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Chapter Thirty-Seven

RAIN

B racken stayed long enough to make sure Aspen could not only make a gate, but also control it.

I was starting to realize the conjuration wasn't an easy one.

When my zez said he couldn't do it on his own, but he could mitigate the collapse of one?

Yeah, this thing I'd been taking for granted was a big fucking deal.

That was why they always said it with a strange tone.

There was emphasis on the very word, like it was either bad or special.

I'd just never gotten enough information to figure out which.

Naturally, I'd assumed my friends were breaking one of the many school rules for fae. After all, we kinda did that a lot.

Even better, Aspen's gate took us right to the corner of the atrium where it was the most private.

Overhead, a few large trees worked as a canopy.

Around us, bushes served as walls. We both set down our armload of plants, then went back for more.

Evidently, Aspen had been using them as a band-aid for her problem, pumping magic out so the plants could grow.

She explained it all to me as we worked, including how magic constantly built up inside her.

It seemed Bracken had given her permission to let me know that much, yet when my girlfriend talked about plants?

Her eyes lit up in the best way, and just thinking about growing things made a smile curl her lips upward.

But moving so many plants didn't happen quickly.

It also didn't resolve all the issues still lingering between us.

Two weeks might not be too long, but it was long enough to build up a shit-ton of questions.

Sometime after the third - or maybe fifth - trip, just as the rest of the building was falling silent due to the late hour, I refused to ignore it anymore.

"So..." I set down a tray with at least a dozen little pots in it. "Why has Torian been keeping you from me? Is it because he thinks I'll tell someone your control got rattled?"

"Rattled?" She laughed, and it actually sounded amused. "Rain, my control was completely shattered for a while there. I mean, it's still not good, but I thought I could come back and be ok. Hawke was saying you were getting pissed about me ditching you, and - "

"No," I said, stopping her. "Aspen, I was pissed because Torian wasn't letting me see you. Not to check up, not to help, or anything."

"He wasn't!" she insisted. "He's the one who told me to use you that day at lunch. He said he thought you could help, but I didn't want to hurt you. Don't you get it? He likes you, Rain!"

I groaned, because things had clearly gotten all twisted around somehow. "But every time I wanted to check on you, the guys said it was a bad idea. Torian was helping, and Torian was taking care of you. Things like that kinda sound like, well, abuse."

"He needed help too," she assured me. "Rain, when the Hunt attacked? It was a lot. Not just the Huntsman grabbing me, but the amount of magic we used, knowing Fin died anyway..." She shrugged. "It all added up."

"Fin was kinda dickish," I reminded her.

"He was still one of us," she countered. "For me, it's just proof it could happen to any of us."

"Seeing you being dragged away did it for me," I said softly. "And then you were just gone. The Hunt showed up and my girlfriend vanished. I kept trying to tell myself it was ok, and how you needed me to be supportive and everything, but..."

"But what?" she pressed.

I turned back for the gate. "But I'm used to people getting sick of me and punting me to the next home." Then I stepped through the pair of trees which served as the frame on this side.

Back in her room, I gathered another collection of plants, trying to ignore how I'd actually said that out loud. Fuck, she must think I was a complete loser! It had only been a couple of weeks, and here I was, freaking out about it. Talk about high maintenance!

With my arms wrapped around a large pot, I returned to the atrium to find Aspen on her knees, muttering to the plant. When she heard me - my footsteps, the gate, or who knew what - she turned, those icy eyes hanging on me too long.

"I was scared staying would chase you away," she said. "I thought I might hurt you, or scare you, or freak you out, because we're monsters! I mean, the magic you always see is the shiny happy stuff. But when it's out of control, it isn't as much fun."

"Oh, Aspen," I breathed, dropping the plant in the closest open space as I headed for her.

But a burst of bubbles appeared in front of my face. Pink ones, baby blue, and mint green. Well, the iridescence of them were those colors. The bubbles were clear, but still. There had to be a few dozen, and each of them was bigger than a silver dollar, acting like a curtain between us.

"What the..." I asked, unable to even finish the thought.

Aspen giggled. "It's an Elysian Burst! They do that when jostled!"

I tried to wave away the curtain of bubbles. The air from my hand sent some up into the trees where Jack was hiding. Others drifted off between the plants. A few in front of me popped with an audible little burst.

The smallest laugh slipped from my lips. I turned, trying to see the rest of the bubbles this plant had made. Sure enough, the things were wafting high into the atrium. A few were as high as the third floor already!

"I like that one," I decided.

Her fingers slipped between mine and Aspen pressed up against my back. "I like you," she breathed against my neck.

I turned to find a smudge of dirt on her cheek and her eyes just a bit too wide. "Aspen, I..."

"I've never felt like this with anyone," she broke in. "I was not trying to chase you off, Rain. I was not hiding from you like that! I was trying to keep from hurting you. To make sure you wouldn't hate me because of it, not to get away from you!"

