Page 23 of The Wind and the Wild (The Keepers of Faerie #1)

He is bringing me here because he thinks I’ll like it , I remember, the thought previously lost over the strange creature and my nervousness.

His excitement is a bit too infectious to resist. I follow him down, stepping carefully on the sun-hot rocks.

At the edge, he sits himself down and begins unbuckling his boots, setting his cane aside.

My face heats. “ What are you doing?”

He looks up as if I’m missing something quite obvious. “ I’m not going to get my boots wet, am I?”

My face turns hotter, then hotter still with the realization he may be able to tell. At least he isn’t inspecting my cheeks this time.

His knowing grin turns to a fake-scandalized hand over his heart. “ Fear not, I would never disrobe before a maiden.”

Whatever nerves have been tightening my chest abruptly turn into a laugh.

It’s strained, but it’s real. My cheeks don’t entirely lose their ridiculous blushing, but I’m suddenly much more comfortable.

Down here, I cannot see the library, but the path we took is there, and I don’t suppose Aidyn would be out here if he believed monsters would arrive.

Certainly, he seemed as frightened as I was, if in a hidden way.

He believes we are safe, and I do not take him for a fool.

Perhaps he’ll regale me with what he knows about the other fae who should’ve come . . .

Watching him take off his boots and the heavier overshirt, I catch the way a swirl of a gentle breeze circles him in the otherwise calm woods and can resist no longer. “ You have magic?”

He unbuckles his pants but is only taking out his belt.

It is a pretty thing, carved with flowing organic patterns of no particular plant I can recognize.

Niall would likely be impressed with the workmanship on the silver buckle.

Once again, I wonder what is hidden beneath the clothes that causes him pain.

Perhaps he would simply disrobe in front of me if those injuries did not exist. I don’t know if I’d be particularly averse to the idea, embarrassed as I’d be.

“ All fae have magic,” he says conversationally, as if we’re discussing the weather.

“ Well, all humans do not, so I’m curious.” I match his tone.

Something about that has him grinning. Leaving his cane, he rises and sticks a toe into the clear water. The undershirt is much looser and cuts down his chest. I believe I catch the edge of a bandage, though apparently this will not dissuade him from swimming.

“ What would you like to know?” he asks, then simply drops off the edge of the rock into the water. When he surfaces, hair plastered over his forehead, he watches me expectantly.

“ What... is yours, exactly?” I ask, edging up to the water and gazing into the clear depths.

Nothing about it seems dangerous, and less so with Aidyn casually treading water.

The day is hot, as if midsummer is already upon us, and the linen dress is tight and too warm for Faerie.

He is watching me as if expecting me to disrobe as well.

Perhaps I shall.

Carefully, I undo the simple laces down the back. I have a thin shift beneath, and I don’t mind him seeing a little more of me. It seems remarkably different than anyone else seeing my shoulders or my legs when I pull up my skirts and run.

His eyes trail along my fingers undoing the threads. “ I can bring the breezes to my call. It is one of the less violent magics in existence, but it certainly has its uses.”

He speaks of it so casually, as if its gentleness makes it less impressive. “ So, it will just... do anything you want?”

He floats back a little, his dark hair stuck to the white fabric of his shirt. “ Most anything.”

“ Is it difficult to do?”

“ Not terribly so.” Lifting a hand from the water, he gives a small flourish.

A breeze swirls about my feet, dancing all the way up through my dress as if it is a cold winter storm.

It’s surprisingly warm. Fingers of air tickle my stomach and chest and out through my hair.

I stop short of yelping in surprise, but it’s close.

It doesn’t quite lift my skirts, but I get the distinct feeling he did it to make me blush again.

Glowering but not managing to make it angry enough, I pull off the dress, air touching my bare shoulders.

At least it’s not his magic, just the forest sunlight.

Pretending I don’t notice his staring, I kick the fabric away and pull off my shoes, the smooth rock hot on my bare feet.

Trying to think of a different question to follow up the staring, I ask, “ What are the more violent magics?”

He wrinkles his nose. “ There are too many to count. We all have various levels of abilities to ensnare others , as you like to put it, though that is more difficult outside of Faerie, and we need your name for such things. Then there are the separate things, like this”—he sends more leaves skittering across the ground—“and some are used mainly as an aid for fighting.”

“ Examples?” I ask.

He merely gazes at me.

Perhaps not, then. “ Very well. What is the most impressive thing you can do?”

“ That would be bragging,” he says mildly, then dips below the surface of the water.

I didn’t much expect him to answer, but those words have me shaking my head. If nothing else, he knows how beautiful he is, but either this is where he draws the line at impressing me, or he doesn’t want to speak of it.

Either way, I may as well stop standing here like a fool. Creeping back to the edge of the water, I peer in, barely believing anything isn’t dangerous in Faerie, let alone a body of water.

Do merfolk exist? Probably not in a tiny waterfall pool.

“ Can you not swim?” Aidyn has resurfaced a little farther away, and I shoot him an offended glare.

“ Of course I can swim. I’m trying to decide if anything in here’s going to eat me.”

I can’t tell if he’s amused or thinks I’m simple. “ Why would I bring you here if something was going to eat you?”

“ I don’t know,” I say, sticking my toe into the water the same as he did.

Though it should be the spring snowmelt, the water is nearly warm and balmy.

The air is thick and heavy, and the pool beckons, which could be anything from some spell cast upon me to the magic of Faerie.

I wouldn’t know the difference. But I haven’t known the difference from the moment I stepped foot inside the woods. “ Perhaps you have a pet out here.”

A sudden laugh echoes off the rocks, and he dips beneath the water a bit, laughter cut off in bubbles. I fight to keep a smirk off my face. When he finally resurfaces, he’s grinning.

“ Nothing is in the water that will harm you,” he says, swimming nearer and holding his hand up. “ With me, you are safe in Faerie.”

As long as I don’t wander off and talk to strange bramble creatures, at least.

I still can’t see the library and still don’t like being alone in the woods with this faerie who is indeed a stranger, but I tend to believe him. At the very least, he believes his own words.

Enough of this silly fear, Niamh.

His hand isn’t needed, but something in me doesn’t wish to pass up the opportunity. Sliding the tips of my fingers into his palm, I step off the stones into the water.