Chapter 4 #3
I grabbed Emabelle’s hand and leaned closer. “There’s a guy coming over. He looks like he knows me.”
“Oh, good.” At first, she smiled, until she glanced over her shoulder and saw who I was referring to, then she frowned deeply and sneered as if she’d nearly stepped in dog shit.
Quickly, she turned back to me. “No. Not him. That’s James Peterson.
You have no interest in that prick. He broke your heart. ”
Enough said. According to my notes, he was kissing friend number one, but we stopped being kissing friends when I caught him in our stables balls deep in Cindy Havisham, a girl who’d hated me since we were kids. That happened eight months ago. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him since.
I could see why I’d liked him. He was handsome. However, he had an untrustworthy look in his eyes that I wondered how I’d missed.
The friendly smile that brightened James’ face as he got closer suggested he thought we were on good terms. We weren’t. In my notes, past-me had viciously cursed him to all the hells and back. Specifically, I’d wished the plague upon his cock and eternal limpness as punishment for his cheating.
“Evening, ladies.” His voice dipped low, carrying a practiced charm that made my skin prickle. His smile was easy. Like he hadn’t shattered whatever the past version of me had once trusted in him.
“What do you want?” Emabelle was on fire and looked like she was ready to tackle him.
James’ grin widened with confidence, as if he thought we were about to pick up where we left off. I glared at him when he glanced at me.
“I wanted to wish Elariya congratulations on her upcoming wedding. I hadn’t realized it was so soon.” James nodded at me.
“Great. Now that you’ve given your congratulations, you can leave.” Emabelle raised her chin and levelled him a hard stare.
“Wow, feisty, feisty. How about I hear Elariya speak for herself?” He focused entirely on me now.
“You can leave,” I answered.
He had the audacity to smirk. “Come on, Elariya. People make mistakes. That whole incident in the barn with Cindy meant nothing.”
“It didn’t look that way to me.” I gave myself credit for sounding like I actually remembered them being together and was still bitter about it. “Why don’t you go find Cindy?”
“I don’t want Cindy, because it was nothing.” He tsked, sweeping a hand through his thick brown hair. “So, I thought you may want some real fun with me before you head out to Zyvaris with that arrogant asshole.”
At least we could agree on one thing about Thayden. He was an arrogant asshole.
“My answer is absolutely not. You lost your chance with me.”
“Is that so?” He gave me an overly cocky smirk, flashing dazzling white teeth and confidence that showed he wasn’t used to hearing the word no. “You’re seriously turning me down?”
“Yes, I am. I also don’t think my betrothed would like the idea of me having any sort of fun with you.” Betrothed. Gods, my stomach twisted with the lie.
“Betrothed? That’s new. You never called him that before.”
“Well, he is. And I’m sure he won’t like to hear that you were propositioning me, so please leave me alone.”
James stepped back, looking at me as if I’d slapped him. Then the smile fell off his face and a stony look replaced his charm as quickly as if he’d slipped off a mask. “Suit yourself.”
“I will.”
“In other words, fuck the hell off,” Emabelle piped, flicking her wrist to shoo him away.
His jaw tensed, and for a second, I wondered if he might say something more, but he didn’t. He turned and walked away, stiff with irritation.
I watched him until he joined his friend on the other side of the tavern, then I returned my gaze to Emabelle, who was looking way too pleased.
“Well done.” She beamed.
“I can’t believe I ever liked that guy.”
“Forget him.” She waved her hand dismissively, her grin bright and mischievous. “Tonight’s ours. Let’s make the absolute most of it.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.” I nodded. As carefree as hooking up with someone sounded, it was off the table. At least for tonight. Thayden may be coming tomorrow, but I didn’t belong to him until his ring was on my finger.
“I’ll get us some more drinks.” The excitement returned to her eyes. “How about some stronger ale and more pie?”
“Sure.”
She stood and weaved through the crowd toward the bar. In her absence, I suddenly felt alone.
This was what it would feel like when I went to Zyvaris. I’d be in a room full of people just like I was now and still feel like I was the only person walking around on the face of the earth.
And as for my magic…
Would I ever feel it again?
There was little point in talking to Grandmother about a solution when she’d laid all talk of magic to rest. I was literally fucked and on my own when it came to regaining my powers.
