Deception (15 page)

It was taking a great amount of patience to not just run and throw my arms around him.  He looked too serious.  I walked to him, he turned, and we both knelt before the queen side by side for his final call.

“I, Ian, Prince of the Seelie court, son of King Ikan, son of Queen Lazyra, seek to unite with Grace, daughter of Firebearer Ginera.”

My father wasn’t of the world, they explained.  He didn’t harbor any status in the courts, they said.  Human!  I didn’t dwell on this fact, but still, it would be nice to hear his name acknowledged.

The queen verified our requests with a slow nod, lowering herself to the chair two steps behind her and raising one sculpted brow my direction.  Now, it was done. 

The crowd cheered.  They all seemed aware of when to make noise at each gesture in the ceremony though they were supposed to be uninformed.  Most ritual ceremonies were probably somewhat all the same in their eyes though. I’d overheard several side conversations taking place through the day, that hadn’t meant to involve me, as to whether I’d live longer than Ian or who was marrying who.  Some even asked the other why I chose Ian over another boy they mentioned.  It was the name Danella mentioned. Pike.

The crowd continued but I was anxious to be with Ian.  After spending years getting and giving “friendly” hugs and at the moment, I really wanted my arms around him in way more than just a friendly hug, but wasn’t sure if it was proper, or if I would know how.  As if he’d heard me, although my thoughts were heavily guarded, he bowed slightly and asked, “Am I allowed to put my arms around my betrothed?”

“Er…sure,” I breathed. 

He told me that nothing in the ceremony was to be treated lightly so even now I was hesitant to make a huge display.  Be he was the one that asked. He winced just slightly at my touch.  “What is it?”

His voice was polite, controlled.  “It is nothing.”

I let it go, for now.  Everyone was watching.

I moved in closer hoping for his touch like he’d just promised.  He carefully put his other hand to my waist like I might break under the hold.  Goosebumps were forming on my whole being inside and out. Heat formed where his hand melded to my side.  And I forgot the use of my legs and that I still didn’t know how to dance.  We danced arm in arm without any notice of what was going on around us, behind us, or in between.

“So ask me!”

“Ask you what, Grace?”

“You know.  The down on one knee kind of question that we human girls dream about.”

He smiled with a small laugh she didn’t like, “In our world betrothed and engaged have different meanings.  The right time will come when I ask you that question the proper way and with style.  You human women want the fairy tale I hear.  I shall deliver in due time.” 

“So what happens next?” I was aiming to make my face soft, warm, but probably looked weird.  “When we wake up tomorrow?”  His face seemed astonished at what I said.   He slowed his dancing to almost a stop and raised an eyebrow making me think I said something wrong.  His eyes flashed silver and darkened into a gleam I hadn’t fully seen in a guy except him.  It was very new to me, but not so much with Ian. 
OH!
He thought I meant
…Oh, no! 

“Uh…” I was totally embarrassed.  Stammering a bit, I swallowed, “I mean what happens in the morning?  What kind of things does a prince do?” Nothing was coming out right.  Frustrated and very distracted now I closed my eyes and said, “I mean like, business to attend to.  Oh, you know what I mean?”   How utterly embarrassing!

He dipped me just slightly, and brushed his lips slowly along my jaw line all the way to my neckline  then he raised me ever so gently back up to standing. The trembles were hard to hide. 

“You needed saving, my queen?”  With my eyes swimmy, I nodded and he grinned widely. 

“You should not do that to a girl.  You could give her wipe lash.”

“Counting on it!” It was more than the boyish smirk on his face this time.

“I’ve not seen this side of you,” I squeaked out sounding silly.  A lot of that was going on with him so suddenly attentive to every move and touching involved.

“Enjoy it.  You just agreed to it for life.”

I breathed trying to hide the continued squeak, “Counting on it!”  That was bold but he gave me courage I didn’t know I had.  I liked that. 

“Well, in answer to your question…”

Man, he shifted back to business.  Not what I was hoping for.

He saw the disappointment in my eyes. “I don’t really know what will happen tomorrow, Grace.  I have never done this either.”  I bit my lip reading the hidden meeting in there, but couldn’t decide what it meant. 

Well, since I was being bold, “Where will I stay?”

He didn’t answer but he watched my lips intently.  I let up my teeth very slowly and pouted my lip back out towards him knowing he would follow them. “At night?” I asked further.

