Chapter 38
I shouted for them to stop, but they’d already disappeared, so my voice echoed through the cave without so much as a bug to hear.
The healing pool was splashing thanks to my father’s not-so-impressive entrance.
He hadn’t surfaced yet, and I was screaming at the pool, trying to find him below the beautiful blue water.
“Gil!” I screamed. “Be careful of the sprites!”
Nothing.
“Gil?”
Silence.
Was this a part of her plan? Did the queen just make this deal with me only to kill Gil anyway? Where did she go? I looked into the pool again, searching for any kind of life. Nothing but a vast, deep blue hole gazed back.
“I’m going to kill her!” I jumped to my feet and started to stomp away…only to have a hand clamp around my ankle and stop me in my tracks.
“Ah!” I stumbled forward, hopping on one foot and holding my arms out in front of me to break the fall. The water behind me splashed again, and a hefty thump on the stones had me skittering back in fear. Were the sprites coming out to eat me?
“Sosie, stop screaming,” my father said calmly .
Had I been screaming? “Gil?”
Smiling, he held up a hand. “I’m good.”
“What the holy hell,” I muttered to myself. Scooping up the crystal ring, I slipped it onto my right hand before going to my father. “Are you sure? Did the sprites bite you?”
“Bite me?” He was amused. And he also sounded a whole lot better.
“Yeah. The bastards bit my finger like two seconds before you showed up!”
“Did they now?”
“Yes!”
He studied the water as if searching for the little assholes. “Well, that wasn’t very nice of them.”
Shaking my head, I scooted closer to Gil.
While his hair was dripping wet and his tan pants had seen better days, he looked a thousand times better.
His chest was devoid of rib bones, his arms had filled back out, and the sunken features of his face gave way to a very handsome man.
“What did they feed you, and how long have I been in here?”
Gil laughed. “It wasn’t the food, although thank you for that.” He bumped my shoulder with his. “It was the healing pool.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it is very magical.”
I would say that a foreign entity took over my body because I wasn’t in control of what happened next.
Amongst a rush of emotions racing through my bones, I reached out and slapped my hand on Gil’s back when I saw him smile at me like he’d known me forever.
And then I just snapped. With one angry push, I knocked him headfirst into the water.
His dark curls disappeared into the blue hole along with the little yelp of surprise he let out when I shoved him in. It took several seconds before he reappeared, spitting water out of his mouth and wiping at his eyes as he floated at the surface .
“What was that for?”
“Twenty-five years of abandonment,” I snapped back.
He smiled and then quickly dropped his head when he saw my trembling hands. “Fair enough. I deserved that.”
“Why?” I demanded, sounding very much like the queen before.
“It was better for you. Safer for you,” he clarified when I opened my mouth to say something else. “Safer for your mother.”
“Did you love her?” I asked with a shaky voice.
“In a way, yes.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Gil held up his hands. “I loved your mother as any fae could love a human.”
“You’re still not making sense,” I snapped.
He swam toward the edge of the pool and rested his elbows on the stone surround. “You were a mistake.”
It took all I had not to step on his dark curls and hold him under a little longer.
Seeing my anger, Gil shook his head and sighed. “I mean that we didn’t intend for our love to create you.”
“There are ways to avoid having babies, Gil.”
He smiled. “Yes, there are. But the point is we made you and your mother was so very happy.”
Something in my stomach twisted in pain. My mom and I were not in the best place at the moment. We still had a lot to discuss…especially now that her decision all those years ago was going to take me away from my world every season.
Gil suddenly kicked at something in the water. “Go! Get away, you nasty little buggers.” He still had a slight accent similar to Wylen, and that cracked open a piece of my heart.
With a sigh, I bent forward and offered him my hand.
When he grabbed it, that tickling sensation I’d experienced with Wylen happened again.
If he experienced the same, Gil ignored it as I dragged him out of the pool and let him fall to the stone.
But my hand was still tingling when I dropped his, and I wondered what that meant .
