Chapter Nine
Winter
After we cleared out the next house of gnomes, I was ready to go home—well, to Miles’s home—but we needed to drop all the faeries off at the sanctuary. Thank god we could go home after that, though. I needed to rest, eat, cuddle, and… figure out what to say back to my sister.
I still hadn’t texted her back because what the hell did you say to someone you hadn’t spoken to in years because they abandoned you and broke your heart.
I winced at the thought, then decided to concentrate on the here and now. My sister would have to wait.
Sola trilled from the middle console, so I started petting her and asked Miles, “Do you want to do dinner together tonight?”
It was a Friday, and we usually ate dinner together every Friday—plus two or three times during the week, along with Saturdays and Sundays. Okay, so we ate together almost every night. And we spent nearly all our free time together.
I’d even gotten Miles—and Sola—to go on walks in the evenings with Goliath and me. Odin was always angry about that, and I felt really bad, but I wasn’t sure he’d even like it… or that Miles would want him to go for walks with us.
“Sure. Do you want to do pizza and a movie?”
I smiled at him even though his eyes were on the road. “Sounds good.” After a brief pause, I said, “I’ve been thinking…”
“A dangerous statement.”
I snorted and flicked his shoulder. “Shut up, Sidekick.”
“Not your sidekick.”
I was grinning, and I was sure I looked like a lovesick fool. “Anyway, I was wondering if you ever considered getting a harness and leash for Odin so he could come on our walks with us?”
“Ugh. So I’ve thought about it. A lot, actually. Even before we started, uh, you know.”
For some reason, Miles always seemed reluctant to say we were dating or call me his boyfriend. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but I needed to talk to him and figure it out because I absolutely thought of him as my boyfriend, and we needed to be on the same page.
“Dating, yes. You can say the word, sugar butt. You’re not allergic to it.”
He rolled his eyes and flipped me off, making me laugh.
“Well? Why haven’t you gotten Odin a leash then?”
“I’m afraid that if he starts exploring outside, he’ll want to go out there more and will wind up escaping the house.
Because he’s an indoor-only cat, he doesn’t try to run out the door, you know?
What if I take him out there, and he loves it so much that he wants to get out and explore on his own? ”
“Hm. That makes sense.” I frowned. “That’s a shame, though. It would be cute to see him walking around next to Goliath.” I could just imagine that one-eyed, orange fluffball trotting alongside my giant dog.
Miles laughed. “It definitely would.”
We made it to The Ringshire Faerie Sanctuary, and since we came so often, the guard at the gate waved us right through.
Miles parked, and one of the managers came out to meet us, asking, “What do we have this time?”
Miles shot her a smile. “We have some gnomes, gremlins, and dwarves.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Dwarves? Been a while since you’ve dropped any of them off.”
While dwarves weren’t unheard of, they weren’t that common around here, either. I’d put them somewhere in the medium range when it came to how common they were, so I wasn’t surprised by her statement.
When I approached them, Fatma smiled at me. “Good to see you, Winter.”
“You too, ma’am.”
She rolled her eyes at the ma’am comment because she knew I was teasing her. She wasn’t that much older than me, after all.
She waved me off and said, “Let’s get these guys checked out and settled in.”
The great thing about The Ringshire Faerie Sanctuary was that every faerie that was brought in received a checkup, was given any shots or medications they needed to keep them safe and healthy, and was tagged to keep track of before they were released into the protected land.
It meant they had a record of each and every rescued faerie, and it made it easier if any of them needed medical intervention in the future.
Sometimes the faeries that were brought in were injured or sick and needed surgery or extra care, and Fatma was not only the manager of the sanctuary, she was also a faerie veterinarian.
She gave each faerie as much care as they needed to lead a healthy life.
It was honestly pretty amazing considering how many people considered faeries to be pests and little things they could just kill to get rid of.
I loved this place.
It had good vibes and was absolutely beautiful.
As we carried the traps inside, Fatma said, “Did you hear about the carbuncle that was turned over to me last week?”
I had no idea what a carbuncle was, but Miles seemed excited. “Oh my god, you have a carbuncle here? Holy crap. Is it in the building? Can I see it?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, he was released into the woods a few days ago. He comes back around this area every once in a while, so you might catch a glimpse of him.”
As we went back for more traps, I leaned in close to Miles and asked, “What’s a carbuncle?”
His eyebrows rose. “You really don’t know?”
I snorted. “Nope.”
“Oh, it sort of looks like a fennec fox, or more like a fennec fox head, but its body has plates of armor on it like an armadillo. And then there’s the jewel.”
“The jewel?”
“Yep. All carbuncles have a jewel embedded in their foreheads. It’s their magic source and the reason they’re so endangered.
People hunt them for their jewel because it’s one of the most powerful magic sources that naturally exists in the world…
or so they say. Who knows if that’s true?
I feel like so many things are exaggerated about faeries. ”
“Huh. That sounds… like a weird-looking faerie.”
He snorted. “They’re really cute. Or at least they are in pictures. I’ve never seen one in real life.”
I nodded as I pulled out a crate.
