Page 56 of Esperance

Amryn drew her feet up onto the settee and hugged her knees to her chest. “When I was nine, I thought I found the fairy realm.”

He twisted back to her, and in the glow of the moon she could see his eyebrows tug together. “What?”

“In Ferradin, every child hears stories of how the fairy realm can touch ours. And if you’re very lucky, you might be able to find one of the pathways that join our worlds.”

A thread of amusement rippled from him. “And you thought you found this pathway?”

“I was sure of it. I’d been playing in one of the palace gardens, and I fell through a hedge.”

A huffing laugh escaped him. “It’s lucky you weren’t on one of those infernal mountains you love, or you might have fallen to your death.”

She rolled her eyes. “Mountains are lovely. Now, can I finish my story?”

He lifted both hands. “Please do.”

“As I was saying, I fell through a hedge, and I knew instantly that I’d entered the fairy world. Right in front of me, in this grassy, forgotten space, I found tiny little chairs and a small table made of weathered wood.”

Curiosity rose in Carver’s eyes, and she felt his stirring of surprise.

She tucked her shoulder into the corner of the settee, the cushioned arm pressing into her lower back as she viewed him a bit smugly. “I see I have your attention.”

“You always have my attention.” The soft words—so quiet she barely heard them—made her stomach flutter, and warmth spread through her body. He wasn’t even touching her, but he had a physical effect on her. Something about that was alarming.

She mentally shook herself and continued her story. “There were four chairs lying around the table. They’d been painted once, but everything was chipped and long faded, and weeds had done their best to overgrow the entire setting, but they were there. Like a long-abandoned fairy tea party.

“I wanted to run and tell everyone what I’d found, but I also didn’t want to leave without seeing a fairy—just in case I wasn’t able to find my way back. So, I plucked the weeds and righted the chairs, and I even found some berries nearby to place on the table, as a sort of offering. But the fairies didn’t come.

“Evening set in, and even though I was tucked between hedges, I started to get cold. I was hungry, too, so I ate the berries—and immediately got sick.”

Carver’s eyebrows slammed down. “This had better have a happy ending.”

“Clearly, I’m all right.”

“Maybe. But you were a child trapped in a hedge, delusional, and now sick, and night was coming on. Didn’t you have a nursemaid? And where was your uncle?”

“Oh, he was searching for me, along with half the castle. Torin was the one who eventually found me. He heard my vomiting.”

The king of Ferradin had poked his head through the hedge, taken one look at her, and instantly gathered her into his arms—even though she retched all over his new tunic.

“He wanted to take me back to the castle at once, but I started crying because I hadn’t seen any fairies yet, and I didn’t want to leave the fairy realm. I made him swear he’d bring me back later, and he promised he would. When I asked him how he’d find it again, he said, ‘That will be easy enough. This was your mother’s favorite hideaway.’And that’s when I realized the table and chairs had been hers. I later learned that she’d begged Rix to craft them for the fairies. She’d left them there as a child and yet, somehow, years later, I found them.” She smiled a little. “It felt very much like fairy magic.”

The corner of Carver’s mouth rose. “That’s a nice thought. And a good story.”

“It is. Less so for Torin, of course. I kept throwing up on him as he carried me back to the castle. His clothes were ruined.”

Carver chuckled. “Hopefully you learned not to eat unknown berries.”

“You can’t tell me you never ate anything questionable as a child.”

He shrugged. “I ate a stick.”

She blinked. “You ate astick?”

“It’s not exactly something I’m proud of, but yes. I ate a stick.”

A laugh burst out of her. “Why by all the Saints would you do that?”

His smile stretched. “Loreena told me I couldn’t, so I did it to prove her wrong. It was utterly disgusting, and I don’t recommend it.”