By the Magic of Starlight (The Forbidden Realm) (10 page)

The sky was a dramatic wash of wispy blue clouds and the cold yellow glow of early morning. Raea fluttered her wings, Fairy Dust glittering around her as she stretched out the stiffness in her limbs. Not that they hadn’t been getting a workout.

For the past three days, she and Kyne had been hiding here in this cabin high on a densely forested hilltop, hidden by special magic she still did not quite understand. They’d been safe from anyone who might happen to be out hunting them, and no doubt someone was, considering she’d helped break Kyne out of his interrogation cell at the Fairy Council meeting hall. It had been too easy to forget about all of that, though, and make the best of their time together here.

By the Skies, they certainly had made the best of it. Passion had ruled them night and day, and Raea’s body still hummed from the pleasure she found over and over again in Kyne’s arms. A lifetime of giving in to these forbidden wonders could never fully satisfy her. Still, she knew they couldn’t hide here forever. Kyne would wake soon and they’d have to discuss their future.

And perhaps elements of his past he’d not yet been willing to talk about.

A sound in the doorway behind her alerted her to the fact that this time had come. Kyne was up, strolling out onto the wraparound porch of the cabin to join her in the dewy morning air. She smiled at him and his wings unfurled, barely clearing the door frame.

The Sizing Dust they had used still lingered over him, his fairy body holding to this human size longer than Raea’s did when she was influenced by the dust. She was tiny in comparison to him now. Her toes wriggled as she swung her legs, sitting on the porch rail in her usual fairy form.

“I can never get over what a giant you are,” she said. “Too bad the dust wears off on me so quickly.”

“It’s all right,” he said, breathing deeply and yawning. “We’ve still got a week’s worth in that little pouch.”

A week. They could continue this way for a week, avoiding their lives and loving each other. But then what? Without the precious dust, their activities would be cut short. Literally. Kyne’s fairy body was unique; when he reached his climax in the heat of their passion, he grew to human proportions. Huge, massive proportions that still took her breath away every time. Without their supply of the Sizing Dust, Raea would no longer be able to be with him that way.

“We can’t wait that long to go back,” she said. “This has been wonderful, staying here with you this way, pretending we don’t have a care in the world, but you know it can’t go on like this, Kyne. We have to go back.”

“No, I have to go back. You need to stay here, where it’s safe.”

“Forever?”

“No, of course not. Just until…”

“Until what? We don’t even know what we’re really hiding from.”

He was silent at that. What could he say? So she continued.

“Besides, the dust will run out. Whatever we do and wherever we go, we need to find more.”

Now he smiled. “You mean you’re not done with me yet?”

“Not by any means.”

He leaned against the railing beside her, and she realized his body was changing. He was reverting back to his usual form. She smiled, watching him shudder as if with a chill and then shrink with a puff of golden mist. He plopped down to sit beside her.

“And now we are equals again. Are you certain you still have no regrets, Raea? I should have never involved you in this.”

“I’m not involved in anything I didn’t run into willingly,” she assured him. “But don’t you think it’s time we try to find out just exactly what it is that we did run into?”

He sighed. She knew he would not welcome this discussion, but it couldn’t be avoided. Strange things were happening and the only way to get to the bottom of them would involve dredging up the history Kyne would much rather ignore.

“You want me to go find my father again, don’t you?”

“I think we’re going to have to. I don’t know what the Fairy Council has been plotting, or what that strange machine we found at the base of the mountain is for, but it seems that your father is involved in all of it. I’m afraid if we want to learn anything, we have to start there.”

“You keep saying ‘we.’ ”

“That’s because we’re in this together, Kyne.”

“No.
I’m
in this. It has nothing to do with you.”

“Nothing to do with me? I’m sorry, did I miss something? Who were you with when the council sent Swift to take you into custody? And then who came sneaking into the hall to seduce you out of confinement? And who has been climbing all over you like a raging wild animal ever since? Me, Kyne. It’s me. You’re not alone anymore, and neither am I.”