When we were heading inside again, Fatma said, “Oh, I have something else you can look at. I have an injured baby sprite in the back, if you want to see her? She’s so tiny I have to wear giant magnifying goggles to work on her.”
“Oh no. What happened?” Miles asked, looking extremely concerned for a tiny being he hadn’t even seen yet.
I really loved his heart.
Fatma answered Miles. “She got her leg caught in some wire, and a random person called us to see if we could help. I went out to get her myself. Unfortunately, I had to amputate half of her leg yesterday, but the poor thing is doing a lot better. Her wings are in good shape, so she’ll be fine once she’s healed up. ”
Miles looked excited. “I’d love to see her.”
Fatma grinned at him widely, clearly a kindred spirit to my boyfriend. “Let’s get the rest of your haul inside first.”
Miles nodded, and I followed the two of them back to the truck, bemused at them both. They were both super excited about a baby sprite, and for some reason, seeing Miles like that over a faerie made my chest grow warm.
After we finished unloading, Fatma led us to the back of the building where the vet rooms were and all the recovery pens.
There was a wall of smaller cages off to the side, which was where she took us, and the second Miles looked through the clear cage door, his whole face lit up.
“Oh my god. She’s sooooooo cute.” His bottom lip popped out, pouting. “The poor little baby. I can’t believe you had to amputate.”
Fatma frowned. “I didn’t want to, but it was getting infected, and I didn’t want her to become septic. We have no idea how long she’d been stuck in that wire, but it was long enough that none of her flutter were around anymore.”
When I’d first started working for Miles, I’d learned a bunch of new terms, like what the actual group name was for different types of faeries. A flutter of sprites was one of my favorites. Although I kinda liked a mischief of pixies too, since they were such trouble makers.
Miles sucked in a breath. “You mean, she was left behind?”
“Wow,” I breathed out. “That’s highly unusual.”
Fatma sighed sadly. “Agreed. I think she’s the runt on top of everything else because she’s small for her age, so that’s probably why she was left.”
“Do you think the local sprite flutter will accept her?”
Fatma nodded. “I think so. I hope so. They’ve integrated other sprites into their flutter before, so I think they’ll be okay. Hopefully.”
“What’ll you do if they don’t?”
She shrugged. “I’ll bring her back here and make some calls to other sanctuaries.
If no one can take her, I’ll call some people I know who take in faeries that can’t be integrated back into the wild.
” She sent me a small smile. “Don’t worry, Winter, we’ll find her a good home, whether it’s here, another sanctuary—obviously not Whispering Pines—or with a person who can give her a nice life, even if it means being domesticated. ”
I gave her a nod. “Good. She deserves a family.”
Fatma softened a little. “Yeah, she really does.”
After we helped her put all the faeries we’d brought in into other crates and rooms—so we could take our traps back—Miles and I said our goodbyes and headed back to the truck.
***
Once we were home—well, we went to my house to collect Goliath and then came to Miles’s home—I said, “What do you want to do this weekend?”
He shrugged from his spot on the couch beside me. “I’m up for anything. Do you have an idea?” I could tell he wanted to ask about my sister but was trying to give me time to process it.
“Not really.” I reached over and gave his thigh a squeeze. Before I could pull my hand back, he covered it with one of his and linked our fingers together. I grinned at the casual touch coming from the same person who didn’t like touching anyone else at all.
“We could take Goliath to the dog park again.”
Gah. This man. The fact he liked my dog so much made my heart flip.
“He’d like that. There’s also a farmer’s market we could check out.
And I think there might be a small fair up at the elementary school.
That might be next weekend, though. We’ll have to check.
Maybe we could go to one of those for a couple of hours. ”
He shrugged. “Sure. Both sound fun.”
Miles shot me a smile, and I couldn’t help but look forward to a relaxing weekend with my guy… my—hopefully I could get him to admit it—boyfriend.
With the warm feeling in my chest, I felt solid enough to text my sister back.
Me: Okay. When and where?
Simple and to the point. To my surprise, she texted me back right away.
Magnolia: Tomorrow at noon? Brew For You Cafe. Do you know it?
I did a quick search on my phone to make sure I knew where it was, then asked Miles, “Is tomorrow at noon okay for meeting my sister?”
“Yeah, sure. Of course.”
I nudged him with my shoulder and texted her back.
Me: That’s fine. Just so you know, I’m bringing my boyfriend with me.
There was a brief pause this time. I saw the three little dots wiggle like she was typing, then they went away, came back, went away, came back, and then finally a text came through.
Magnolia: I’m looking forward to it. See you tomorrow.
I… didn’t know how to feel about that text or the fact that it took her so long to reply. My insides were feeling weird and raw, so I set my phone down without replying.
Miles must’ve noticed my mood because he didn’t hesitate to lift his arm in invitation.
Without missing a beat, I slipped under it and into his side, resting my head on his shoulder.
He kissed the top of my head, and I closed my eyes, turned my nose to his shirt, and breathed him in for a long few moments.
Once I felt a little more together, I scooted closer and wrapped my arms around him, bringing my legs up so I was kind of curled into a ball but hugging him. He hugged me back.
“I told her I was bringing my boyfriend.”
He froze, then started rubbing my back. “You did?”