Page 70 of The Wind and the Wild (The Keepers of Faerie #1)

T hat night, early in the morning, a whisper wakes me.

It ceases the moment I raise my head, and a soft tap knocks on the window glass.

Heart jumping, I lean forward and brush aside the curtain to find Dauna’s dark eyes gazing back at me.

Disappointment knocks against my chest, but I know it’s better that Aidyn is staying off his feet.

Getting fully out from under the covers, I shove the curtains aside properly, dried foxgloves and bee balm rustling, and edge open the glass.

“ You’ll fall,” I hiss, though as I say it, it strikes me as ridiculous. She looks perfectly comfortable on the slim branch nearest this side of the cottage, fingers resting against the windowpane.

Indeed, her eyes roll. “ Aidyn wished me to tell you that you are safe to come if you would like, but keep it to the daytime. He is much more awake now.”

My heart jumps, but the moon is still out and the morning dim. I have several hours to wait.

“ Thank you. I’m sorry he sent you here to give messages,” I say, laughing quietly.

She shrugs, and her mouth quirks at the corner. “ I do not mind. His eyes light up when he talks about you.”

My face heats. “ And thank you for watching over my parents. They’re here safe.”

“ I saw. They have warm countenances.”

I smile. “ Yes, they do.” I glance back into my room, feeling strange. “ Would you... like to come in?”

She chuckles, and I hear the trace of magic in her voice, just the barest thread compared to the long haunting wail that enraptures anything within its grasp. I shiver. Shaking her head, she says, “ I am happy out in the dark. I will see you again.”

She slips off the trees with barely a brush of sound, and by the time she reaches the grasses below, I’ve lost all sight and sound of her. I lean out over the edge of the window, into the cool morning air, my hair hanging about my face.

“ Aidyn,” I murmur, as if he is not safe in his warm bed as he should be. “ I’ve missed you.”

After a few more hours of light sleep and waking a half dozen times to check the sunrise, I’m out the door with one of the baskets I haven’t ruined or left in the library, a note to my mam and da on the kitchen table.

Despite the long and rather intense conversation that ensued from breakfast into dinner, they have both returned from a long and tiring trip and likely won’t be awake for a few more hours.

Emma is out early again, and I bring her a few of the muffins I baked yesterday in preparation for something sweet to bring to Aidyn. She raises her eyebrows over her tea, her pipe smoking in her hand on the table.

“ How are you, girl? Saw that scoundrel and his father looking rather upset as they left yesterday.”

Grinning sheepishly, I tell her as simply as I can what has transpired. Her eyebrows go up, which is likely as much as I can surprise her, other than showing up with an injured faerie right on her doorstep.

Finally, after a long silence, I tell her, “ And I’m sorry. For bringing Aidyn here so suddenly. I was frightened.”

She lets out a snort, then a sigh. “ All things considered, you did rather well.”

My face heats once more.

“ Besides, it’s the most fun I’ve had in ages. I can’t tell you how many years have passed since I’ve seen a proper faerie. Are you going to him now?”

I nod, looking at my shoes.

“ Will he heal?”

“ Tynan says so. He seems to care a great deal.”

“ Good, tell him I’m glad. And tell him to keep my name to himself; I’m too old for any fae to have any interest in it, anyway.”

I nod and give her a kiss before picking my way out of the garden. Pausing, I turn back. “ Emma? ”

“ Hmm? ”

“ A faerie had your name at one time, didn’t they?”

She taps her pipe against the arm of her rocking chair. “ He never had my name. He had my love though.”

For no good reason, my throat burns, and I nod. I know precisely how she feels, though even as I’m taking my time to hike up the hill, waiting for the sun to rise higher, my name is on my lips, as if even speaking it into the trees will carry it back to Aidyn.

Perhaps it will. They are listening in on everything, after all.

I wait beneath the branches of the hawthorn, brushing my fingers against it respectfully, until the sunlight touches its roots, then close my eyes and step into the Faerie woods.

Trotting through the silent trees, I let myself in through the side door and bounce lightly up the steps, wincing at my ankle. No one is in the kitchen, and I knock softly on the mostly closed door to Aidyn’s room.

“ Are you asleep?”

When I peek my head in, I’m greeted with a soft, “ Hello, Flower.”

He’s still on his bed but half out of the covers, lying on his side, feet bare and clothes ruffled, a leaf in his fingers one of the kittens is batting at and hissing.

