Page 46

"Then, by all means, run if you wish. I’ll endeavor to keep up."

"Do you want to race?" I asked, a gleam in my eye. It was the sort of thing my sisters and I would have done.

"You really think you can beat me?" His green eyes, which I usually found so intense, were glittering with laughter.

"Probably not, but we won’t know if we don’t try," I said. "One… two…" I didn’t wait for three. I started running, laughing all the way.

After a moment, I grew suspicious. Why hadn’t Forrest passed me yet? Had he refused to join me in this burst of childishness? I stopped running and clutched my side, turning back to look for him. He wasn’t there.

I turned in every direction. He was nowhere to be seen. Had he left me out here?

Then I felt a powerful downdraft of air just above me. It reminded me of the owl in the forest, so I turned my head to look up at the night sky. There was Forrest, hovering in the air with his wings aloft. They were as iridescent as a dragonfly’s wing and the ever-changing color of the sea.

"Hey," I cried indignantly. "That’s cheating!"

He laughed and soared a few feet ahead. "Come on, little sparrow. Unfurl your wings!"

"Cheating fae!" I called.

"Slow human," he teased.

I surged forward, but he quickly soared past me. He stopped to wait for me. When I caught up, he rushed ahead again.

Finally, we reached the open entrance to the greenhouse, and he lowered himself back to the ground and retracted his wings once more.

"Cheater." I hit him playfully on the chest and felt my hand linger over his rapidly beating heart. I smiled up at him.

"Liar," he whispered, his eyes twinkling down at me. Once more, I wondered if he would kiss me. But instead, he lowered his lips to his palm and blew a gust of sea air toward the greenhouse door.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"To take down the wards. You don’t think just anyone can walk into our greenhouses, do you?"

I had hoped so. "Of course not."

We entered the greenhouse together, and I stared out at a sea of otherworldly plants. Ones that were only legends on my own shores.

I started to reach out to one, planning to gently stroke its petals.

Forrest reached out and grasped my forearm.

I looked up at him in surprise.

"That plant feeds off blood," he warned. "Here." He took my hand in his. "I better keep hold of this for you. Only until it’s safe, of course."

My heart fluttered, and I tried to quiet it. We were just holding hands. We were betrothed. There was no reason to act so silly.

The greenhouses were as spectacular and expansive as I had wished, but no matter how many we strolled through, I did not find the plant I wanted—the one I intended to steal.

That book Hawthorne recommended had awakened something in me. Memories from long, long ago had begun to surface. One more powerful than the others. It was a beautiful, bright day, and I couldn’t have been but two years old.

"Come, Georgia," Momma called.

She was a pretty lady with round blue eyes, warm blonde hair streaked with gray, and the beginnings of soft wrinkles at the corners of her lips and eyes from smiling.

I ran to her on the shaky legs of a toddler and happily accepted her hand.

She smiled down at me. "Are you ready for our walk, love?"