Page 31 of A Dance with the Fae (Mistress of Magic #1)

When the bells by the door jangled the next day, Faye looked up to see Rav’s bullish frame instead.

‘Hey. I’ve been messaging you, but I didn’t get a reply.’ He smiled and Faye looked guiltily at her phone. She realised that she’d spent the last hour staring off into space, pondering her time in Murias; Aisha, who was working that day, had given up talking to her and had turned on the radio.

The fact that Faye was functioning at all after everything that had happened was remarkable, she realised.

She still felt unwell, but she was soldiering on, refusing to let faerie get the better of her.

Finn had told her, and the rules had warned her that if she spent too long in the faerie realms – if she ate the food and drank the wine – the exposure to fae would weaken her immunity to humanity, once she was back.

Less so, as half faerie, but it was still noticeable.

Faye didn’t want to believe it, and yet it seemed true. She also didn’t want to believe what Finn had told her about the war and the prophecy: it all seemed ridiculous, now that she was back home. Yet, the thought that it might all be true niggled at her. What then?

‘Oh. Sorry.’ She blushed, unable to explain. Rav looked around at the shop, which was empty apart from Aisha, unpacking a box in the corner, back again at Faye, and at her phone, next to her on the counter.

‘It’s okay. I was just a bit worried about you.’ He looked unsure of her, which Faye could understand. She’d been completely inconsistent with him since they had had their night on the beach.

‘You don’t need to worry.’ She coughed into a tissue. ‘Sorry. Just a bit under the weather.’

Dal Riada, there, Scotland’s hottest new band , burbled the local radio as the track finished. Set to be headlining Abercolme Rocks this year; the first Midsummer celebration for many a year up this way. It’s gonna be a banger, get your tickets soon cos they’re selling out!

‘Are they? Selling out?’ Faye gave Rav a big smile, picking up her pack of dog-eared tarot cards she kept at the counter and shuffling them to have something to do with her hands; it made her feel less awkward.

She pulled out three cards without any particular questions and laid them on the counter, facing up.

The King of Cups on one side, the King of Pentacles on the other, and The Empress in the middle.

Two men that desire you. Two men – well that was easy enough.

The King of Cups was Finn, and the King of Pentacles was Rav.

The Empress was herself – sexy, desired, fertile; the ultimate woman.

Faye remembered that sometimes the Empress card could mean a Mistress, too; she raised an eyebrow. Whose mistress? she wondered.

‘Doing all right, yeah.’ Rav nodded. ‘Word’s getting out there. People love that band. Not my thing, but whatever. Sorry you’re ill. Can I do anything? Bring you anything?’

‘That’s sweet of you. No, I’m fine. You know, Aisha really loves Dal Riada. Aish, come and say hi.’ Faye beckoned her over.

She pulled out two more cards, more consciously now.

On the King of Cups, she placed The Lovers; on the King of Pentacles, she placed the Seven of Swords.

The Lovers was obvious. The Swords card meant deviousness, guile – betrayal, sometimes.

She frowned and picked up the cards, slotting them back into the deck.

Betrayal , she thought, avoiding Rav’s eyes. But who betrays who?

‘Hey, Rav.’ Aisha finished arranging some new salt crystal lamps on one of the shelves and came over, wiping her hands on her jeans; it was fairly obvious she’d been giving Faye and Rav some space until now.

She stuck her hand out and he shook it, hardly taking his eyes from Faye.

‘I heard you’re organising the festival.

Faye’s right. I’m a huge fan of Dal Riada. ’

‘Oh. Cool! Nice to meet you.’

Rav shifted his smile to Aisha. For a moment, Faye saw Aisha through Rav’s eyes: young, bright, enthusiastic; Aisha loved music as much as Rav.

She had been wearing her hair down more and wore make-up most days now, which made her dark brown, long-lashed eyes look like those of a cartoon doe.

Faye had always thought that Aisha was a hidden beauty and had encouraged her to feel more confident about the way she looked, but for the first time, she suddenly felt envious and hated herself immediately for the feeling.

What is wrong with me? Aisha and Rav were allowed to talk to each other.

She didn’t own either of them. Faye could feel something encircling her, constricting her throat and casting a kind of haze in front of her eyes.

It was a similar feeling to when she had seen Annie yesterday, and had been unable to tell her what had happened with Finn.

She shook her head to try and clear the feeling, but it persisted.

Was it just the flu? No, it was something else.

‘So have you organised a lot of festivals?’ Aisha asked Rav.

‘A few. Usually, I promote tours, but my company have started moving into festivals now,’ he said, his gaze flickering to Faye as he talked to Aisha. ‘I’ve always been fascinated by the historic festivals, you know? Woodstock, that kind of thing. Altamont, Live Aid.’

‘Altamont. Didn’t people die at that festival?’ Aisha asked.

‘Yeah. Textbook example of how not to run a festival. Rule number one: don’t let the Hells Angels do security.’

‘That seems like good advice. What happened, exactly?’ Faye asked, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling that refused to go away.

‘It was a free concert, 1969. Four months after Woodstock, the Summer of Love.’ Rav made the peace sign with both hands.

‘Three hundred thousand people, mostly on drugs, descended on this place that wasn’t at all prepared.

Bike gangs were on security. One woman was stabbed to death, someone drowned in a canal because they were so out of it, two people died in a car accident. ’

‘Oh god,’ Aisha breathed.

