The Silver Thread (9 page)

“Not quite,” James answered, giving a snort. He took another drag off his cigarette and tried to catch a glimpse of Talvi’s expression, but he was staring out the window, stewing in silence.

When they reached Nordstrom, Talvi seemed to have recovered from the incident at breakfast. Either that, or he was doing his best to fake it. Annika took James by the arm and gave him a stern look.

“I know how you can get with your makeover extravaganzas,” she warned in all seriousness. “But if you go overboard playing dress up with the guys, I’ll sell your new Hermes man purse on eBay to pay for it.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” he gasped in horror, clutching his precious black crocodile bag. Annika knew then that she had him right where she wanted him. “Do you have any clue what I had to go through to get this?”

“I do,” she said, smiling cruelly as she recalled the story about how James and his beloved black bag were united by a miffed Mafia mistress. “And I’d start the bidding at fifty cents just to spite you.”

“You are such a bitch,” he said, only half-joking. “You’d really do it, wouldn’t you?” Annika’s evil grin only widened. “Well it’s not a purse. It’s a
bag
,” he snapped as he conceded to her terms. “Besides, what exactly do you mean by going overboard? It’s not like I’m picking out an entire new wardrobe for both of them.”

“It’s not that,” she said. “I don’t care what you do with Chivanni, but don’t dress Talvi too metro.”

“Oh, who do think I am, David Copperfield?” James huffed. “Even if I decked him out like a fireman…” he trailed off for a moment, caught up in the vision of Talvi in uniform, holding a big, heavy axe, looking out from under the sweaty brim of a hard hat, waiting to extinguish a burning fire somewhere. “Mmm,
that
might look interesting. But, no matter how macho I try to make him look, it’s going to be a challenge.”

He looked up at Talvi and adjusted his trendy glasses, inspecting him as carefully as an heirloom tomato at a farmer’s market.

“Just look at these pores, would you? They’re nonexistent! Look at that perfect skin tone. He’s a pretty boy, and I’m
not
a miracle worker!”

Rather than look embarrassed by the excessive flattery, Talvi opted for the smug smile he wore so well before James grabbed him by the arm and headed to the men’s department. Compliments weren’t anything new to him, not after hearing them constantly throughout his entire long life. Rather than tag along with James, Annika decided it was the perfect opportunity to find a new top since she was still wearing the blueberry-stained one. With Chivanni by her side, they wandered to the women’s department as he told her about his home in Srebra Gora.

He had grown up in a small glen near a tree lined creek that flooded every spring, leaving a mass of exposed roots that made perfect places to hide or nap. He spent his days playing with his friends, exploring hollow tree trunks, and learning things from his aunt like where to find the best wild honey, how to communicate telepathically with animals, and what situations it was acceptable or not to use fairy magic. He had always envied Talvi’s family for traveling through the portals between Eritähti and Earth with ease, and he eagerly looked forward to every visit his aunt paid them.

While it wasn’t forbidden, it was considered extremely dangerous amongst the fairies to cross through the portals that lead to the modern world. It had changed too much to be as safe as it used to be, and trips to Earth were rare. But because of their appearance, it was much easier for the elves to walk among humans unnoticed, and Chivanni would listen to any of the heavily embellished stories that Talvi could recall from his adventures. He would sometimes beg for a story to be retold over and over again, at which point the details usually became even more fantastic and exaggerated, but he didn’t mind. He adored the Marinossians, Talvi especially; they were as close as cousins, since Chivanni’s aunt was fairy godmother to Talvi and his twin sister.

“I’m counting on you for some serious advice about living with him,” Annika told him as they tried on scarves in front of a large mirror. “You’ve known Talvi so much longer than I have.”

Chivanni snickered to himself.

“I doubt I could tell you much that you don’t already know.”

“Like what?” she urged. “Humor me.”

