12. A Toad Mistakes a Human for a Faerie
A Toad Mistakes a Human for a Faerie
ISABEL
I sabel is still fast asleep when Sapphira wakes.
She creeps up the stairs and peers into the chimera’s room to find her snoring on her back.
Her face is peaceful, and her coiled hair is a mess around her head as it spills around her on the pillow.
Sapphira wants to reach out and brush it from her face, but she refrains, clenching her hand into a fist at her side.
I want to crawl into the bed beside Isabel.
She looks so soft here. Her skin smooth to touch, her breath a steady rise and fall.
What Sapphira wouldn’t give to climb under the sheets and feel Isabel’s warm skin against her own.
To have the comfort of another body pressed against hers.
To hold, and be held. She shivers at the thought.
Isabel exhausted herself using so much magic. First with the serpere, then the elven-fae ruler. It’ll probably be a while before she wakes.
“What are you doing?” Kaelen asks, clearing his throat behind Sapphira.
Her heart leaps into her throat. She crashes into the wall from turning too fast, feeling like she’s been caught doing something naughty, and sees Kaelen standing at the door with his arms crossed over his chest and a glower on his face.
Patting her chest to make sure her heart hasn’t leapt from her chest, Sapphira gasps, “I was just checking to make sure she was all right. I was worried.” She hopes Kaelen can’t see the heat filling her cheeks right now.
Kaelen snorts as if he doesn’t believe her, his eyes flickering to Isabel, who slept through the commotion Sapphira made.
When he turns to walk back down the stairs, Sapphira reluctantly follows.
She wishes Isabel were awake to cut through the tension between her and Kaelen. She hasn’t been alone with the man yet.
Sapphira leans against the counter, watching the man rummage through the kitchen slamming cabinets as he goes.
“What’s your problem?” she asks, raising an eyebrow at his behavior. It's even more agitating than usual.
He rounds on her. “My problem is you. The whole reason you’re here is so you can protect Isabel and make up for everything she’s done for you. But instead, you let her run off and get herself into trouble. Now, her magic is depleted and she won’t wake up.”
Sapphira’s brows furrow, a sinking feeling growing in her gut. “She will wake up though, right?”
Kaelen sighs loudly. “Thankfully, yes. But she needs to sleep and regain her strength.” He rounds on her. “Why didn’t you stop her?”
Sapphira throws up her hands. “There was nothing I could do. Isabel is a grown woman, I’m not going to keep her locked up.
No one deserves that. No one. All I could do— all I will continue to do, is follow her when she runs off into danger, and protect her.
But I will not make her hide or change who she is. ”
Kaelen glares, and the two of them stare at one another for a long time before the takops growls and looks away. He goes back to banging around the kitchen and Sapphira leans over the counter.
“What did you do? Did you eat everything while we were gone?” she asks when his search turns up empty.
“No,” Kaelen says through clenched teeth.
“That would be quite hard, considering I was out looking for you and Isabel the whole time. Maybe if you didn’t let my best friend get kidnapped, all of the bread and fruit wouldn’t have spoiled.
” He stuffs the rotted fruit and moldy bread into the compost bin with barely concealed frustration.
“Don’t you know how to forage?” Sapphira asks, unable to hide the amusement in her voice. “You’ve been doing this with Isabel for years, right?”
Kaelen scowls at her. “Yes, but I’ve . .
. never gone by myself,” he mumbles, his cheeks pinking to an alarming shade over light freckles.
Sapphira rolls her eyes. The poor guy is lost without Isabel.
But I can’t find it funny because I’m not much better.
She stands there awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say.
“We could . . . go together,” Kaelen finally says, his tone hesitant.
“Sure,” Sapphira scoffs, thinking he’s joking. But when he doesn’t laugh, his head hanging and unable to meet her gaze, her smile fades. “Oh, you were serious?”
He scratches the back of his head. “It might be nice to gather food and make something for Isabel. That way, she won’t have to do anything when she wakes. She’ll need all the energy she can get.”
Sapphira can’t even make a joke out of his words; it’s a good idea and a very thoughtful thing to do.
Sapphira doesn’t know the area like Kaelen does, and Kaelen is too afraid to go alone despite being one of the scariest things out in the woods.
So, for Isabel’s sake, she agrees. “Fine. But keep your thoughts to yourself, will you? No making fun of me.”
