Page 4 of Of Pixies and Promises (Fae Guardians)

Chapter

Four

S id gripped his new spear and tucked the rock inside a pocket, then started moving through the mud. Didn’t care where. He was sure he’d figure out a plan as long as he kept moving. The pixie had said something about needing to find higher ground.

She followed him.

Her little puffing breaths were like fingers plucking his strings. His body vibrated at any reminder of her femininity. It took him a few minutes of silence before he realized why. He’d stopped calling her an “it” long ago. He frowned and slowed his steps. Was he attracted to her?

“I’ve decided to help you,” she chirped happily. “You’re welcome.”

He stopped. Glanced around. Had no idea where they were. Light barely filtered down into this low area through the canopy and underbrush. He wasn’t sure what to do even if he located the sun’s direction. He was the size of a bug.

There were too many fronds. Grains of sand were small boulders. Ferns were trees. Ants were the size of dogs. At least they stayed away.

With a sigh, he turned to the pixie and raised an eyebrow. I’m listening.

“If we want to get to a source of power faster, we’ll need wings and—” She cut herself off as if to stop revealing something. But then sucked in a breath and continued. “And I’m not helping you because we’re friends. I’m helping you to repay a debt of protection. That’s all.”

His other brow joined the first. She thought they were friends?

Cute.

Did he just think cute ? He gave a disparaging shake of the head. She was still fae, and he could be stepped on at any moment. Which meant he needed her help to return to his normal size. He took her hand and shook it, “Deal.”

A spark zipped up his arm, and she jolted as if she felt it too.

Her eyes widened. “Oh no, I didn’t want to make it official.”

Official… Sid’s eyes narrowed on their hands.

That jolt. Shit . He’d just made a fae bargain.

Now he had to protect her, and she had to help him.

Fae bargains were notoriously tricky, and every Reaper knew never to say thank you or sorry to the fae because they could entrap you. But he’d just gone and trapped himself.

He let go of her hand like it was on fire.

“Oh, puh-lease.” She waved him down. “There are worse things than being in debt to a pixie princess. It’s not like I pixie-dusted you or anything.”

Princess? Her humor died at her last words, and she folded her arms and looked away. Curious .

“So what happens now?” he asked. “With the bargain?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea. We’ll figure it out when the bargain stops us or makes us do certain things.”

“Like what?”

“Like stopping us from leaving each other. Like not helping. Like not protecting.”

He looked her up and down, noting the warrior’s face paint and fierce fangs. “So that’s all for show? You’re just a spoiled princess in need of a bodyguard?”

She bared her fangs and snarled, “Come and test me, human.”

A thrill zipped through his body. His cock stirred. Was he… was he attracted to that too? His brows slammed down, and he shook it off. No. That would be ridiculous. He’d killed fae. Why would he want to?—

“Fuck me,” she gasped, looking into the sky.

He cleared his throat. “Pardon?”

“Look.”

Sid wrenched his gaze from her lips and followed to where she pointed. Way up high in the tree’s branches was a bird’s nest.

“That’s exactly what we need,” she said, grinning.

“I don’t understand.”

Bright, excited eyes landed on him, and she waggled her brows. “Wings.”

“Wings,” he repeated, still not understanding, still with half his blood down at his cock instead of his brain.

“We can ride a bird to the power source.”

He took a deep breath and glanced up again. The thought of flying on a feathered creature was both exhilarating and a little frightening. He judged the distance; it could take them hours to climb the tree at this size. No harness or rope.

“What if we fall?” he asked.

“We won’t. Trust me. I’ve done this plenty of times before.”

“You have wings.”

“Which are currently injured and useless,” she pointed out. Fear flickered across her face, but she smiled broadly and said, “Don’t worry. You will protect us.”

He snorted at the idea of breaking her fall but nodded. They had no other options.

Nyra sauntered to the base of the tree. “I wasn’t asking your permission.”

Each step swayed her hips, sending her leaf and floral skirt jaunting. Nyra started climbing, using gaps in the bark for footing. The tree was more of a craggy tower to him at this size.

Sid put his self-made spear through the back of his collar and prayed the tightness of his shirt would keep it from slipping out. Then he gripped bark and hoisted himself after the pixie.

After a few yards of climbing, he glanced up and realized he had an indecent view up her gown. The gossamer had been torn to shreds, and loose vines caught in the wind, flashing her pert bottom. He quickly glanced back to the bark with his cheeks heating.

“Hurry up,” she called, but he couldn’t move.