Chivanni smoothed his long red bangs off to one side and looked thoughtful for a moment. His big brown eyes and freckles reminded her of a young Twiggy, he was that dainty.

“He takes tea every morning, with a bit of cream and honey,” Chivanni said. “And if there’s lemon available, he really likes that. He adores anything with lemons in it. Perhaps that’s why he can be so sour sometimes,” he added with a little laugh.

“Um, that’s not quite what I had in mind, although I guess it’s good to know,” Annika replied. “I meant more about dealing with him being in your day to day life.”

“Oh, well the tea is fairly important to that,” Chivanni said, looking absolutely serious. “If he doesn’t have his morning tea, he can be quite intolerable.”

“Okay, that’s easy enough,” she laughed. “What else?”

Chivanni looked thoughtful again, racking his brain for helpful tips.

“It might help if you think of him more like a cat than a dog. Even though his sun and moon signs are in Scorpio, his rising sign is Leo, the lion. That’s why he naps as often as he can manage, and is so proud of his mane. Do you have cats and dogs as pets here on Earth as we do back home?”

Annika nodded, curious to see where Chivanni was going with the comparison.

“Then you know that while dogs are eager to please, cats merely grace you with their presence. Talvi has never sought to serve a master of any kind, so don’t expect to put a lead and collar on him. It’s best not to nag at him or boss him around. If there is something you want of him, let him conclude it was his idea, and he will gladly serve it to you on a silver platter. Don’t tell him no or deny him something he desires, unless you are prepared to deal with his sullen resentment. You may as well save yourself the inevitable melodramatics and agree with him from the start, because ultimately he will have his way. Hmmm, what else? Oh yes—don’t ask for his opinion unless you truly want it, because he will be brutally honest. And don’t ever lie to him. It drives him mad. When he does become upset, he’ll need extra coddling. He tends to brood over things.”

Annika grinned even wider. Chivanni was right. He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know.

“You make him sound like such a spoiled little brat,” she remarked.

“He
is
a spoiled brat, at times,” Chivanni said with a pensive smile. “Though once you’ve learned to see beyond those traits, you will be showered with steadfast love and protection from him. He’s very generous and big-hearted, and fiercely loyal. There’s no one else I would rather have for a friend.”

Annika looked carefully at the boy before her. It was so easy to assume that the red-haired boy was human. Aside from his wings and that shock of bright hair, he could fit in well enough among a crowd if he dressed differently. But if a person were to study him more closely, they would notice that his skin held an unusual sheen to it that was best described as iridescent. His large, wide eyes, light brown as they were, reflected so much light that they seemed to glow. His porcelain smooth skin had no lines in it whatsoever, unless he was smiling. And although he was the thinnest boy Annika had ever met, he wasn’t feeble or weak at all. In fact, his little body seemed incapable of ever running out of energy.

“All right, it’s your turn, you winged fairy,” James said, having found Annika and Chivanni at the jewelry counter. “I put a ton of clothes on hold for you to try on.”

“I can’t wait to see what you do with him,” Annika gushed as she laid eyes on her husband. Talvi was now wearing a maroon fitted button down shirt with black jeans, and stood holding two large bags of new purchases. “I love what you’ve done here! Such a masterpiece…encore, encore!”

“Thank you, thank you,” James said with a curtsy. “These two are just a pair of vintage driving moccasins in need of a little polish. Can you believe how this one turned out? He’s drop dead
gorgeous
.” James gave Talvi another once-over, took Chivanni by the hand, and disappeared with the other shoe in need of polish.

“What the hell is a driving moccasin?” Talvi demanded once James and Chivanni were out of earshot. “Is that some type of wingless fairy slang?”

“No it’s not slang, babe. It’s a shoe,” Annika grinned.

“You have no idea how much you owe me for this,” he said, giving the bags a bit of a jiggle.

“I know Nordstrom is expensive, but—”

“I wasn’t referring to the money,” Talvi clarified. “I just want you to know that the reason I’m here isn’t to play dress up with your friend.”

