Forever Fae (16 page)

I move closer to him and
I lean my head on his shoulder.  Merric
k is going to be heartbroken when he finds out about
it
.
  How am I going to explain this to him? 
I don’t even know the full extent
of
what
i
s happening.  Elvena better have some answers for me in the morning.
 

I stand up to br
ush the leaves from my hair and back when
I am met with another shock.  The leaves that
f
a
ll
from my hair
are
in all sorts of different colors.  I see red, orange, yellow and brown leaves scattered across the ground.  Ryder sees them
,
too
,
and gives his own gasp of
excitement and
shock.  I
bend down to pick up the leaves and
am
marvel
ed
by
their beauty
.  We don’t have leaves this color in the Summer Court.

“We are going to cause a migh
ty stir tomorrow, Ryder
,
”
I say apprehensively.

He leans over to kiss my head
.

“Yes, we are P
rincess, but I will be with you
every
step of the way.”

“I am going to talk to Elvena
first thing and I hope she gives me some answers.” I wave my hands around my body and say, “I need to know what to do about all of this.
  The council will se
e us this way at the meeting and w
e have to know what to tell them.  I still have
training in a few hours as well and
I
don’t know how I’m going to explain
it
to Merrick.”

Ryder flinches at the mention of Merrick’s name.  He may not like Merrick, but Merrick still means a lot to me.  I run my hands over my face and massage my temples.  Talking to Merrick is going to be the hardest thing of all.

Tilting his head to the side
,
Ryder asks, “Were you not planning on telling
me what happened bet
ween you and Merrick?”

I look him in the eyes so he can see the total honesty in my words
.

“Ryder, I didn’t know what to tell you.  I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me again if you found out that Merrick kissed me.  I could have used my magic to push him away, but I didn’t.  I didn’t want to hurt him.
”
 
I take his hand and pull it to my face.  His skin feels perfect against mine.

“I want you to know that my feelings for Merrick have never been romantic. 
He is always going to be my
g
uardian
and he is always going to be by my side.  I don’t know how we a
re going to get through this because h
e is going to be so angry, but not able to leave
m
y side
.  He is stuck as my
g
uardian
until one of us dies and it breaks my heart to know th
at he will be watching us together for as long as we live.  I will constantly feel guilty putting him through that.”

Ryder nods his head and closes his eyes.  When he opens them they are full of understanding. 

He says,
“I know, and we will find a way to work this out.  After the meeting, I
still need to head home to the Winter C
ourt and speak to my parents and the council.  I don’t know what all of this is going to mean for me and you being together, but we will figure it out.
”  He looks at his hand and back to me and says, “I’m not sure where we fit in now.”
He kisses me gently and holds me close.

I look at the sky and notice that it’s lighting up a bit on the horizon.

“The sun will be up soon, Ryder.  We probably need to head back,” I say.

Taking
my hand, Ryder says, “I agree, P
rincess.  We have a busy day tomorrow.” He shakes his head, laughing.  “I mean today.  We have a busy day today.”

As soon as he says
it
I hear the water sloshing about in the lake.  I look over to see my little pride and joy making his way over to me.  The little black kelpie walking
toward us
was born a month ago.  The one thing that is different
about
him is that he has a white spot on his forehead in the shap
e of a star.  I call him Styx, and h
e is the sweetest thing, but I know he will be fierce when he matures.

I call to him using my baby voice
.

“Come here, Styx, you sweet little thi
ng.”

Ryder laughs at how I change
my voice, but
doesn’t move
.  I don’t know how well my kelpie will deal with a stranger.  Styx comes u
p to me and nuzzles my face,
leaving
a wet trail d
own my cheek.
I
giggle and
wipe it off on my shirt. 

“How are you
,
boy?  I have missed you so much
,
”
I say as I rub his
tiny
back. 
He
is the size of a goat.  He is still very small, but in a few short months he will be a little larger than the average size of a mortal horse. 

“Where’s
M
om
and
D
ad
,
Styx?”

He huffs out of his nose and motions his head toward the water.  I see the large
,
black head of his father poking out of the water and the white head of his mother looking out as well. 

I look at Ryder and motion toward Styx.

“Ryder, I would like you to meet Styx.  This little hellion is my favorite kelpie.  His parents are over there.” I point to the massive kelpies in the water. “The black one is his father and I named him Poseidon.  The white one is his mother and I named her Athena.”

Ryder says, “So you named them after Greek gods?”

“Of course, the Greek gods were magical beings and I have always been fascinated with Greek mythology. 
I don’t think the kelpies mind,” I tease. 