Grinning in a most ridiculous manner, I step inside, setting my basket near the hearth and taking off my shoes.

The wood is cool, warmer where the low fire has been burning.

“ Where is everyone?” I ask, not believing for a moment Tynan would have left.

Aidyn’ s lips quirk. “ Father has many duties at home. He was rather upset about it. I had to chase him away. Blew him off his feet a tad. He will return tomorrow.”

I raise my eyebrows, picturing the terrifying creature upset over leaving the son he just discovered still lives... and getting his hair blown into knots again. “ Your poor da.”

He chuckles, and it’s good to hear the sound. “ Dauna is still here; ’tis the only reason he did not drag me along with him.” He waves a hand gently. “ She left only minutes ago. They are keeping a watch on the woods around your village. I believe she is giving us privacy.”

I relax knowing neither of Aidyn’s terrifying relatives will appear from between the walls, sitting on the pillows and taking his hands.

“ She is wandering out that way,” he murmurs, waving a hand again, this time with mine trapped inside his. “ I can feel where she is in the trees now that she is close.”

I smile. “ That’s sweet. I like her, even if she scares me.”

“ Hmm.” He picks one of the kittens up, setting it alongside the bed. “ She likes you.”

Again, I feel quite pleased with myself.

Leaning over, I wrap my arms about his shoulders once more, burying my face into the warm bend of his neck.

Humming, he drags his hands across my spine, holding me tight to him, breath tickling my shoulders.

The kitten mewls from somewhere close by, and one of Aidyn’s hands drops to pet it.

His lips press softly against my skin where the dress has slipped aside.

We stay this way so long I’m certain I could fall asleep against his chest were my heart not pattering against my ribs.

All of a sudden, he murmurs, “ You were very brave.”

I take his face in my hands and kiss him.

No longer distracted by exhaustion or the strong panicky excitement wrapped about me during midsummer, I can properly appreciate his lips between my own, the drift of his breath when we part, and his nose brushing the bridge of mine.

His finger curls into a lock of my hair, then another, and he sets the kitten into its basket with the others before looping his arms around me.

“ How is your shoulder?” I whisper, parting the collar of his loose shirt and looking at the neat bandages Tynan has been tending to.

“ I am quite sure I shall survive,” he murmurs, amusement in his voice.

“ And the rest of you?”

“ Much better.”

I squint, reminding myself that he must be telling the truth in some form. His lips curl back up. He does look much improved, even if he’s still lounging across the pillows. Hopefully it is only because he has grown comfortable around me.

“ Oh, I have something of yours,” I say, holding up my hand and working off the ring. “ I figured you’d want it back, even if you did, technically, give it to me.”

He cocks his head, taking it with care. “ I wondered where it went. When did you take it?”

“ When you were asleep at Emma’s—she says don’t you dare use her name, also—so I could chase after your father.” I snort at my own foolish decision, even if it was the correct one. “ How are you two? You seem all right, and he was talking to you the other day, wasn’ t he? ”

I chew my lip, not wishing to reveal how I was peeking in on them.

Rolling the ring between his fingers, he gazes at me with an expression somewhere between contentment and an emotion I cannot name. “ He was quite upset with me. It helped, I think.”

I nod. It ’s an understandable thing to say. I wouldn’t imagine anything less than Tynan being worried and fussing over him would’ve helped.

“ He understands it,” he murmurs. Before I can feel angry, he continues, “ Don’t misunderstand, he hated it, but he realized why I had my thoughts.

And he understands creatures do strange things when they are in pain.

I do not believe he is angry in that fashion.

He was upset by the idea he’d given me that impression. ..”

Swallowing, he glances to the side, but I only give his hands a squeeze, encouraging and happy he has decided to confide in me these private things.

“ He did not,” he clarifies, turning back to me. “ I did not give you that impression, did I?”

I shake my head. “ You didn’t. Just that your world gave you that impression.”

He takes in a long breath and rolls his eyes up to the ceiling and across to the kittens. “ He has asked me to return with him and has declared he shall curse and swear out anyone who dares say anything in my direction.”

Another laugh bubbles out, and I clap a hand over my mouth, picturing perfectly and horrifyingly how such a creature would go about such things.

Aidyn rolls his eyes again, rather aggressively, even if something about his face says he is pleased with this. “ I believe him. I do not know if I shall.” He finally drops his gaze back to mine. “ Not for a while yet.”