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“I’m not a friend of critters, to be honest.”

I turned and took him in, from his veiny hands, one holding his hooded jacket, to those warm brown eyes. I lingered on how his hair gleamed when the sunlight hit it just right. Like spun gold.

A masterpiece.

“They are gentle, too, like the chickens. The water lilies will be blooming soon. Then it’s even more beautiful.”

His gaze left the pond and landed on me.

“Maybe I can think of them as water chickens.” He gave me a small wink. “I’d love to see the lilies, too. You know,” Nikolai said as we walked through my garden to the back of my house, “I was never an outdoorsy person. I spent all my time at the rink, in school, or in the gym. It’s growing on me.”

He stopped by a raised bed and brushed his fingers over a row of Swiss chard.

I spent all my time outside.

First, the promise of adventures had been what lured me. Small Julius with rosy cheeks and copper hair who had discovered the world around the castle with wonder in his eyes. The older I got the more I understood what was happening inside the castle. Why my mother had so many differentservants, andhowthey were serving the Elven Queen.

As her son, she had expected me to continue in her footsteps.

I had barely been of age when the first human fell for me. Even now, the memory made my skin crawl. Hehadbeen a beautiful one—barely past boyhood—with hair like ebony and large blue eyes. That had been before I understood my magic, and what I could do to their kind.

Watching him wilt away had been the most horrifying experience of my life. When I managed to get him out of the castle and back to his old home, he had been a shadow of his former self.

Friedrich…

‘The Elven Queen got him,’ the people whispered.

No, I wanted to tell them.Not the queen, the prince. And the prince will hate himself for this for the rest of his life.

After that, the outside had been my safe place. Away from my mother in her castle and her human toys.

I stayed away from the paths the humans used. Learning to master my own magic was hard. But I found I could manipulate my appearance. I chose the old man as my usual disguise and kept those powers on a leash like the dangerous beast they were.

Accidents and chance fed into the narrative of the dangerous Höimann. And I embraced it. My forest and its animals were everything I needed.

Until they weren’t. Until the mask I had worn for so long felt like a prison more than an escape. Until I spotted this wondrous man with golden hair on the forest path and my vanity got the better of me.

“Jules?” A tentative voice pulled me out of my head and plunged me back into the present. The soft scent of decay mixed with new life was suddenly strong in my nose, and I smelt a trace of him in the air. A clean and spicy scent. The most beautiful thing ever.

“Forgive me, I got lost in thought for a moment.”

Fifteen

Nikolai

“WhenIwasasmall child, we had a garden. I only know from pictures, but my mum and I grew vegetables there.”

Why are you telling him this?

“I feel like it made me happy.”

“A garden can be a happy place,” Jules agreed. “It is mine.”

“We stopped when we moved to the city so I could be closer to the rink. After that we only had a flat and a little balcony.”

“You can garden with me, if you want.” The beautiful man blushed crimson. I liked how he sometimes spoke without thinking and then blushed.

He’s so fucking cute.