I look at Ryder and he has a huge smile on his face when he replies, “That is so odd because I have always loved Greek mythology and I also named my horse after the Greek goddess Artemis.”  I stop petting Styx to look excitedly at Ryder.  I can’t believe he likes Greek mythology as well.  Who would have thought we would have that in common
?
 
Maybe there is more to us than just the
p
rophecy
.

Styx nuzzles me to get my attention
and
huffs at Ryder.  I pet him for a few more minutes
and
then he
makes his way back to the water.  I love
being with my kelpies
,
but they
can be very dangerous to be around and have also been known to eat other fae creatures. 
I watch Styx and his parents swim away and then disappear under the water of the lake. 

I look back at Ryder and he has the hugest smile on his face.  I could look at him all day
while he has
his shirt off
,
standing there all roguish and handsome.  I bet the Winter
Court
girls go crazy over him, especially
since he’s
a
p
rince as well. 

I shake
th
e
thought from my head and say, “I believe it’s time to get going.”

He grabs my hand and we walk up the path. We
go
to the back of the ho
use where my wing is located and I see t
he window to my room is still open.  Ryder pulls me close and gi
ves me one last
heart
-
stopping kiss.  I love the taste of his lips and I can’t wait for them to be all over my body the next chance we get.

“G
oodnight, Princess.”  I see the hesitation in his eyes like he wants to say more, but doesn’t know how.  There’s plenty I wish I could say to him
,
too, but it doesn’t feel like the right time.

I look at him and smile.  I don’t want him to go, but I know there are things that need to be taken care of
because it is his duty
.  Plus, I do
n’t want anyone seeing us together out here in the early morning hours. 

“I think goodnight is way past.  I believe it would be good morning now
,” I tease.

I
lean up to kiss him quickly and
then
call upon the
wind to lift me to my room. 
The wind embraces me like a blanket and carries me up to my room.  I look down from my window to see Ryder standing open-mouthed and astonished.
 
I give him an arrogant smirk and blow him a
goodbye
kiss before closing my window. 

Xylia
jump
s
off the bed and run
s to me as I’m closing the window.
She takes one long look
up and down my body
and her eyes look like they are about to pop out of her head.

“What the he
ll happened to you?” She squeals.

If only she knew.

I pull Xylia over to the bed and I sit down to tell her everything.
  She
sits
wide
-
eyed and
open
-
mouthed like a fish the
entire
time.
She
c
an
’t
get over the body change differences.
She
ma
kes
swooning noises when I
t
ell
her about our intimate
moments.  Xylia
is
very supportive and
ke
eps
telling me not to worry
about what everyone else thinks
, especially Merrick.  She says he can’t come between fate and that Ryder is my destiny.  Xylia and I talk for the rest of the early morning hours
,
which
isn
’t
long at all, and s
he
t
ells
me more about her visit with Conall after the ceremony. 
She seems so happy and carefree and I find myself being envious of her.  Her love can be easy and uncomplicated, whereas mine is full of complication. 

When she
le
aves
I dec
ide to take a shower to wake
my body
.  I hear a knock on m
y door and thro
w on my wor
kout clothes so I can answer it.
  I
kn
o
w
it
w
il
be Elvena on the other side so I run quickly to answer it.  I can’t wait to ask her what’s going on.

I open the door
and find a
not
-
so
-
surprised look
on her face.  She is
holding a tray with my fa
vorite breakfast food,
pancakes with a lot of butter and maple syrup.  She sets the
tray with
the
three huge buttermilk pancakes, a carafe of maple syrup and a large glass of orang
e juice
on
the
table.

She looks me up and down
trying to hide her smile
and says, “Well, well, child.  Don’t you look different this morning?  Did you put on a new outfit?”  She tries to hold in her laugh, but fails.  She doubles over laughing and snorting like she always does.

Annoyed, I say, “Leave it to you to joke about something at a time like this.”

She stops laughing and turns serious.

“This is your path, child.  Live it, and embrace it.  Your peop
le are going to depend on you to follow through with your path and I know you don’t know what that path is yet, but you will.  I met with your father this morning and he already knows what’s going on.
He’s been excited
ly waiting
to see you all morning.”  She pauses for a second and quirks her eyebrow. 

“I saw Prince Ryder this morning as well.”

Well, o
f course she
had
.  She can be such a nosy woman sometimes.
  I sit down at the table and stare at my pancakes.  My stomach growl
s from
having been
empty for so long
.
I just realize
I
hadn’t
eat
en
a single thing at the ceremony last night.