His amber eyes searched hers, and she could see the concern that filled him. She loved that he worried for her, but she worried for him, too. Someone back at their Fairyrealm had been plotting against him and she wanted to know why. Fairies and humans were in league and that could only spell trouble. Somehow she and Kyne had to uncover the truth.

“Please, Raea,” he said, laying his hand over hers. “Don’t make me drag you into more danger. Let me keep you safe. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I need you to be safe.”

“You think I’d feel the least bit safe if you went off and left me here, alone?”

“I’d rather have you alone than dead,” he declared.

The words rattled inside her. Did he really think things were quite that serious? Of course, certain members of the Fairy Council had been behaving mysteriously, and those two fairies they’d seen in the forest three days ago had clearly been up to no good… but was this truly a matter of life and death?

“You think it might come to that?” she asked softly, stroking his cheek and letting the warmth of his skin seep into her fingertips.

“I won’t take any chances, Raea. I have to go look into this alone. I just couldn’t live if I let something happen to you.”

“Then you know exactly how I feel, Kyne. I can’t let you go, not now. Whatever you do, I’m doing it with you.”

“I can see we’re going to have an argument over this,” he said, clutching her hand to his lips and kissing it gently.

“I’ll win it, of course. You know I have my ways.”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself. I’ve got a few persuasive tricks of my own, if you recall.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to be especially convincing, won’t I?”

“I’m not going down without a fight,” he said with a crooked little smile that assured her they weren’t talking about investigating the council right now.

“You’re not going down?” she asked, flashing him her own wicked grin and letting the glittery aura emanating from her speak for itself. “Then you know I will.”

She fluttered up off the railing and hovered before him, raking her fingertips over his solid form and slowly sinking lower, lower, until her lips were perfectly positioned. Oh yes, he was going down, all right. And she was going to take him there.

Their argument might be on hold for right now, but one thing was certain. They were going to need more Sizing Dust again very soon.

Please turn the page for an excerpt of the first book in Serena Gilley’s Forbidden Realm series

Available now!

Aliya flipped her fins and let the cool water of the lake glide over her. The moonlight glittered like tiny stars in the lapping waves. Her pale hair fanned around her, then fell slick against her naked skin as she pushed up through the surface, scanning the skyline and finding the large, familiar shape.

A boat—a very specific boat.
He
was here again. She knew he would be. After all, she was a mermaid; her mind sensed things like that. When this human was near, she could feel his presence. Her people generally did not reach their minds out to touch the humans who came onto the lake, but something about this man was different. Aliya had felt his thoughts, the burning pain and aching emptiness deep inside him, and it had triggered something inside her. She’d yearned to know more.

For nearly two cycles of the moon now she’d watched him, tracked his movements in the evenings when he would leave the safety of the human shore and venture into her world on his big, gleaming boat. Every time, she’d felt his suffering. She could not explain why this man’s emotions should touch her in such a way, but she had come to expect it. He was here now and she had to get closer.

Yes, she could feel him more strongly now. Strange, it was almost as if this human—this man—were reaching out for her, trying to touch her in some way… but of course he could not be. Everyone knew humans did not possess powers like that. She must be imagining it.

To make sure she was not, she stilled herself and opened her mind to let his emotion flood her. Yes, she could feel the familiar ache she always sensed from him, knew the emptiness that filled him. He did touch her, but he clearly had no awareness of it. And his touch reached more than just her mind. Her body felt something, too.

The velvety scales of her lower body tingled… the satin skin of her arms and her breasts pricked with sensation. She went rigid, floating helplessly as her body responded to sensations she could never put into words. They were energizing, delicious… and forbidden. Whatever she felt from this human, whatever he did to her, it was not something she ought to encourage.

She liked it, though. She wanted more. The Great Code of all creatures in the Forbidden Realm dictated she avoid any sort of interaction like this. It was bad enough that she’d come so near this same human on numerous occasions, but to let his mind and emotions touch her in such a way… she knew it was wrong. Still, it drew her like a moth to an inferno.

She was near his vessel now. The crystal surface of the water changed and distorted her view, but she could see him. He was tall and broad, standing alone to gaze out over the water. His shirtless form was solid against the night sky and moonlight glowed off his bronze skin. She broke through the thin surface of the water. He would see her.