I’d accepted I’d never be able to practice magic in the mortal realm, but that didn’t mean I wanted to lose myself.
I didn’t want to lose my powers from my own foolish mistakes, and I didn’t want them to be stripped from me either. The latter may not be up to me, but for now
I had to get them back. If only to feel them one last time.
I thought of the grounding spell I'd been using over the last few days. It was supposed to balance my mind and help me stabilize my powers.
Ideally, it should be performed somewhere like the woods where I could feel the energy from the earth. But I felt I needed to keep trying it, no matter where I was.
I decided to take advantage of being alone. And sorry everyone, I had to break my promise.
I rested my elbows on the table and placed a hand to my forehead before closing my eyes. If anyone looked at me, they’d just think I was tired and taking a rest.
‘Salavie melavwy, valgor melavwy. Salavie melavwy, valgor melavwy.’
The chant flowed through my mind and I focused on every soothing magical word.
It was a basic spell but felt more like one of the old mage prayers beseeching the Blessed Mother.
I chanted the words in my mind over and over again, and focused on finding that feeling that always came to me when my magic was within my grasp.
But there was nothing. Nothing at all.
It was like searching around in the darkness again and not knowing where to go. Backwards, forwards, left, right.
I paused for a beat, drew in a breath and searched my mind.
But then there was a flicker. A faint spark of…silver?
It was silver. Silver in the dark, flickering like the flame on a candle.
I’d never seen anything like that before.
I stared at it, trying to figure out what it was then suddenly, the silver spark spiraled into rich threads of energy. It looped around and around, reaching for me.
It touched my face, tantalizing my skin with a soothing caress that beckoned me to lift my head and open my eyes. The feeling that came from it was like an unspoken whisper in my soul telling me what to do.
I did as it prompted, lifting my head, then opening my eyes slowly. And my gaze met the sharp, silvery-blue eyes of a man sitting across from me, not ten feet away.
His eyes were too harsh. Too piercing. Too assessing. Like a hunter sizing up prey. They held no softness. No kindness.
No mercy.
The chiseled cut of his jaw framed a warrior’s face carved from marble, shadows, and war. A contradiction of lethal grace and untamed beauty, marred only by the scar running across his cheek. It gave him a roguish look.
Even so, he was easily the most handsome man I had ever seen in my life.
How hadn’t I noticed him before? He wasn’t the kind of man you could miss.
He looked like he’d just stepped out of a storm. A force of nature made flesh.
The midnight-black cloak draped over his shoulders wrapped him in shifting shadows that nearly concealed the fitted leather tunic beneath.
The only interruptions to the darkness were the crisscrossing brown leather straps across his torso—likely securing weapons—and the gold beads woven into the dark strands of his beard. Each bead caught the firelight like tiny embers, flickering over the brutal stillness of his form.
The cowl of his dark cloak was thick and embossed with strange, curling patterns. It shadowed his features without fully covering the sharp angles of his face or the raven-black hair that tumbled in long, roguish waves down his broad shoulders.
A spark of something carnal darkened his gaze. Only then did I realize I’d been staring at him this whole time.
I knew it was incredibly rude, and I must have looked like a dazed fool who’d been enchanted by some whacked-up spell. And yet… I couldn’t bring myself to look away.
But the handsome stranger had been staring at me, too.
When his eyes roamed down my body in a purely scandalous way that left no need to question what he was thinking, shamefully sinful thoughts entered my mind.
Those unusual-colored eyes lingered on my breasts for far too long, and a flush of heat coated my thighs. Moisture beaded embarrassingly between my legs and the fire I previously felt beneath my skin spread all over me as if someone dowsed me with oil and lit me up with lava.
Raw desire I shouldn’t be feeling for a stranger coursed through me. It forced my mind to imagine what it would be like to be taken by a man like him.
I thought he would be strong and wild and possessive. Not that my virgin body would know. He just looked the type. Like a man who wouldn’t just claim his woman. He’d own her and make sure she knew she belonged to him.
What would it feel like to belong to such a man?
As if he was aware of the immoral effect he’d created in my mind and body, his gaze intensified, becoming… fascinated.
It made me wonder if we’d met before. Had we met, and I didn’t remember?
