Shadow Blood: Kallen's Tale (Witch Fairy #4.5) (6 page)

She scoots away from me like I just offered her a spider sandwich.  “No.  You know that.” 

Really?  That is her response?  I am pissed now.  “Then I would appreciate you not tempting me beyond reason.” 

“Kallen, what did I do to make you upset with me?” 

I am about to start off on a tirade until I look closer at her eyes.  There is genuine confusion there in her eyes .  Just as I am sure there is in my eyes now, too. “Do you truly not know what I am talking about?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.  You weren’t mad at me before our nap, were you?” 

I know what happened now.  I start laughing which she does not appreciate.  “I’m glad you find whatever this is amusing.”

It takes a minute to stop laughing.  When I can finally speak, I say, “I guess I should have known from your use of magic that something was not right.”

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.  She looks so cute that I start laughing again.  “I’m waiting,” she growls.

It is a lot harder to stop laughing this time.  Finally, I manage to say, “Do you remember waking up an hour or so ago?”

She opens her eyes and gives me a weird look.  “What are you talking about?  Did I say something in my sleep that you didn’t like?” 

Okay, time to stop teasing her.  She is pulling magic and I am not sure she realizes it.  That is a dangerous thing.  “I believe you were sleepwalking.”  I purse my lips and then modify my statement.  “Well, not walking per se.  More like sleep seducing.”

Xandra cocks her head and glowers at me.  “I don’t sleepwalk.  Or anything else.” 

I reach out and brush a loose strand of hair from her cheek.  “Oh, you most certainly do.  And I must say, you do it very well.”

She sighs in frustration. “I do what very well.”

Propping myself up on my elbow, I use my free hand to stroke the soft skin of her cheek.  “You woke up, or at least, I thought you had, about an hour ago and you attempted to seduce me.  You even removed both of our clothes.”

Color floods her face.  “I did not.”

I smile.  “You did.  And you seem to have much more finesse with your magic when you are sleep seducing.”

“Stop calling it that,” she says as her cheeks turn a brighter red. 

“You were difficult to resist.  I wanted nothing more than to finish what you were starting.  I am glad that I had restraint now that I know you were not awake.  We were very close to having to become right hand-fasted.”  I will not tell her how disappointed I am that it was only a dream on her part. 

She closes her eyes a moment and then opens one a tiny bit.  “Did I really make us both naked?”

I grin.  “Yes, you did.”

She closes her eye again.  “I’m going to crawl under the covers and not come out for a year.”

I put my finger under her chin and tilt it up.  “Xandra, open your eyes.”  I wait to continue until she finally does.  “You have nothing to be embarrassed about.  You are absolutely beautiful, and the fact that you want to be with me as desperately as I want to be with you is the greatest thing that has ever happened in my life.”

Her lips turn up a bit at the corners.  “I’m glad.  Do you think we could keep the whole sleep seduction to ourselves, though?”

The thought of bringing it up over dinner with Grandmother makes me laugh.  “I think that is the wise thing to do.  Now, unless you want to finish what we started before, I suggest we rise and go downstairs.”

She does not seem ready to face the world quite yet.  I am about to suggest she take a long bath when her mother calls softly through the door.  “Xandra, are you awake?”

After doing a quick check that we are both fully clothed, she says, “Yeah, come on in, Mom.”

Her mother floats through the door and stops when she sees Kallen.  A frown scrunches her ghostly forehead into wrinkles.  “I thought Isla had a strict ‘no sleeping together’ policy.”

“Um, Mom, there’s something I forgot to tell you.”  I close my eyes.  I know what she is going to say next and this is going to be ugly.  I guess I wanted to assume that Xandra told her parents, which is ridiculous since I know she has not had the opportunity to broach such a difficult topic.

Because I am not a coward, I open my eyes.  Her mother can already tell that she is not going to like what she is about to hear.  “And that would be?”

Barely above a whisper, Xandra squeaks, “Um, Kallen and I are left hand-fasted.”

