26
Alarie
“Come on, I want to show you something,” Jay said, pulling me along.
I followed him as he walked into the glowing blue halo of an Azurinium cave. We were still in our beach attire, having spent the morning at the beach before breaking for lunch. There was some evidence of mining having occurred. The pool of water in the middle of the cave glowed from particles of the Azurinium falling into the water. I pulled back the hem of my white gossamer coverup, dipping my foot into the water. It came out sparkling and glowing blue as well.
“Is it safe?” I asked, looking down at my foot.
“Perfectly safe,” he said.
He kicked off his shoes and stepped down onto a staircase hidden beneath the water. I hadn’t noticed it until he stood on it.
“You swim in this?” I asked in disbelief.
I couldn’t imagine swimming in a pool of Azurinium when, back home, my mother and I could have barely afforded enough Azurinium to power our stove. In response to my question, he dove headfirst into the center of the pool. And then he swam to where he could stand up out of the water. He ran his hands through his dark brown hair, pushing it back and away from his face. Little blue droplets of Azurinium-kissed water dripped down his face and arms.
I stripped off my coverup and laid it at the edge of the pool. Plunking down, I allowed my legs to dangle in the water. Despite the darkness of the cave, Jay seemed to glisten, like he was in blue-tinged sunlight. I sat transfixed, my lip between my teeth, as he waded toward me in the waist-deep water. He moved his body between my legs, then laid a trail of insistent kisses down my neck. I felt him untie the string of my bikini top from behind my back. His hands found my breasts, cupping each as if to lift them. He stripped off my top, took a step back, and looked at me, topless and covered in his hand and lip prints like they had been painted on with an iridescent blue paint.
“I’ve always liked you in blue,” he said, admiring his work possessively.
“So, you’re the one who’s responsible for the fact that my wardrobe is almost entirely blue, then?” I asked jokingly.
“I threw some white in there,” he retorted.
“You picked out my bras and panties?” I asked incredulously, thinking of my nearly all-white undergarments.
“Come here,” he said, taking a step back and beckoning me into the water.
The look in his eyes was determined. I kept his stare, rolling my lower lip beneath my teeth. But I was still skeptical of swimming in the blue-dyed water. His stare moved to my lip between my teeth.
“Get in,” he growled.
I hopped down from the side of the cave pool and met Jay where he was waist deep in the glowing azure water. He reached down and picked me up, wrapping my legs around him. Then he moved to the side of the cave pool, pressing my back against where I’d sat before. He began to rub against my bikini bottoms.
“You’re sure—” I began to ask again whether it would be ok.
I wasn’t sure the water was ok on my skin, much less in me.
“Promise,” he interrupted, almost sweetly, at the same time that he pushed my bikini bottoms to the side.
Even in the water, he found me ready for him. He rubbed against the outside of me before plunging inside and pushing against my tightness. Each time he moved into me, the water between us splashed up, covering my breasts, leaving glowing remnants in its wake.
When we made our way back to the manor, we ran into Oliver outside. He barked out a laugh at seeing us glowing in blue.
“Real subtle, Jay,” Oliver laughed.
Then I remembered the dinner we had scheduled for that night. Jay was hosting the lords of the Azure Court, including Lord Tildon, the high fae lord from my hometown, Harborview. I turned to Jay accusingly.
“Jay, tell me this will wash off!” I demanded.
A very un-Jay-like mischievous grin splayed across his face.
“It’ll wash off,” he reassured me.
But I noticed that the mischievous look on his face did not go away. Ever since we’d gotten to Breakpoint, it was like something in him had changed. There was an almost lightheartedness to him that had never been there before.
“Jay, you didn’t… When will it wash off?” I asked.
His smirk turned into a smile.
“It should be gone by the time we head back to the High Court. Unfortunately,” he theatrically lamented. “So we should probably take another dip before then to avoid that.”
* * * *
That night, I tried to make polite conversation with Lord Tildon despite the fact that he did not remember me from my graduation ceremony. He’d been the one who’d announced that I’d won my place in the liaison program and would be going to the High Court, but he still couldn’t remember me.
“My mother, she still lives back home. Lana Armand,” I prompted.
Lord Tildon acted polite but disinterested, as if he were trying to remember my mother. Our plates had already been cleared. He took a sip of his wine.
“Fire-red hair, you can’t miss her,” I continued.
I was already eyeing the others down the length of the table and seeing who I could use to pivot out of this conversation.
But apparently, I’d sparked Lord Tildon’s memory.
“Yes. I remember now. But what is truly astonishing is that I failed to recognize someone as beautiful as you. This glow on your skin, doll. It’s as if you have taken a bath in Azurinium,” Lord Tildon commented unknowingly.
He placed a hand too high on my thigh under the table. I stiffened. This small-town hick had no tact. This was not how you played the game at the High Court. This was how a big fish in a small pond abused his power. He was used to taking whatever he wanted. But I didn’t want to rebuff him too strongly. I was very aware of the fact that, although I was out of his reach at the High Court, he could go back to Harborview and make my mother’s life difficult. But before I could decide on the best course of action, I felt a small gust of wind pass in front of my face, like someone had opened a door and air had rushed in.
Lord Tildon released my leg like he’d been burned by a hot iron. I looked up at him, startled by his sudden movement, and saw that his face had gone pale underneath his smattering of freckles.
“P-please accept my deepest apologies, Lady Armand, but I must depart immediately. S-something has… well…” he stammered. “Do give your mother my best next time you see her. Excuse me.”
Lord Tildon threw his napkin into his chair, stumbling over his feet as he walked—almost ran—out of the room. I scanned the others at the table, seeing if they had noticed anything. Jay was still in conversation at the far end of the table. I shrugged off Lord Tildon’s unusual behavior, taking a sip of wine, glad for the conversation to be over, whatever the reason.
But later that night, after dinner and drinks and the departure of our guests, I mentioned Lord Tildon’s odd behavior to Jay. We stood on the veranda to his room enjoying the light of the moon on the water.
Jay looked satisfied. “Glad to hear he understood my message.”
“What message?” I asked.
“Alarie, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you since we arrived at Breakpoint.”
I waited for him to explain.
“My powers, they’re back,” he declared.
I gasped. “Jay, that’s—”
“Well, not entirely,” he interjected. “But they’re stronger than they’ve been in years.”
I was elated by this news. “When?” I asked excitedly.
“In the carriage, on our way here. Right after you told me that you loved me,” he said with a glint in his eye.
“Why didn’t you tell me before now, Jay?” I demanded.
“After so long… I wanted to be sure,” he said.
I nodded, already focusing on my next question.
“But how? Why now?”
“I don’t know, love. Lately, I’ve felt stronger, like more of my power was at my disposal. But in the carriage, it was like the floodgates opened. All the whispers just rushed back to me.”
“So, when you say you sent Lord Tildon a message, you mean…”
“Just a whisper,” he said, smugly.
I was slightly aggravated that Jay had stepped in with Lord Tilden. I could have handled a small-town brute like him. But I was too excited about Jay’s powers to stay annoyed.
“How does it work?” I asked excitedly.
I felt the same wisp of wind that I’d felt earlier that night, and then, as if Jay were standing over my shoulder, breathing along my neck, I heard him say, “Come here and find out what else I can do.”
The hair on the back of my neck rose. His magic felt strong and commanding, just like him. It demanded my attention. All my senses stood to attention, as if eager for and tied to his every word. I bit my lower lip, almost involuntarily rolling my head to the side to offer him my neck, even though he still stood feet away from me. I blinked, and he was next to me. He moved his lips to my ear.
“This is going to be fun,” he whispered, sliding his leg between mine.