Just don’t look up, he told himself. But also don’t look down. Shit .

What the fuck was wrong with him? It was like everything about her not only plucked his strings but controlled them—wound them around her little pixie fingers.

Clearing his throat, he forced himself to look only far enough to locate the next bark to grip.

His strategy worked well enough until he caught up to her and inadvertently glanced up.

Definitely compatible with a human , a voice from the back of his mind said. He wasn’t sure exactly what he expected fae genitalia to look like but knew it must be close enough to human. Silver fucked one of them, after all.

He might have stared too long at the sheer gauzy strip covering her ass because he misplaced his hand and slipped. Bark crumbled down to the ground.

Get your mind out of the gutter, Sid.

But he couldn’t.

For the entire climb, she was there every time he glanced up. Finally, when they crested the branch that felt more like a ten- foot-wide ledge, his cheeks were flaming hot, half the blood in his brain was still south, and he couldn’t look Nyra in the eyes.

She sat down and fanned her face. “Phew. That was work. I need a drink.”

He was parched, too. But he couldn’t entirely blame the exercise. He nodded and occupied his eyes and hormones by searching through the leaves for the sun’s position. It wasn’t hard to locate as it was setting. Most of the day had passed.

Nyra walked toward the nest at the end of their branch.

“I don’t think anyone is home. Ooh. Look. Robin eggs.” She caught him in the snare of her violet eyes. “We can hitch a ride when the mama comes home.”

“How will we steer it to where we want?”

“I have a little mana refilling. Not enough for us to grow back to human size, but enough for me to influence the bird.”

“Won’t using your mana deplete your stores again?” He scratched his head, not liking the sound of starting at ground zero.

“It doesn’t matter. Once we get to the power source, I’ll refill fast.”

He peeked into the next at the three spotted eggs.

“There’s food right there,” he said.

Nyra hit him on the pec. “Don’t you dare.”

He stifled a smile. “I’d rather it be them than us.”

Unable to help himself from teasing further, he pulled the spear out of his shirt. Her outrage doubled, and she climbed into the nest, putting herself between him and the eggs.

“They’re babies. Not even born!” She tried to bare her fangs, but tears glistened in her eyes.

“Hey,” he said, his voice softening as he lowered his spear. “I was kidding. I wasn’t going to eat them.”

Her expression crumpled, and she heaved in a breath to steady herself. “You can’t joke about things like that to a pixie. It’s our job to nourish the forest, protecting all life inside it.”

And she was a princess. She would hold firm to that conviction. Now he felt terrible. He fit the spear safely into the nest and climbed in after her. He dipped his chin to meet her eyes.

“I promise I won’t hurt them.”

She glanced up at him, and a moment of connection passed between them. A moment of weighing each other, noting how fewer walls were between them now than the last time they’d done this. He tucked pink flyaway hair behind her ears, unintentionally brushing her skin. She shivered.

He had the irrational urge to see what else would make her shiver, but he clenched his fist and dropped it to his side.

“We should rest until the mama comes home,” Nyra said, somewhat breathlessly.

He nodded. “Here?”

She lowered to the nest floor. He crouched, intending to fit himself next to her, but the space wasn’t as big as he’d thought.

Nyra stretched her legs out and shuffled to the side. “You can fit here.”

Sid slotted in the gap between her and the nest wall. Everywhere their thighs, hips, and shoulders touched was on fire. He couldn’t think of anything else but her unique feminine smell as he’d climbed after her. Fresh, feminine… same as a human female.

They weren’t so different. Nero’s lies blinded Sid to the truth, and he felt foolish at having believed them all his life. Even more foolish to have wanted to hurt Silver because of it.

Staring up at the stunning sunset through the leaves, he thought he might be in heaven, which was impossible because he’d sinned so much.

“You’re hurt,” Nyra mumbled and touched his head.

He winced as she pressed the lump. “I’m fine.”

“At least let me check it.”

“What can you know about human injuries? You heal fast.”

She glanced over her shoulder at her broken wings, then met his eyes flatly. “We still scar.”

He exhaled and flexed his fist. “You’re right. Are you sore?”

“A little. It doesn’t help that they’re pinned beneath me.”

Without thinking, he pulled her on top of him so she straddled his hips. She made an eep sound but didn’t fight him. Instead, she melted along his torso until her face was inches from his.

“That better?” he murmured.

She nodded, eyes wide. He couldn’t tear his gaze from hers and couldn’t tear his hands from her hips. Heat flared down his front… right to where his semi became a full-blown erection.