"I know," I swore. "I know that now, but I didn't when it was going on, and it hurt.

It made me feel..." I paused to lick my lips.

"In my whole life, no one has ever wanted me around.

I've always been the extra, and the court makes me feel like I'm important.

Like I'm really a friend! But then I was cut out, and everyone kept giving me these half-assed answers, and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself they couldn't lie, it still felt like they were hiding something! "

"They were," she admitted. "We can talk around things, but there are some issues we just can't share. We made a promise to some of the strongest fae here at school, and breaking it?" She shook her head.

"But we're ok?" I begged, reaching up to wipe the soil from her beautiful cheekbone. "Do you still - " I stopped hard.

"Love you?" she asked, a little smile curling her lips.

"Like, at least?" I tried.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," she blurted out. "I'm sure I'm going to mess this up, but I think about you all the time, and being in the same room makes me so happy - even if we aren't talking. You even like my plants! I mean, how much more perfect could you get?"

"I might be doing the same," I admitted.

Which made her eyes snap right back to mine. "Yeah?"

I shrugged, feeling every twist in my guts. "Yeah." And then I leaned in.

The smell of fae plants around us was like sugar in the air. The touch of her mouth was just as sweet. Our first kiss was soft and careful, but it didn't stay that way for long.

Two weeks without Aspen in it had felt like an eternity. This wild pixie of a girl had become my best friend, my crush, and the one place I always wanted to be. Whatever this thing was we were building between us felt so fucking good - and different from every guy I'd ever dated.

It wasn't only the delicate way her mouth moved.

Nor was it the tender grip of her fingers in my hair.

Part of it was the soft sounds she made as our tongues collided and swirled, but mostly it was just her.

Aspen Fox was beautiful. Not only sexy, but also that.

Definitely brilliant, certainly magical, and mine .

"I don't ever want you to hide from me," I whispered against her lips before kissing her again.

She moaned softly. "Yeah, that was a dumb idea. Pretty sure it was Torian's."

"Next time..." I pulled back to see those glacial eyes again. "Let me help protect you? Maybe I'm still learning this whole Morrigan thing, but this is why I have the power. To help the fae, and you are definitely fae in the best way."

"Shut up and kiss me," she demanded, pushing into me hard enough I was forced back a step.

My leg brushed a plant, and I heard the little sound again. It reminded me of a kid making a raspberry noise, but when I lifted heavy lids, I saw them. Dozens of bubbles filled the space around us, making my lips curl in the middle of our kiss, but I didn't want to stop .

"I really like that plant," I decided.

"Then it's yours," she said, stepping back slightly.

Without releasing my arm, she lowered herself to the ground, all but pulling me with her. The dirt was soft. The moss acted like a carpet, and when it was Aspen lying among it, the plants shifted to give us all the privacy we needed.

So I leaned in, pinning her below me. "So you know, you look very good like this."

She smiled sweetly and pulled me closer. "Shut up and kiss me."

And kiss, and kiss, and kiss some more. Aspen was back.

She was still mine! The feeling in my chest was overflowing, just like it had been when Liam had said he and Bracken wanted to adopt me.

Here, in the most beautiful place I could imagine, I was actually wanted - and by the most amazing girl I could ever imagine.

So I kissed her deeper, leaning in so I could hold her as I did it. That meant bracing my arms on the ground. One knee landed between her legs, and as I leaned in, she sucked in a breath. The sound wrapped around it was so fucking sweet.

"Rain..." she begged, hooking her leg around the back of my calf.

Then the entire atrium exploded with water.

The click of the sprinklers activating wasn't enough warning before the various types began to spray in every direction.

Some were misty. Others had direct streams that flickered across a wide area.

The two of us seemed to be right in the middle of them all.

"No!" she squealed, lifting her hands up to cover her face.

"Fuck!" I laughed, leaning higher to shield her from the water. "It's midnight!" Because that was when the sprinklers went off!

A jet slashed across my back, soaking my shirt, but I was laughing too hard to care. With a tug, she pulled me down beside her, then gestured. A massive bubble appeared around us, knocking the water back and looking like a much larger version of the plant I liked so much.

"Oh, now that's useful," I giggled.

"Doesn't really do anything for privacy though, and the plants are busy getting a drink."

"Rain!" Jack called from the tops of the trees.

"Not helping!" I called back.

"Rain-Shadow," he cawed.

I turned to look at Aspen. "Oh, now that's one thing I can do!"

So I released the darkness inside me, feeling the pressure finally relax. Shadows swirled up, out of the bubble, and encompassed it. Yeah, so maybe it wasn't exactly subtle, but this was definitely private. And dark, very dark. Perfectly dark.

"Stay with me tonight?" I begged, sliding my hand up her neck so I could find her face again.

She grabbed my soaking shirt and pulled me towards her. "It's exactly where I want to be."

This time, she was the one kissing me.