“I was going to say the same thing,” he mumbles, moving to grab some things in the main room.
“Wait, we’re going now?” she asks, looking toward the window. “But it’s still dark out.”
“Good. We need to catch some fish.”
They head out to the forest with baskets over their arms and fishing spears in hand. Kaelen leads her to the lake with the stars as their guide, and they walk to the shallow end on the far side. Stars light up the water, blue lights dancing across the surface like cold diamonds.
Setting down his basket, Kaelen wraps the strap of the spear around his wrist.
“This will keep you from losing the spear, so it launches back to your hand after you throw it.” He mimes a throwing motion and says, “Watch for movement in the water. Once you’ve seen your target, throw straight and with force.”
“I’m sure it’s not that difficult to learn,” Sapphira says, wrapping the strap around her wrist. She leaves her slippers on the shore as she wades into the water, searching for movement.
The water is still, and no fish or creatures are stirring beneath the water.
After a few minutes, Sapphira turns back to see Kaelen still standing on the shore.
“Are you done being stubborn now, or will you let me help you?” he asks.
Sapphira rolls her eyes. “Well, we don’t have all night.”
Kaelen splashes into the water, and Sapphira shouts at him when he splashes her. A smug smile spreads across his lips.
“Where is your spear?” she asks, noticing that his wrist is empty.
“I’m not going to be doing the fishing,” Kaelen says. “You did say it was easy, right?”
“Kaelen—”
“But don’t worry,” he assures her. “I’ll still help.
I’ll find the fish for you. All you have to do is spear them.
Should be easy, right?” he winks, the blue light of the stars shining across his freckled cheeks and light-pink hair, turning it lavender.
Sapphira squeals when he shifts, becoming a giant draek?n loping about in the water.
He’s not as big as he is when she and Isabel ride on his back, but big enough. He stands as tall as a horse.
Sapphira seethes as he splashes around, waves blanketing her every time he trots past. But when something moves in the water below her and something slimy brushes against her leg as it swims from the chaos Kaelen’s creating, she focuses her eyes and positions her spear in the air.
They end up catching a basket full of fish, and by the time Sapphira climbs back up on the shore, Kaelen is shifting back to human with a huge grin stretched across his lips.
Sapphira is soaking wet and exhausted. “Don’t say anything,” she hisses, not meeting his eyes as she hauls up her basket.
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he says with a chuckle.
They return to the cottage so Sapphira can dry off and change, and they drop the fish in the clean sink before setting out again.
They find a recipe in one of Isabel’s books and make a list of everything they need.
It’s helpful that Isabel drew pictures of everything so they can find what they need without trouble.
“I think these are the river radishes we were looking for,” Sapphira says, crouching to look at a bush full of bright-green vegetables.
This is the last ingredient they need for the sauce they want to make.
“I don’t know why they’re called river radishes, though, if they aren’t even near the river. ”
Kaelen huffs and puffs as he comes toward her with a full basket. They’ve already been out here for hours. She rolls her eyes at his dramatics. “And you made fun of me for struggling to keep up,” she says. “Does Isabel really do all of the work?”
“Of course not,” Kaelen snaps. “I’m the one who flies her everywhere, and I join her foraging trips, which sometimes consist of days just staring at leaves and twigs, despite it being painfully boring. And I make her laugh. She’d be bored without me.”
“And you would have no idea what to do with yourself without her,” Sapphira retorts.
“Like you’re one to talk.” Kaelen angrily stuffs his basket with the river radishes, which nearly spill over the top. Sapphira’s basket is no better. It’s full of fruits and more vegetables for the stew they plan to make.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sapphira asks. She grabs a few of the radishes as well.
“It means, without Isabel, you wouldn’t even be here right now. You’d be a corpse in the boneyard. And if she hadn’t given you a place to stay, you’d be wandering uselessly around Bastama. Let’s face it. Neither of us is anything without her.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sapphira mutters, hissing when she pricks her finger on a sharp branch. I am a princess. I was going to be queen before all of this happened. I was somebody .
Sapphira peers over at Kaelen from the corner of her eye.
He’s biting hungrily into one of the radishes that fell from his basket.
They’ve been out here for a while now—all night and through the morning.
It’s past noon, and the sky is darkening.
She can see rain clouds in the sky. They should head back soon and start cooking.
“Come on. We got everything we—”