“I know that,” Annika replied. It looked like there was more that Talvi wanted to say, but he was unsure of how to go about it.

“The bloke in the suit at the restaurant, Danny—he’s the one who gave you that incredible ring, isn’t he?” he asked, looking at his wedding band strangely. “I never thought in all my life that I would actually
meet
him. I rather liked him as a fictitious character in my head, not a living, breathing person that I might ever meet, let alone the fact that he’s got some wits about him
and
is chummy with your brother. How often do they get together, anyway?”

“Well, they’re co-captains of their soccer team,” Annika said, picking up her pace a little. “They have practice every Saturday morning.”

“
Every Saturday
? Bloody hell!” Talvi groaned, looking even more annoyed. “He doesn’t come over to visit, does he?”

“He hasn’t in a long time.”

“Did our generous donor discover what Chivanni and I did to your old engagement ring?” he asked, still frowning a bit as he looked at his wedding band again. Annika stopped walking, and turned to him.

“Of course not,” she told him gently, realizing better why he was cranky. If there was one deep and personal thing she knew about her husband, it was that he didn’t like owing anything to anyone. “That ring brought us together, you know that. You’re the one that said everything happens for a reason. If he never gave it to me, I would probably still be living with him. Then I never would have met you. And besides, what we’re wearing isn’t the ring that he gave me anymore. It’s just a chunk of platinum that you had the fairies change into something a million times more beautiful and meaningful than what it started as.”

Annika recalled how she had given Talvi her engagement ring from Danny, and it had been melted down and forged into what was now permanently attached to their hands. It didn’t matter how hard they pulled; the rings would only come off if their fingers did too.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it like that,” he said and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Lucky me for marrying such a clever, clever girl.” Annika took his hand and together they walked slowly past the racks of clothes, keeping their eyes out for James and Chivanni.

Talvi chuckled to himself and leaned down close to her.

“Speaking of which, I think we need to get away for a while. Why don’t we find a dressing room nearby so you can see what else I’ve collected this afternoon? I’ll give you a little clue…it’s not in these bags.”

Shivers ran down Annika’s legs as he nipped at her earlobe.

“This isn’t the place,” she whispered, astonished that it had only been three hours since their last interlude and he was already hounding her again. “If I get banned from Nordstrom, James will never let me hear the end of it. Let’s hurry up and find those two so we can get out of here. We still have to stop by the grocery store before we can go home.”

“You’d better make it snappy, then,” said Talvi, giving her a nuzzle. “I’m about ready to throw you over my shoulder and find the nearest stairwell. I’ve had hardly any time alone with you, and it’s driving me mad. Newlyweds are supposed to go away on long honeymoons for a very particular reason.”

Annika grew weak in the knees as the nuzzling turned into a warm kiss that made the hair rise along her neck. She knew being taken to the stairwell wasn’t an empty threat, coming from him. A hand curled around her waist, pulling her so close that it was obvious what else he’d collected that afternoon. She could imagine being pressed up between her husband and the wall, her clothes being roughed up by his determined hands. To her dismay, her daydream was abruptly shattered by the sound of James’s shrill voice addressing a saleswoman nearby.

“It’s not too late to pretend we got lost,” Talvi suggested. The hunger in his eyes was unmistakable. “Where shall we run off to? A dressing room? A hotel? Rome?”

“We can’t do that to Chivanni,” Annika hissed, but the truth was that she would love to be alone with Talvi in Rome. “The poor thing is probably wondering where the heck we are. I know James can be a tad pushy.”

“A
tad
pushy?” Talvi asked, letting her go. “He doesn’t dress you very often, does he?”

“Um, well, sometimes he does…” She racked her brain, trying to think of a defense, but James really had none for his overbearing personality. “Okay, so he’s about as pushy as a bulldozer. He grew up in New York. He’s an Italian queen. What could you possibly expect?”