranger to you long before then.” The girl folded her arms across her chest as William snapped his head around and glared at her.

“Not by choice!”

“You did not have to choose it. My mother and father chose it for me the day I was given to them.” Evera’s last words hung in the air. The young man was taken aback and all his fear and anger were turned to pity and regret. Had he known of her pain of realizing who she really was, he would not have held her responsible.

William sighed and grabbed for her hand. He kissed her hand and held it to his forehead, tapping it repeatedly as if he could force the guilt from his head. Evera looked into his sorrowful eyes. She could not help but yearn for his embrace. She stepped to him and held her head against his neck, letting her arms wrap around him and his around her.

“I did not know what I was until the day I was taken.” Evera’s words told the story of true pain. “And even on that day I did not think it would be the last day I would see you. I had not a choice in the world. I was forced from my home into a civilization I had not known existed and stolen from the one I loved.”

Loved? Had she uttered that word so carelessly? She could not have. Fae cannot lie.

But she had loved him like only children can, openly and freely. They were in love when she was seven and he nine, playing between the haystacks, but that devotion was not romantic. It had only grown that way when William started becoming a man and she a woman.

William pulled Evera away from the embrace and gazed into her eyes longingly. He brushed a strand of hair from her face, sending shivers down her spine and causing her wings to shudder.

She glanced back at her wings, and smiled. She had almost forgotten they were there. Time seemed to stand still as she faced William once more. His faced was impassive yet he leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers. He began to pull back but she stood on her toes and pressed into him. Their first kiss together could only be described as one word.

Magic.

Evera could feel what it meant to be in the Unseelie court. They were passion, hunger, desire. Nothing could be forbidden to them and everything was taken by them. Her hand grasped at William’s shirt while the other held his shoulder, keeping her steady while she stood on her toes. Need was taking over her body and William gladly returned the kiss. His one hand held her the back of her neck, his thumb caressing in her hair, while the other hand at her waist. She pressed her weight into him, but before she could go any further, he stopped and broke off the kiss.

Humiliation caused red patches to become apparent on Evera’s cheeks. She tried to step back and walk away to give William time to his thoughts, but he caught her hand and held her against him.

“No, I did not mean…” He smiled into her hair and kissed her forehead. “I apologize. I just wanted to make sure this is real.”

Evera cast her gaze up to meet William’s eyes.

“A Faerie woman who used to be Human to you and that you have not seen in over a decade is now stealing kisses? I do not see what is so unreal.” Evera grinned as she took one last kiss before she returned to seat herself on the ground.