As Gil shook himself and sucked in several cleansing breaths, I sat next to him and bit my lip while I tried to find my courage. “So…um…these pools. Would it help people who, say, have to visit this realm?” I raised my brows and waited for the yelling to start.
“What did you do, Sosie?”
“I made a deal.”
“You should never bargain with the fae.”
“You didn’t really give me a choice,” I said, and then shrugged. “Besides, I’m part fae.”
“Exactly. You’re also part human, and Queen Fiadh will prey on that.”
“I will be fine. I can take care of myself.”
Gil sighed and leaned back like he was sunbathing inside the cave. “I know you can, Sosie. It’s just…” He stumbled over his words. “Why did you do this for me?”
“Honest answer?”
“Yes.”
“I have no idea.” When he chuckled, I continued.
“Seriously, I don’t know. Maybe I wanted an opportunity to come back to this amazing place again.
Maybe I want to learn more about who I really am.
” I turned to face him, crossing my legs underneath me and resting my chin on my hands.
“I couldn’t let her torture you anymore. ”
“I would have been fine.”
“Sure. But then I would have never had a chance to know you.”
That must have hit a nerve because Gil sucked in a breath and covered his heart.
“Don’t get too sappy on me. I still have a lot of questions for you. Starting with why it took twenty-five years before I learned the truth?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. I could tell he’d been spending time in the human world. “I promise we will talk, Sosie. I do owe you many things. Especially now.”
“Thank you,” I said .
The doors to the healing room opened, letting in a blast of light that made me squint. “Miss Sosasia Raine Westwood. Your horses are ready.” The soldier gave us a small bow before marching away.
“I have horses?”
Gil jumped to his feet, obviously feeling very good again. “You do today, my lady.” After helping me up, he stretched his arms over his head and made a few sounds. “Ah, that feels marvelous.”
I watched him and really noticed his features for the first time. He was on the shorter side, although fit and lean. His dark brown curls hung to his chin, and as they dried, they loosened up. Just like mine. We were a spitting image of each other.
“What?” he asked when he caught me looking at him.
“Your curls look good.”
He bopped me on the top of the nose and linked his arm through mine. “I’m sure they’re hideous now. But I found the best product for hair like ours. I’ll get you some when we get home.”
And so it went. Like we were never strangers, Gil talked about his life in Susperia and how he’d settled in New Rothwick, while we rode away from the castle.
How he decided he liked the city and the social scene so much that he opened the playroom.
We were halfway back to the portal between the realms before he asked me about Tris.
“Are you still friends with that troll boy?” Gil asked out of the blue.
Wylen, riding behind us as our escort, laughed. I shot him a glare. “You mean Tris?”
“Sure?”
“Yes, Tris and I are still friends.” Wylen cleared his throat, but I ignored him. I’d just met Gil. He didn’t need to know about my sex life. My horse whinnied, agreeing with me. I think. “How do you know about him?”
“I told you. I’ve been watching.”
“You do realize how creepy that sounds, right? ”
Gil shrugged. “I am not a creep.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”
We were passing through the pink forest, and once again I was tempted to jump down and roll in the leaves. But I hadn’t been able to change my clothes, so I would have to take a raincheck on that one. “I wonder what this place looks like in the fall,” I mused to myself.
“I guess you will find out.” That was Wylen. And he sounded like a petulant child.
I stopped my horse and let him ride beside me so I could look him in the eye. “What is your problem?”
“I have no problem,” he huffed.
“Are you mad that the queen took my deal and not yours?”
“No.”
“Are you mad that I was invited to her private healing pool and you weren’t?”
He snorted. “I’ve been to her private pool before.”
I’m sure you have. “Then what is it?”
“He’s going to miss you,” Gil called out from ahead.
Wylen let out a deep sigh as he shook his head and ground his jaw together. His lack of response was the only sign I needed.
“You’re going to miss me?”
“I am going to worry about you. Queen Fiadh cannot be trusted. She is using you, Sosie. For something.”
“Like I told Gil, I can handle myself.”
“She did say that!” Gil confirmed. He turned his horse around and came back next to us. “But, Sosie, you need to be careful. This place can change a halfling. I’ve seen some doozies come back from Ashtabulah.”