‘Yeah. It was violent. Chaotic. It was so bad that the Grateful Dead didn’t even go on. It’s not going to be like that at Abercolme Rocks, however.’ He chuckled. ‘It’s a nice, gentle Midsummer music festival. No Hells Angels.’

Midsummer, Midsummer, Midsummer delight; go to the faeries on Midsummer night; Take thee a maiden, take thee a wife…

The song played on Faye’s mind again at the mention of the June solstice.

Was there a significance about Finn playing Abercolme Rocks that she hadn’t dared consider?

Was it about more than satisfying his vanity, about more than feeding off the adulation of the audience?

Finn had told her what he thought of humans: that they were, at best, good only for breeding and being slaves to the faerie world. What if his plans for the festival were more heinous than anyone knew?

The image of a rioting crowd, of the out-of-control chaos of the free festival at Altamont filled her mind, and she felt a shiver run through her that she didn’t fully understand.

Aisha and Rav were chatting amiably about music, and Faye made herself go and rearrange something on a shelf that didn’t need it. Let them talk , she told herself, resisting the jealousy that had risen in her.

‘If you need any help with the festival, I’ve got some free time. I’m at university, but I’ve got a few weeks free at the moment and I love music. I’m really into a lot of the bands on the line-up. I used to run a music blog, so…I mean…it’d be a pleasure to help,’ Aisha was saying.

‘Oh. Really? That’d be great. I can’t pay you, I don’t think, though.’ Rav sounded apologetic. Faye’s heart started beating harder, and she was alarmed at herself.

‘Ah well. Festival tickets’d be enough?’ Aisha smiled innocently.

‘Oh, sure! That I can do.’ He nodded enthusiastically. ‘You’re serious? You can help out? I need admin help, like emails, social media, local advertising, that kind of thing.’

‘No worries.’ Aisha scribbled her number on a scrap of paper and gave it to him. ‘Give me a call. I’m free Mondays and weekends…or evenings, if you need a hand then.’

‘Okay, cool. Thanks, Aisha. That’d be a huge help.’

Rav isn’t yours , Faye told herself. You just slept together once. You don’t own him.

Yet, when she looked up from the spell bags she had organised into neat lines, Rav was staring at her.

She felt his gaze flicker to her breasts.

She looked back at him, not doing anything except accepting his gaze without embarrassment.

As she did so, she let the delicious power of faerie suffuse her limbs and her blood.

It was suddenly as though all her insecurity had been washed away, replaced by a new seductive power.

Interesting , Faye thought. It’s like Rav’s under a spell when he looks at me. My spell.

She smiled over at Rav, touching her top lip with her fingertip, tracing it along, watching him watch her as she did it. She felt so different, so good , suddenly, and she was enjoying it.

Rav followed her across the shop, leaving Aisha to return to her tasks.

‘You seem…different.’ He blinked. ‘Did you…I don’t know. Do your hair differently?’ he asked Faye, frowning.

Faye ran her hand through her hair, not breaking eye contact with him.

‘No. Just the same as always.’

‘Oh.’ Rav stared at her again, hungrily, his desire open on his face, then looked away, obviously trying to control himself.

‘You look…I don’t know. Amazing.’ He lowered his voice and reached for her, putting his arm around her waist and drawing her to him.

‘I mean, you’re always sexy, but…fuck. What have you done to me?

I don’t know what to do with myself around you. ’

‘I don’t know…’ Faye said, but she was wondering what had come over her. The glamour of faerie, maybe? That was a thing, wasn’t it? She thought she had seen it mentioned somewhere before. A glamour: a magical illusion that made its owner intoxicating in the eyes of others.

‘Actually, I wanted to ask you about the’ – he lowered his voice – ‘ faerie problem . It doesn’t seem to have worked, leaving out the offerings.’

‘Oh, hasn’t it?’ she asked, deliberately coolly, though she was loving the way that he looked at her. What is this power I have over him? she wondered. ‘I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll come and take a look for you.’

‘Cool…Could you come tonight? It’s just that…the noise. I can’t sleep. Knocking noises. And it still sounds like they’re running through the house. Obviously, whenever I go to investigate, I can’t see anything.’ Rav rubbed his eyes; Faye could see he looked exhausted.

‘Of course I’ll come,’ she said, feeling sorry for him; the desirous, wanton Faye receded for a moment. ‘I close up around five. I’ll come over after. Okay?’

‘Thanks so much. It’s just, with the festival coming up, I’ve got so much to do. I could do with some sleep.’ He grinned sheepishly and yawned. ‘I thought the faeries liked music? Surely, they should be blessing me or something?’

‘Who can say what the faeries want?’ Faye responded honestly. The past days had been full of extremes, of dramatic emotions and oddness. She felt both wrung out and soaring out of control, hallucinatory, ill, out of sync with her own self.

What is this new, strange power I have over Rav? Was it connected to her visit to Murias? Perhaps enchanting Rav made her more like Finn. And she had no idea whether that was a good thing or not, only that it confused her even more.

She smiled reassuringly and gave Rav a chaste kiss on the cheek.

‘I’ll see you later,’ she said: a friendly tone, nothing more. He looked confused again, and she didn’t blame him at all. There was a brief second when she knew he considered kissing her again – she saw it in his eyes – but she stepped back.

Rav met her gaze for a moment, and looked like he was going to say something, but he just nodded. ‘Okay. Later.’ He let himself out the door, giving a friendly wave to Aisha. Fresh air cut through the shop from the street outside, but right at the edge of her perception, Faye could smell roses.