He still didn’t answer.  Silver invaded his eyes in and out like a flickering fire.  Talk about being a guy. 
Geez!

“Ian!” I broke his trance finally saying his name louder.  I shook my face slowly back and forth in front of him trying to wake him up.  I couldn’t read his expression but being a girl
definitely
had its advantages.

“Um—“

He looked at me blankly before drawing in a breath, clearly his throat, and confessing, “Grace, I’ve no idea how or what to do next.  Whatever happens, I want to figure it out together.  No other human has ever been queen, so no seer or any of the Fey can tell us what will happen next.  We are making the future as we go.  I’ve only seen families created for decades and have never desired to create my own.”  He was mixing business and us all into the same conversation, but I reasoned that they pretty much go together. 

“Can I ask you something?” I pursed my lips blinking back the tears then counted to ten Mississippi’s before asking, “Do you like me for me or is it just the prophecy?” 

In shock, he pulled me closer up against his growling chest.  His warmth washed over me.  Until then, we’d swayed together holding each other.  Everyone had left the garden.  We were alone. 

His jaw tightened, “Grace, you cannot imagine how I feel right now.”  His muscles tensed through his shirt and jacket.  I didn’t back away but rather tightened my hold not sure of how to respond, “For once I wish I could read
your
mind.”

“I’ll confess something.  I seem to do that a lot with you.”  He paused cupping my cheek.  “Somewhere between the grief of beating out Kin and fighting off Pike, I fell in love with you.  I have loved you for years.”  I looked down at my hands.  He pulled my chin up to meet his eyes.  The butterflies were dancing inside my stomach.  He said it. 

“There are hungers inside of me that even I don’t understand.  But you were really young when I first realized it,” he tilted his head and twisted his lips just inches apart.   

“I may understand more than you realize.”

He continued, “I wasn’t content with being just your friend, Grace.  But I had no choice.  THEY were always watching.”

“THEY?”  I prayed I’d never see Kin again.  And he mentioned the Pike guy like the others.  An arch enemy perhaps?

“The Unseelie Court.  Others too…who would have you dead to stop the prophecy.”

“Oh!”

“If I’d for one second, shown the way I felt, they would have broken the treaty.”

“What treaty?”

“The treaty that said no human or Fey could form more than a friendship bond with the future queen until the prophecy was fulfilled.  The queen sealed the treaty to protect you from the Unseelie court but that meant our own as well.  Their prince dishonored their court shortly after going into exile to attempt to end the treaty and have you dead.   The two courts keep each other’s interests well watched.  I’m not the only one who kept things hidden. They were watching too. But he didn’t succeed.”  He raised one eyebrow and looked off into the distance.   “Even still he will try.”

I wondered what he meant by mentioning the treaty, but had more pressing ideas to consider.  I spent much precious time reading his facial expressions for the real answers I wanted.  “And?” my eyes narrowed.

“If I acted as a normal human teenager as I really wanted too, I’d have asked you on a date long ago, courted you even.  When you went out with that bozo, Luke, I just about, well…” he brought himself back to my eyes.    They blackened like before but more sinister and with signs of danger.

“Wow!  All that and I only went out with that bozo to see what you would do.  All I did was think about you the whole night.”

“I know!” he smiled impishly.

“YOU!” I slapped his chest.  My cheeks were burning hot.

“Doth thy maiden blush paint your cheeks?”

“Okay Romeo. Cool it.”  How does he know Romeo and Juliet was beyond me because we didn’t read in school.  That…I would remember.

He snickered, “Do not be embarrassed.  I think a lot about your eyes too.   I wanted to be the one out with you that night gazing into your beautiful eyes.”

Man, he knows just what to say to make me melt. 

Ian went rigidly still.   “Wait a minute.  Your eyes are not changed.”  Scratching his chin, he went silent like he does instead of telling me what he is thinking.   I never could keep up with it before and now knowing I was Fey didn’t up the ability.

“What? Were they supposed to
now
?” 

“Something had to have gone wrong.”  He thought for a second and stepped away tapping his fingers on his chin. He looked at his hand and up again,  searching. 

“What are you thinking?’ he asked urgently and stepped back closer making me purr again but waving his hands in urgency.

“Um, wondering why you are acting crazy suddenly?”  I was truly puzzled.

“No, really?” He was frantic.