“Like Morningstar?”
Gil’s mouth dropped open. “You met Morningstar?”
“Yes. And she’s a little wonky.”
Laughing, Gil agreed. “Then you understand our concern.”
“Will the healing pool help?”
Wylen shot a glare at Gil. “How does she know about that? ”
“I didn’t tell her! She happened to be there when Fiadh’s manservants tossed me in. I wasn’t going to pretend it didn’t work.”
“So, will it help me stay sane? Or will I need more blood?”
This time it was Gil throwing nasty glares at Wylen. “You gave her your blood? Are you insane?”
“It was a necessity.”
“Was it now?” Gil sneered. “How many times?”
“Just once. So she could get through the pools.”
“She would have gotten through. She has my blood running through her veins!”
“Um…Wylen?” I asked. “Is that true?”
He shook his head, a blush crawling up his cheeks. “I don’t know. Maybe? But we couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t have you drowning in the faerie pool waiting for passage.” That last part was directed at Gil.
My father studied the prince for a while. The two had a stare-off as we bobbed along on the horses. “Oh, for God’s sake,” I groaned. “Stop it.”
Gil looked all high and mighty like he’d just won something. “The truth is that we don’t know if the healing pool will help you keep your sanity. We simply don’t know.” He looked like he was going to say more, but then focused on something in the distance. “Your troll-boy might help, though.”
“His name is Tris,” I groaned.
“I think he will help keep you grounded…connected to your human side so that you don’t forget it is a part of you, too.”
“I agree,” Wylen stated.
“If you can stay connected to who you are as a human and not let the beauty of this place deceive you, then maybe you will keep your sanity.”
Great. Just great.
We were almost to the pools. Somehow, the sun had barely moved since we’d joined the ball…a phenomenon I mentally added to my research list for when I returned. And that made me th ink about Wylen. I turned to him and smiled. “So, you’re a prince?”
He laughed. “I am. Still like me?”
“Who said I ever liked you in the first place?” Smiling, I let my brain pick the next question. “Your lands are frozen?”
“I am from the northern parts, yes.”
“But you don’t know how to eat cold things?” When he looked at me funny, I added, “Brain freezes?”
“Oh, yes. That.” He chuckled. “We don’t usually eat the snow.”
“You should make your own ice cream!”
“I don’t know how to?—”
“I’ll bring you a book next time. Oh, homemade ice cream is the absolute best!”
Both men laughed at me as I got lost in my memories. That was something my dad had taught me how to do. My real dad. The one that raised me.
And now I had a second dad who could teach me things, too.
As we approached the pools, Wylen jumped down from his horse and guided ours along the narrow trail.
When we stopped, Gil slid to the ground and sucked in the air around him.
I did my best to avoid flashing all of my lady parts as I dismounted, cursing the queen for not allowing me a chance to change back into my human clothes.
Even the crown was still sitting on top of my head.
“The wolves were out the other day,” Wylen told him with a wink.
“Really? It’s been ages since I’ve seen one.”
“Over there, just on the other side of the brook. Down in the valley.”
“And they have babies!” I called out after him. He was already halfway there. Laughing, I took in the surroundings…and found Wylen watching me with a very intense look on his face. “Yes?”
“Am I allowed to say that I am happy you will return?”
My stomach fluttered, and something electric stirred deep inside. “You are allowed to say that. And am I allowed to admit that I’m kind of a little excited about it?”
“You are.” He smiled and then dropped his gaze.
“Will you come visit me at the castle?” I asked. Those words would have made me laugh any other time…but…circumstances.
“I will certainly try.”
“And I’d love to see your home sometime, too. If the queen allows it.”
“I will see what I can do.”
Scratching my chin to mock deep thought, I then threw in, “And you should probably stop sleeping with the queen. She might eat you for dinner one night.”
He let a giant laugh escape. “Thank you for the advice, Sosie.”
“Well, I guess it’s time then?—”
Wylen suddenly bent forward and pressed his lips against mine.