Before our eyes, her mother’s form grows until it is twice its normal size.  Her voice loud and angry enough to make the windows come close to breaking, she screams, “You are what?!” Looking at me, she snarls, “How dare you marry my daughter without permission.  She is seventeen years old and in
our
realm, she still needs a parent’s permission.  This marriage will be annulled
immediately
!”

“Mom!” Xandra yells over her.  “We’re not married.”

“What’s going on in here?” Xandra’s father asks as he floats through the door.  He looks back and forth between his wife and daughter.  “Julienne, what’s wrong?”

The words tumble out her mouth, stepping on each other to make it out first.  “Your daughter got married!”  I am hoping that if I stay perfectly still, I will escape this situation unscathed. 

Looking at his daughter in disbelief, he says, “Xandra, is this true?”

“No, but Mom won’t let me explain.”  Xandra is using her ‘daddy’s little girl’ voice.  It works. 

Turning back to his wife, he says, “Julienne, why don’t we let her explain so we can get this all sorted out.”

Xandra’s mother crosses her arms over her chest.  I cannot even imagine the evil thoughts going through her mind right now.  It may be wise for me to avoid her for a while.  A long while.  “Talk,” she demands.

“Perhaps, I can help,” Grandmother says from the doorway.  I have never been so glad to see her.

The angry spirit swings around to her.  “Yes, I would like to know why you thought it would be fine to let my daughter get married.”

Only the tightness around Grandmother’s eyes gives away how badly she would like to respond in kind to her rudeness.  “Has Xandra explained to you that she is not actually married?”

“I tried,” Xandra mumbles and her mother shoots her a deadly glance. 

“In our realm, courting is not as…,” Grandmother hesitates a moment.  “As uncomplicated as it is in your realm.”   

“Meaning?”

Grandmother inclines her head.  “Meaning, the rules for interaction are more stringent here.  It would be completely inappropriate for two Fairies not hand-fasted to be in each other’s company as these two are.  And as you have already experienced, their desire to be in each other’s company is great, and apparently, unstoppable, but it defies the rules of this society.  Therefore, a compromise was needed.”

“How is marriage a compromise?”  Okay, she is trying not to understand now.

“Julienne,” her husband touches her shoulder, “we need to be patient.  I’m sure Isla did not let the kids do something they may regret in a year or two.” 

Grandmother gives a slight nod of her head.  “Of course.  In order to circumvent the rules of society that the two of them were constantly flaunting, they agreed to a left hand-fasting.”

Now that her mother has decided to stop being obstinate, Isla is able to explain what a left hand-fasting is.  The tension level in the room drops considerably but I know that her mother is still not happy with the situation.  I suspect some lengthy mother-daughter conversations are in Xandra’s near future.  As for me, I am more than ready to move on to a new subject.  One less likely to get me killed.

My relief is palpable when Xandra’s semi-mollified mother finally leaves the room with her husband.  Xandra turns to Grandmother, “Thanks for helping with that.  I’ve never seen my mom so mad before.”

Grandmother smiles.  “As your father said, these have been stressful days.”  Changing the subject, she adds, “Dinner will be in the formal dining room in half an hour.  Please be prompt.”  She turns on her heel and leaves.

With a big sigh, Xandra flops back onto the bed.  “I thought I was a goner there for a minute.”

I laugh half-heartedly.  “I believe I would have been the first casualty.”

Xandra turns her head to look at me.  “Yeah, you’re probably right.  I wouldn’t have been too far behind you, though.”  Sitting back up, she says, “I should check on Alita if she’s still here.  I hope her head is feeling better.”

Rising from the bed, I stretch the tension from my muscles.  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Xandra checking me out.  That sends a shot of heat through me.  I hold my hand out to her and pull her from the bed.  “Just one more kiss since you seem to find me so irresistible.”

Shooting a quick glance to the now open door, she smiles.  This kiss is not the passionate ones we shared earlier, but it holds a sweet promise for the next time we find ourselves alone. 