“Um, I am getting scared about the way you are acting.”

“Exactly what you are thinking?  Your exact words,” he put his fingertip to my cheek and slid it to my bottom lip.  That touch alone took my breath away and left me panting slightly.  I closed my eyes. 

You are scaring me Ian!  Do you hear me Ian?

“You are scaring me! That is what I thought just now.”  I was pulling my arms up to cross them.  And then…

Our lips were tangled, melting into the other. I froze instantly, my lips rigid.  My hands were caught in between his chest and urging to break free unsure what or how to proceed. I managed to pull one free and lodge it slowly into the back of his neck feeling the soft folds of his hair.  With the feel of his skin, I released.  His lips were softer than I ever imagined.  He picked up faster, more urgent.  His teeth pressed into my bottom lip.  Again.    Then softened slowly after a few slow, torturous seconds.  Something fluttered in my brain and shot downward as he held my lips with his and slowed to a stop. Electricity was running through every vein in my body even as my mind came back to the present.  This was the moment.  The very moment in history that inside, everything changes.  It was everything I ever thought it would be. 

“Ian.”

“Grace,” he rasped.

“I can’t figure you out.” My lips parted.  “You make little sense sometimes.  Don’t get me wrong, I like it.  That was just…wow.  But you seem to be deep in thought and suddenly…bam.” 

He was eye level and an inch from my face. “I cannot read your mind right now.” 

“Good!” I said satisfied still caught up in my bliss.

“No, Grace, I CANNOT READ YOUR MIND AT ALL!” He was suddenly wary.

I tried to disengage myself, but he refused to let me move. “Something must have happened.  Your eyes should have changed at the ceremony.  Every queen before has had a distinct color that resembles their character.  Yours, I assumed, would be a warm emerald green.  Just a guess.”   He was back in thought again after an abrupt stop.

“Why not?” The disappointment didn’t stay hidden.

He looked down at the scratch I’d caused without moving so much as an inch.  He glanced back to my eyes, drew me close, and placed his lips softly on mine.

I melted all over again.  “I don’t know.  I think…when we had the betrothing ceremony you scratched my hand.   The scratch altered the outcome somehow.  Only a theory.  I am not sure what to think until we figure a little more out.  That seems too simple.”

“I am not the queen?” I sounded disappointed, but not completely.

After thinking he said, “No, I don’t think that’s the case or Lazyra would have known.”  He turned back to me after looking towards the entryway where the guards stood.

What is he looking for?  I figured I would try out the mind reading thing mojo. 
 

Hey! Look at me Ian.  Right NOW!

He didn’t budge. Reality hit me. “You really cannot read my mind!” I danced a little.

“Don’t look so happy,” he sulked.

“Oh, but I am.  And I am not. You have no idea how embarrassing it is.  Do you think it will come back?” I stopped as abruptly as I started.  I gave him grief, but I was kind of looking forward to privacy. 

“I am not sure, but never be embarrassed by what I know.  Your thoughts kept me going for years.  And the trampoline nights,” he touched his fingertip to my chin where I’d tried to shy away again, lifted it, and place a soft peck on my chin.  His cheeks were blushing. 

My eyebrows in. He knew too much! No, he knew
all
.  Every little thought I’d ever dreamed about
him
.

“What are you thinking? I cannot read your mind,” he announced with obvious frustration. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I chuckled.  “Did you know whiplash involves a kind of muscle spasms?  Could be fatal.” 

He laughed.  “Why, is that what you want for your birthday?”

“You are my birthday present.”

He furrowed his brow. To an onlooker, our facial expressions must be comical.  I reached to smooth his taking my time.  “I have always wanted to do that!” I paused, “Well, it is my birthday and I am feeling like I want to dance again,” I pouted my lip. I knew then that nothing in heaven or earth could separate him from me willingly.

We swayed to the absence of music till I couldn’t stand up much longer. He whispered in my ear with his warm lips on my neck, “It’s late!”

“Since your offering gifts, can I request one?”

“Anything.” 

I put on my best come hither look coming from an inexperienced kind of girl and closed the distance between us by putting one hand around his neck and then the other hand.  By now he knew where I was headed. 

Silver moved in his eyes. 
Yep!
Happy Birthday to me!  Bold Birthday girl moving in. Trying out something new with someone you trust is just worth the risk and by far, kissing was certainly my new favorite pastime.