Curse the damn curse if that were true. Because despite whatever I told myself, I knew deep down that this was the kind of guy I would have liked to remember.
Before I blinked, the fascination in his eyes changed into something else. Something more serious and sinister. As if he’d righted his mind and was now trying to figure me out.
He cocked his head, his eyes never leaving mine, but the motion shifted the cowl of his hood enough for me to see his ears.
His pointed ears. Pointed like… the Fae?
No way. Surely, I was imagining things.
But… as I took in the subtle but sharp points of his ears that everyone associated with faeries, I knew I couldn’t be seeing things.
He was Fae.
My heart slammed against my ribs, each violent thud echoing in my throat, choking me. The room tilted sideways as my blood turned to ice water and a sheen of cold sweat cascaded over my skin.
I couldn't breathe past the primal terror seizing every inch of me as the truth sank in.
Blessed Mother. The man I was looking at was Fae.
Man? No. Fae males weren’t men. Not truly. They only looked like mortal men.
Striking. Impossibly perfect. But beneath the beauty was power.
In the magical realm of Vaelthorne, the Fae were among the most powerful of all immortal beings.
I’d never seen one in real life. Only in old paintings and grainy sketches in books.
They came to the mortal realm on occasion as ambassadors and emissaries but never to Stormfell.
I was certain I could speak for the majority of people who lived here and say we’d never laid eyes on a Fae in our lives.
So why was one sitting across from me now?
And… wait…
How long had he been here?
I was certain that a shelf containing seashells and sculpted logs had been across from me. Emabelle had even commented on them when we first sat down.
The shelf had been right there up until moments ago when I saw this man.
Looking at him a little closer, I got the feeling that he’d been watching me for a while. Much longer than the few moments we shared in our silent exchange.
If I was right, then why had he been watching me?
The streaks of silver that I’d seen in my mind suddenly materialized from the air and began curling around him. He noticed. He saw them, too.
Me and him and no one else.
A spiral zipped past two women, yet they were none the wiser. The same thing happened to one of the servers.
With a deep frown marring his handsome face, the mysterious Fae stranger looked back at me, but this time, the blue of his eyes turned to misty black, making my heart nearly jump out of my chest.
The silvery streaks evaporated into the air and something unseen shifted between us. It made the space tight and just as suffocating as if someone had smothered the air from my lungs.
He stood, tall as a giant, and then some. Gods, he had to be at least seven feet. His eyes stayed on me for a beat longer, pinning me in place before he turned and strode toward the door. His hood slid down as he moved, revealing more of his pointed ears… and those broad, warrior-cut shoulders.
The cloak flowed behind him like liquid darkness, revealing brief flashes of the dagger at his hip, its hilt worn from use.
I stared in utter shock as no one stopped him.
How in the hells could everyone carry on their laughter and hearty conversation while a warrior Fae man walked amongst them?
In this faith-fearing village, this was the sort of thing that would have the women screaming and the men reaching for their weapons. I would have even expected Chancellor Blackthorneto swoop in with Friar Jameson at his side ready with holy water.
But none of that happened.
It was like no one but me could see the mysterious Fae stranger.
Maybe that was what it was. Only I could see him.
If so, why?
Magic. I said the spell in my mind and saw that silvery thing. Then I saw him.
Magic. I still had it. It hadn’t left me. Not completely.
And I’d seen a Fae male.
The mysterious stranger went through the door, leaving the tavern. It took me a moment before I could will my body to move. When I did, I dashed out into the alley, searching for him.
I had to find out who he was and why he’d been watching me.
But he was gone.
I searched up and down the road, walking and looking. I couldn’t find him anywhere.
I wasn’t that far behind him when he left, so how could he have just disappeared?
“Elariya!” Emabelle called me from the tavern door.
I whirled around to face her as she walked out onto the cobbled path to meet me.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I was panting and my head felt light. What should I say to her?
Would she even believe me?
Worse… what if I’d imagined seeing that guy?
“I’m okay. Just needed air.” Better to say that for the moment.
“Okay, come back in. I got some drinks on the table.”
“Thanks.”
We made our way back to the door. Before I went inside, I glanced over my shoulder, and I swore I could feel his presence.
I just couldn’t see him anywhere.
It was as if he was never here.