Page 19 of The Wind and the Wild (The Keepers of Faerie #1)

If he is feeling poorly enough that he does not want to make that small walk, he certainly should not be down here with me, but I say nothing of it.

I know little of how fae and their bodies are built, and I know Aidyn less.

I shouldn’t tell him off to bed like some small child. .. but I’m not above it.

Anyway, I’d prefer to go without him . . . once the hounds are gone. Once with him standing beside me among the trees was enough.

“ It isn’t far. You may watch me from the window if you like. I can light some pine needles for the smoke—”

“ No ,” he says with such sudden harshness that my hand stills at my mixing and I’m suddenly reminded of what he is. It is not a bad thing in and of itself, the fact his kind are so dangerous—many a human hand could injure me (and one has)—but his sudden intensity is startling.

“ No,” he says again, much softer, spinning the honey absently.

“ The farther in you go, particularly alone, the more danger is present for a human. And those creatures are not the bees buzzing around your gentle trees. These are excruciating—to a human much more so. No. Tomorrow I will go with you. Or I will go alone.” He eyes me suddenly.

“ Do not think to go deeper by yourself.”

I hadn’t been considering it—Faerie frightens me enough—but if these woods can unnerve a creature born to them, I am in no mood to set foot on the other side of the library.

“ Well,” I murmur, “ you’ve suitably frightened me off.”

This doesn’t appear to please him. Perhaps he is as unhappy about frightening me off as I am. It is no matter. I don’t believe he will let anything happen to the kittens, and if he says he has enough for today, I shall take his word for it.

He must believe it true, after all.

“ Three days,” he says suddenly.

“ What?”

“ Don’t return to Faerie for three days. The... hounds should be long gone by tomorrow, but take two extra for safety.”

A part of me wonders if he doesn’t wish me here so I do not attract the attention of whoever will be coming to drive the beasts away. Perhaps he is hiding so desperately that he does not even wish to be noticed in passing.

I open my mouth to ask but instead say, “ I suppose I can manage three days.”

“ Manage ” is dramatic. With the knowledge of the hunt hounds nearby, staying out for three days will be as easy for me as it is for every other human who has no wish to step foot within the bounds of Faerie.

Easy as breathing.

Una has her arms folded at me when I return. I pause, feeling strangely heady after returning to the human lands and having forgotten she would certainly be waiting to pounce. I left before she awoke, after all.

“ Hi,” I say, then head for the well in the center of the village, suddenly thirsty in the overbearing sun.

“ You’re going to be the death of me,” she says, following and giving me a splash from the bucket when I haul it up.

“ Knock it off.” I splash her in return. “ Besides, I left a note.”

She rolls her eyes so dramatically they twitch. Across the small square, Niall watches us from his father’s workshop. It is mostly his own now. His shirt is off, and he’s working at some sort of tool I can’t make out from here.

“ Niall’s shirtless,” I say casually.

Una glances back only to do a double take at me. “ That is not a distraction. ”

I raise my eyebrows.

“ Not enough of a distraction,” she mutters, then swats me on the shoulder again. “ What happened?”

“ Um, ” I hedge, watching Niall abandon his project in favor of heading our way with long strides. His expression holds less of his usual calm cheer, and something sits uncomfortably in my chest for it.

“ What are you two discussing so vigorously?” he asks, then pinches Una on the leg.

She swats at him and glances about to see if anyone noticed.

Most everyone is in their gardens or the fields, out of the stuffy heat of their houses, not paying us much mind.

The three of us talking by the well isn’t precisely an unheard-of event.

“ Niamh went back to visit the pretty faerie,” Una whispers conspiratorially. No one is close enough to hear.

I ignore her. “ What’s wrong?”

“ Well,” he says, casting a glance over his shoulder to the field where midsummer festivals are thrown.

The closest two villages gather here on the day, considering our own cluster of houses is closest to the woods and therefore closest to honoring Faerie.

Our little village will more than triple in size, and preparations are slowly being put together weeks early.

It’s difficult not to smile at the thought.

“ Well? ” I prompt, and Una has given up her glowering to look up at him.

“ Some folks from Brym came to deliver poles for the May dances.”

My stomach twists before he finishes the thought.

“ Blain is here. So are his father and sister. And a few others. I thought you’d want a warning.”

