Chapter 40
“ I am not wearing that.”
It was just a few days away from the start of fall…
and my first trip to Ashtabulah. With vacation time requested from work and Tris promising to get my mail, everything was almost ready.
Everything except my wardrobe. Despite my best efforts, I’d been dragged to the House of Treasures at Gil’s request so he could find me the perfect outfit that would get under the skin of Queen Fiadh.
“She’s a strange one. Likes to be the prettiest but hates it if those around her are frumpy.”
“I’m not frumpy,” I complained.
“You won’t be,” Gil said.
“What about this one?” Kaelan held up a red leather dress with ties up the sides.
“No, it’s just as bad as this thing Tris dressed me in.” I spun around to show them how far up my butt the white mini skirt had shifted. Add that to the five-inch heels Kaelan threw on me, and I was ready to make a living with Vectra.
“Go try it on. Please?” Tris begged.
“You just like seeing me in these suggestive things.”
“Yes, and…?”
“Ugh.” I yanked the red dress out of Kaelan’s hands and went into the changing room behind one of the mysterious doors. It took me a few minutes to squeeze into it, and when it was in place, I could barely breathe.
“No!” I shouted out to them.
“Let us see. Let us see,” they chanted together. Gil and Kaelan were just having fun laughing at me, while Tris was enjoying it in a whole other way.
I stomped out of the room and shook my head. “No.”
Laughing, Gil pulled out another option from behind his back. “My daughter seems to be a bit more on the conservative side. So how about this?”
“It looks like a plant.”
“Yes, perfect for your travels.”
Grabbing the lightweight…sundress, I guess I would call it…out of his hands, I admired the cut. And the length. It might show a little bit of cleavage, but as a whole, it covered all my other body parts as well.
“Hold on,” I grumbled, trudging back into my changing room again.
I could hear the boys talking about something—the fighting pits, maybe—and I instantly felt the hot poker of anger burn in my stomach.
Tris had continued meeting with Razi and had competed in a few more fights.
He won some and lost some, and it broke my heart to see how much he seemed to love it.
I really didn’t understand. But I’d been able to spend time with Gil to learn about my lineage, so it was only fair if Tris got to do the same.
The plant dress, as I was going to call it, was actually quite beautiful. The layers of chiffon flowed nicely from the waist, and the ties around the back of my neck were cut out in a way that accentuated my shoulders.
It was a winner.
And the boys all thought the same when I made my appearance.
Gil packed up my new dress, not charging me for it, and Kaelan snuck in a pair of heels. He really loved those heels. We said our goodbyes, and Tris surprised me with dinner.
“I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Oh no. “Yes?”
“You leave on the twenty-first, right?”
“Yes…”
“I’m afraid Razi scheduled a fight for me that day.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt. On the one hand, I had hoped he could be there when I left, in case something went wrong.
On the other hand, I was a little scared of having him watch me.
The queen had threatened death if anyone else tried to transport to her healing pool.
And that crystal Tris got…I was really thinking it had a similar power associated with it.
“Sosie?”
“It’s okay.”
Tris narrowed his eyes. “You’re mad.”
“No, I don’t think I am.”
“You’re disappointed?”
“Maybe. A little.”
He reached across the table and grabbed my hands. “I will be home waiting for your return.”
“I know.”
Our food came, oysters and salads tonight, and that kept us occupied for a while.
We talked sports and work and about how the new case I’d just started on could show the real depths of corruption in New Rothwick.
It was easy. And fun. Tris and I were a team.
We fit together well, and we worked together well.
“Who are you fighting?” I asked as we waited for dessert.
“Oh…um. I don’t know for sure. But I think it might be a shifter.”
“Are they allowed to change?”
“No. Definitely not. That fight we saw with Rohan and the grizzly…that wasn’t the norm.”
“Good.”
He smiled at me and sat back in his chair. “Don’t worry about me, Sosie. Razi is very protective. He’ll stop the fight if he needs to.”
I didn’t have that same vote of confidence, but I needed to trust Tris’s judgement on this. Ever since I got Gil back and Tris had been spending time with Razi, he’d been happier.
“Hey,” he suddenly said. “I have something for you.” Leaning forward, he pulled a box out of his back pocket.
“Tris?” His name caught in my throat as I recognized the container as something that would hold jewelry.
Laughing, he pushed the gift across the table. “Relax, Sosie.”
It was rectangular in shape, which was a comfort. I was pretty sure I was in love with Tris, but I knew I wasn’t ready for marriage just yet.
“It will go well with your new dress.”
“Okay?” I questioned. But when I opened it, I couldn’t stop laughing. “Where did you find this?”
“In the Bellview Market, from a small vendor tucked away in the corner,” he replied quickly.
Taking the thin gold necklace out of the velvet, I held up my new necklace and admired the pendant. Made from gold, the tiny faerie’s eyes sparkled with two little diamonds, and her wings looked like they were created from glass.
Tris jumped up. “Here, let me help.”
I pulled my hair to the side so he could wrap the chain around my neck. He fumbled with the clasp for a bit but finally got it hooked. Looking down at the little gold faerie, I smiled. “This is really nice, thank you.”
I leaned back and lifted my head for a kiss. He complied with a good one before sitting back down across the table and picking up his wineglass. “To safe travels.”
“To safe travels.”
“And to successful fights.”
“Yes, and to successful fights.”
“Are we okay?” he asked with a wink.
“Always,” I replied.
Tris’s smile melted my heart, and I knew that there was no one else I wanted by my side.
Everything was about to escalate in the strangeness category, and I was grateful to have someone to talk to.
Even as Tris shoved the vanilla ice cream in his mouth and wiped the dribble from his chin, I knew that he was my partner in crime.
A faerie and a troll.
A perfect match.
The End…for now.
Captive of the Fae, Book Two of The Forgotten Lands, is coming in 2026.
***
Continue reading for a sneak peek at THE DEMON MISTRESS from The World of Ashlee Sinn.
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