Ending the kiss slowly, I finally say, “Alita is just down the hall.  I’ll see you downstairs in a few minutes.”  I am in desperate need of a very cold shower first.

Chapter 10

Giving Xandra a chance to spend some time with Alita, I go to my room for a quick shower.  Then I go in search of her little brother.  From my own experience, I know how annoying it is to be kept in the house when all you want to do is explore and play.  I find him standing near the door to the room he is staying in.  I believe he is trying to sneak out while his parents talk to his aunt. 

“If your parents say it is okay, I would be happy to bring you out to the beach,” I say to him. 

A grin spreads across his face.  “Mom, Kallen’s going to take me outside, okay?”

His mother pauses a moment, but relents when she sees the excitement on his face.  “Okay, but don’t go in the water.”  She gives me a look that lets me know she is still not happy with me. 

“We should go before she changes her mind,” I say to Zac with a wink.  He does not need to hear that twice.  He is down the stairs in a heartbeat.

Out on the beach, I teach Zac how to build a sand castle.  It is hard to believe he has never been to a beach before.  I cannot imagine living so far from the water.  A ping hits my heart as I think about Xandra going back to her realm and Colorado.  I guess I have to imagine it because I am not staying here if she is going there.

I point out a sand crab to Zac and he is instantly fascinated.  He watches it for a full five minutes before remembering we were working on a castle.  I laugh when he gives me a sheepish look and then returns to finish it.  It is just about dinner time when we are done.  He is disappointed when I tell him we must go inside.

Xandra is coming downstairs for dinner when we come in.  Zac runs to her to share his excitement about the beach.  “Kallen just showed me a crab!  And he said maybe after dinner, he’ll take me swimming in the ocean!  Will you come with us?  Please?  Pretty please?”

She laughs.  “Yes, I’ll come with you.  Providing Mom and Dad say it’s okay.”

He scrunches up his face.  “Mom will probably say no, so I better ask Dad first.”  Smart kid. 

“Good plan.  Why don’t you go wash your hands for dinner and then maybe Kallen can make you some new magic clothes.”

His eyes light up.  “Really, he can make me magic clothes?  What kind of magic will they have?”  I laugh at his misunderstanding and try to cover it with a cough.

Xandra smiles patiently.  “The clothes won’t be magical.  They’ll just be made with magic.”

“Oh.”  Disappointment shows in the slump of his shoulders.  “That’s no fun.”

His sad little face is too much for me.  “Perhaps I can make you a shirt that glows in the dark.  Would you like that?”

The smile’s back.  “Yeah, that’d be cool.”  With that, he runs off to wash up. 

Xandra wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me.  “That was really sweet of you.”

I put my hands on her hips and pull her closer.  “I am simply trying to stay in your good graces.  Maybe if I tire you out enough swimming, you will become a sleep seductress again.”

She swats at me and steps back with pink cheeks.  “We agreed not to talk about that.”

“No, we agreed not to tell anyone else.  Personally, I plan to not only talk about it, but fantasize about it as well.”  She gives me a dirty look but I still laugh.

“Well, you two look cozy,” Barb says as she comes down the stairs.  She gives us a knowing look that somehow looks creepy on her.  And it embarrasses Xandra even more.  “I’m just passing through.  You two go ahead and finish up your conversation.”

As soon as she walks by, Xandra buries her head in my chest.  She is so cute when she is embarrassed.  How can I not laugh when she is acting like this?  She pushes me and I stagger back a little because I am laughing so hard now.  Obviously, she is not amused and she turns and stomps out of the room.  So cute.  I follow her with my shoulders still shaking from silent laughter.

We are eating in the formal dining room tonight in honor of our guests.  Even though two of them cannot actually sit at the table.  Or eat.  Though Xandra’s father does seem to be able to smell food.  It can be a little annoying when he hovers over our shoulders to get a better whiff.  Not to mention cooling the temperature of our food considerably when he gets too close.