Without meaning to, I glance at the field. Several figures and wagons dot the landscape, but I’d never be able to tell who they are from this distance. It’s only their silhouettes in the hot spring air.

“ Oh,” I say, and nothing else. What else is there to say?

When neither of us speaks, Niall grunts, grabs each of us by the hand, and drags us in the opposite direction of the meadow.

I trot along gratefully, a weight in my chest, Niall’s warm rough hand around mine.

Una casts a disgusted glance at the meadow and makes a face in my direction. I force a smile.

I knew something like this would happen—and will continue to.

Blain lives in Brym, the next village over, after all, and it makes sense that he would help with the preparations and that he will eventually show up the day and night of midsummer.

I’ve been planning on ignoring him. In fact, he hasn’t shown in years—not since that night—so I figured he and his family wouldn’t have the guts.

Evidently, they have decided enough time has passed.

“ I can’t believe they have the gall,” Niall mutters when we settle into the long grasses on the brighter side of the woods—the side less likely to get one lost into Faerie.

I set my basket between them, along with the third of the honeyed cake Aidyn insisted I take with me.

I tried to gift him the whole thing since he was alone and not in great supply of food.

I suppose you’ll have to return and make me something from the recipe book, then. There was a gleam in his eye.

My face heats.

“ What’s this?” Una asks, taking some of the cake. Her eyes widen at the honey. “ Oh, sprites.”

I snort without meaning to. Niall eyes it before taking some as well, looking me up and down. “ Why are you blushing?”

“ I’m not!”

“ You are. Those things will enchant you, you know. Don’t blush at the pretty faerie, Niamh.”

I swat him gently on the leg. “ You’re not my brother and I’m older than you. Don’t tell me what to do.”

He grasps his heart in mock hurt.

“ Fine. I’m older than you, at least. Don’t tell me what to do.”

He sends Una a conspiratorial smirk, but she’s too busy making eyes at the cake. I bury my face in my hands, suddenly overwhelmed and feeling silly for being so.

“ Is this about the pretty faerie or the stuck-up son of a mongrel over there—”

“ Niall. ”

“ I won’t apologize.”

Snorting again, I say through my hands, “ He’s very nice.”

“ Well, I know you’re not talking about the stuck-up son of a—”

I shove him, though it doesn’t do much to move him. He snickers. Either one of them can make me laugh, and he knows it.

“ He’s definitely hurt himself somehow,” I say, rubbing my hands together. “ And I think he’s scared of something, but he’s not insisted upon my name, and he’s warning me where not to go in Faerie in concern for my safety.”

I carefully don’t mention the hounds or how I went in much too early this morning, even if by accident.

Niall raises an eyebrow, not convinced. “ Moonlight born,” he mutters, edging into amusement.

I take some of the cake and make a face as I eat. He’s correct, after all.

“ You’re going to go back, aren’t you?” Una asks, trying to take more of the cake slowly, as if less of it will disappear if she does. “ And can you give me a good reason why?”

I can, actually. It occurred to me as I was walking out.

Aidyn insisted upon leading me down, his hand on the inside of my elbow as he checked the few dozen steps from the library to the honeysuckle for monsters.

The wind had picked up about him, and I’ve learned enough to realize it was his own magic.

I can still feel the touch of his hand on my skin.

“ He needs help getting food for the kittens until he feels well. And besides, who would want to be alone while they are hurt?”

“ Him, evidently,” Una says, though not unkindly. “ Since he’s hiding there.”

She is correct, of course, and I nod, unable to bring that to change my mind.

“ Because I wish to,” I say gently, and the two exchange looks but do nothing more than smile.

Niall whispers, “ If he threatens you once, you’ll—”

“ I am no longer that type of fool,” I say in a matching tone. “ I’m not going to give myself or either of you a reason to worry. If I think he’s dangerous, I won’t return.”

“ I think they’re all dangerous,” Niall mumbles.

“ And I’ve seen you throw an axe,” I point out. “ You’re dangerous.”

Despite the point he’s trying to make, his ears turn pink, and he’s clearly pleased with himself.

I squeeze his knee. “ I know. And I’m being careful.”

“ Promise? ”

I think of Aidyn and his gentle movements, the way even the slight bite to his words was in panic over wishing me to understand I could be terribly hurt in Faerie. “ I promise. ”