The Veil could not protect her tonight, not while the man was so empty and so very lost. Usually she made sure when she needed to approach humans that they were occupied, busy with their mundane concerns that kept the Veil firmly over their eyes. If they caught sight of her they shrugged it off as a shadow, a fish, or a shift in the current. All her life she’d been careful that way; she knew her place.

But tonight… the feelings were too strong. The man needed her and she needed him. She needed to learn what it was that drew her to him, that made her feel hot and shivery all at the same time. She needed to let him see through the Veil and recognize her for what she was.

Her movement caught his attention. Her heart pounded as she felt the cool air on her skin, the damp weight of her pale hair lying against her neck. Unfiltered moonlight glittered off the wet droplets at her eyelashes. She blinked, determined to see clearly when finally his eyes met hers.

And they did. He saw her at last and she gazed steadily at him. It was too dark to know the color of his eyes, but she did not need her telepathy to read the astonishment in them.

“Where in the world did you come from?” he asked.

She was suddenly afraid. No human had ever spoken to her before! Instinct told her to get away from this place as quickly as possible. Humans brought danger and destruction; she was in peril right now. Why was she not filled with panic?

Another instinct—something deeper, ancient, and unfamiliar—told her to stay. She would obey that one. She would remain where she was, allowing the human to gaze at her. And somehow she would find a way to answer in a language he might know. If only she could find her tongue.

“Are you stranded here?” he asked when she made no reply. “Do you need help?”

His astonishment was turning to concern. She liked how that felt, the warmth it conveyed and the tremors of care he sent out around him. He needed to be reassured, though, so he did not worry in vain. Despite how pleasant it was to feel those emotions directed toward her, it was not fair to leave him in such uncertainty.

But her reply was interrupted before it even left her lips. The human was not alone. It appeared he had a companion with him, a partner. A human female moved into view, sliding up beside him as he stood at the railing.

Aliya’s mind was only vaguely aware of her. The woman transmitted very minimal vibrations of sensation and emotion. It was obvious enough what she wanted, though. She paid no mind to the water or the mermaid just below her. Instead, her attention was fully on the man as she ran her hands over his body and murmured into his ear.

Aliya could feel the man’s reaction, visceral and immediate. His eyes left her and he blinked, as if rousing himself from sleep. The woman ran her fingers through his wind-tousled hair and he turned to her. The cold emptiness washed over Aliya once again.

“Who are you talking to?” the woman cooed at the man.

He hesitated before answering. “No one. I thought I saw… no, nothing. We’re all alone.”

The woman murmured some more and the man pulled her tight up against himself. He did not look back over the lake. His pain resonated in the waters around Aliya even as he led the woman out of view, inside the boat’s body. It was not difficult to guess what would happen next. Aliya knew the man’s pattern.

He came out to the lake to escape whatever it was that plagued him. He brought females with him, women he seemed to know little about and cared little for. He distracted himself with the women, playing at games of human passions that both fascinated and confused Aliya. As the man’s emptiness attracted her, the inevitable passion drew her to stay.

Just as she did now. She pushed up next to the boat, touching its smooth polished side and waiting for the sensations from inside the boat to travel out to her. Yes, as expected, there they were. The man and his woman were beginning the strange dance of coupling that humans engaged in.

Aliya shut her eyes, letting vibration surround her, reaching her mind up to connect with the man. She could feel what he felt, the building sense of longing and burning desire. She was rocked by the waves even as the humans rocked up above her.

Slowly she became aware of something else… someone else. Someone was coming! She could feel the magic coming closer. She pulled away from the boat and blinked up into the sky. There, she was just in time to notice the small, nonhuman form that glittered above. A fairy, her pink glow reflecting off the sides of the craft and her tiny wings humming, was hovering.

“Come to visit the human again?” the little creature asked. “Not that I blame you. He is pretty interesting, this one.”

Aliya tried to calm her beating heart and hide her nervous tail flicking. She splashed a few droplets of water up toward her friend.

“Raea! You’re looking especially sparkly tonight.”

“You seem to be glowing a bit yourself. Anything unusual going on?”

“No, of course not. I’m simply patrolling these waters and thought I’d make sure things were going well with this vessel.”

The fairy buzzed up to peer in through one of the circular windows on the boat. “Oh, things seem to be going very well for the humans, I’d say.”

Aliya shook out her hair and hoped her color was fading back to normal. She hoped the glow Raea mentioned was gone, too, although parts of her still felt a bit tingly.

“And how are things going for you?” Aliya asked, eager to take the focus off what the humans were doing, and how she was apparently affected by it. “You’ve been called out here to grant wishes, I suppose.”

“I’m a Wish Fairy; it’s what I do. These humans start wishing, so I sprinkle a little dust and give them what they want.”

Aliya didn’t need to ask what the human wanted tonight. She could feel it. He wanted to do things with his female—things that made him forget his pain and numbed him by those exotic human sensations. Sensations that would then be transmitted through the waves.

Sensations that a mermaid had no business being curious about.

“It’s good to know your Fairy Dust is so reliable,” Aliya said. “But he’s probably done wishing for the night.”

“Him? Maybe not. Seems like he’s got extra stamina or something. Not that I’m any kind of expert on this sweaty human recreation.”

“He’s extra lonely.”

“What do you know about that? You have some dealings with this human?”

“No… not at all. It’s just that I’ve seen him out here on the lake before. I can sense how alone he feels, that’s all.”

“Well, you’d better keep that mermaid telepathy to yourself. The Fairy Council has been cracking down lately on questionable interactions, and I know they’re generally in close agreement with the mermaid leadership. You don’t want to find yourself being accused of anything, Aliya.”

“I haven’t done anything! I am careful around humans.”

Mostly
. There was something so alluring, so out of the ordinary about this human…

“Well, just be careful that you don’t… shh, someone’s here.”

Aliya glanced up in the direction of Raea’s quick gaze. A faint red-gold light reflected off the water. It appeared roughly the same size as the Wish Fairy’s pink glow and was moving toward them. Another fairy. Great. What could have drawn this one out here?

“It’s Kyne,” Raea said softly. She didn’t seem particularly pleased about it, either.

“A friend of yours?”

“Hardly. He’s in league with the Fairy Council, spying on us, keeping tabs on how we do our jobs. You’d better go. As you can see, everything is fine on the boat. No sense getting mixed up with Kyne.”

Aliya knew the fairy was right. She’d never been one to pay much attention to Forbidden Realm politics, and she was happy to remain blissfully uninvolved. If this Kyne was some sort of spy for the council, trying to make trouble, she wanted no part of it. As far as anyone needed to know, she’d been simply doing her job, keeping the Veil secure and separating the human’s mundane world from their own.

The Veil was a magical force that ensured protection for creatures like fairies and mermaids. Humans had no idea it even existed, and that was the way it had been for millennia. If she were suspected of allowing a human to see through the Veil, to become aware of their Realm… well, that would certainly upset things.

“All right, I’ll go,” she said to the fairy. “It was good to see you again, Raea. Enjoy the rest of your wishes tonight.”

The fairy nodded and shushed her away. Aliya sank into the dark waters. She would leave. It was the right thing to do. She would swim away and pay no more special attention to the man on this boat. She’d go about her duties, keeping things quiet and secure out here in her section of the Great Lake. She would ignore how he reached out to her, would ignore the forbidden things that her body felt when she was near him. She would go and never come near him again.

At least, she would do that after a little while. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to stay nearby right now, just in case Raea’s wishes were not strong enough to bring the man the relief that he wanted. What if he recalled what he had seen before his woman had pulled him back to the mundane? What if that woman was not proving distraction enough and he started snooping around? It was her duty, of course, to keep track of these things.

Best keep track of things out of view from the fairies, though. She dropped deeper into the water, watching the fairy glow fade above her. The dark silhouette of the boat loomed and she could still feel those sensations emanating from the man on board. Slow and rhythmic, gaining in momentum… she closed her eyes and let the feelings, like a torrent, envelop her.