Flight (Children of the Sidhe) (5 page)

Just like that
, in a rush of madly beating wings, Tessa changed into her triple doves and flew to the nearest treetop. From the highest branch, she sang to him, and the sound wound its way into him, a feeling of warmth spreading as he listened to her song.

“What are you?”
he sighed, knowing she wouldn’t answer.

She continued to sing, and he knew it was time. He felt for that piece of himself he’d felt break – no,
surge
was a better word for it – when he’d changed before. And he let himself go. He tried his best not to resist, but he had a feeling he could have done better. Something told him it shouldn’t hurt like it did, that it hurt because he held back a part of himself, wanting to retain his humanity.

As a ha
wk, he shook out his feathers. Stretching his wings, he felt each part of his hawk form. His talons gripped the earth, digging long furrows. He could see further than humanly possible, he realized as he glimpsed a small creature flitting about on the opposite side of the clearing, under the canopy of the trees. Was that another pixie? He’d always had great vision, but not superhuman vision, or hawk vision, as it was in his case.

The Tessa-doves were preening and flitting about on that treetop, and Nathan had a sudden urge to chase. He gave in
to it, stretching his wings and leaping clumsily, tucking his legs up under him at the last second. He had to flap more than a graceful hawk aught to, but what the hell? He had to learn sometime.

The Tessa-doves saw him coming and took off in the nick of time. He
didn’t even stretch his talons. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was capable of in this form, and it was better not to take chances with a flesh and blood person.

If hawks could have laughed, Nathan would have right then. He’d been worried he’d be completely different in his hawk form, driven by the animal. Everything had been so foreign the first time he shifted that he’d been completely consumed by the experience. Now, he realized he still thought like a human; the hawk was a form, but it didn’t define him. He remembered morality and kindness, and greed and fear. He was still himself.

Tessa alighted midway up a fir tree, all three doves coming to rest within feet of each other.

Nathan
circled the clearing, stretching his wings. He jetted upward, and tilted his wings for a suitable air current. He reached it, and soared high above the forest, which stretched on and on as far as he could see, a dense myriad of greens.

His gaze pierced the foliage
below him, and with Hawk’s vision, he saw Tessa in the same tree. At that moment, one of the Tessa-doves plummeted from the branch.

Without thinking, Nathan dropped like a stone
back to the earth. He was just in time to sweep beneath the dove. As he did, he changed, so as he skidded to rest he found the dove resting on his naked human chest. Again he’d lost his clothes. He was going to have to ask Tessa about this little issue.

The Tessa-dove was disturbingly still. He heard the two
others chirping in agitation. They joined him on the ground. One flitted over to sit next to the other, and nipped at the still bird. Just then, she came to, and Tessa snapped back into her Sidhe form. She was still atop him, but at least she had her clothes on. She shivered and made no move to rise.

Nathan watched her, wondering what she was thinking
, if she was hurt or…if their closeness brought the same thoughts to her mind it did to his. He couldn’t help it, his body responded to her close proximity. His mind responded to the idea of escape, of giving in to his primal urges, much as he had in flight.

He reached up and stroked her hair back from her cheek, his fingers brushing her soft, pale skin. His hand came to rest softly on the back of her neck. She shivered again, but something had shifted in her eyes, from fear to hunger.

Leaning forward slowly, so as not to startle her, he gave in to the urge to kiss her. The kiss started soft, testing the waters. She responded instantly, her hands roaming his naked chest. It was his turn to shiver as she touched him so lightly, so delicately. Did she think he was delicate? He broke the kiss to laugh, and his grip at the back of her neck changed from testing to demanding as he resumed the kiss, teasing her lips apart and plunging his tongue into her mouth. He captured her hips against his stomach, forcing her body into closer contact with his.

She wriggled atop him, and he was surprised to find she wasn’t trying to get away, just getting more comfortable. She kissed with those sapphire eyes open, and he nearly fell into their depths. She reached for his hand, behind her head, and guided it lower, to rest on her bottom.

His heartbeat accelerated as he tasted her, as he held her to him, feeling her body respond to him in kind.

Was it a
Sidhe thing to be so free with the sexuality?

At this moment, Nathan could tell Tessa wanted him, though he hadn’t seen the slightest glimmer of such a response from her before now. What had changed? Or was it just that the opportunity had arisen?

He didn’t have more time to think about it, because a clamor filled the air around them, and they pulled apart like they were on strings.

A pixie? Nathan thought at the exact moment he saw Tessa pick up a small rock and hurl it toward the small winged creature.

“Hey!” its voice rang in outrage. “Leave me be. Get off the naked half-human, seductress!” As it flew, it trailed sparkling pixie dust behind it.

“You dare to speak to me like that?” Tessa seemed to gain an inch or two in height as she confronted the being a small fraction of her size.

“I’m not here for you. I seek the half-human. The Morrigan sent me.”

Tessa shrank before Nathan’s eyes, just as rapidly as she’d seemed to grow.

“Who is the Morrigan?” he asked, regretting that confusion had just completely supplanted arousal at the forefront of his mind. His body, on the other hand, hadn’t completely absorbed the change in events. Lord, he needed to learn that clothes trick.

The pixie giggled, and fluttered closer.
Its face was all angles and points, almost an upside down triangle, with sharply slanted slits of eyes, and a little rosebud of a mouth. Its entire body, including its wings, was coated in the fine sparkles of pixie dust that seemed to seep from its skin. “First, let me introduce myself. My name is Season. And might I say you are quite charming, especially in the nude. Your body pleases me.”

“What?” Nathan choked. Had a
pixie
just come on to him?

Tessa just glowered at the pixie and her fingers twitched like she was tempted to pick up another rock.

Nathan reached out a tentative hand, and Season extended hers, pressing its small weight into his palm. “It’s good to meet you, Season. I assume you’re some sort of ally, or you probably wouldn’t be giggling and ogling my body.”

“It is true, pixies are very sneaky when we want to be.” Season giggled again. It really was a delightful sound – but he could tell Tessa would not agree with him.

“You haven’t seen any others of your kind skulking about today, have you?” Tessa asked.

Nathan thought about her fall. Had she seen something that caused that reaction?
Was it possible this tiny creature had somehow caused Tessa’s fall? They did seem hostile toward one another.

“No. I’ve been following Nathan all day. He’s consuming all my attention.” Another giggle as Season flitted about the clearing for a moment, before returning to place her hand in Nathan’s again.

“Did the Morrigan send you to flirt?” Tessa asked.

Season perked up at that. “No. She sent me to spy. I’m to warn you
Sidhe
if Nathan is in trouble.” She smiled warmly at him. “Don’t worry. I’m the best spy.”

“If you have
such trouble with the Sidhe,” Tessa growled, “why are you serving the Morrigan? She’s Sidhe.”

“Oh, no. She’s not. She’s Tuatha De Danann. She is of the people – the original folk. Your
kind does not compare.” Season waved a dismissive hand, and Nathan watched fury bloom on Tessa’s face.

“Okay, so how is it that I’ve only seen you a couple of times if you’ve been following me all day?” Nathan asked.

“Remember, I’m sneaky. Here, I’ll show you.” Blip. Just like that, like turning a switch, Nathan was staring at the empty air in front of him.

He waved his hand where she’d been, and didn’t catch a trace of her.
“Are you still there?”

Blip. “Here I am!”

“So were you right there when I waved my hand?”

Her head dipped to one side as she considered his question. Her wings fluttered in agitation. “I don’t understand.”

“Were you right here?” He waved his hand where she’d been before.

“I wasn’t there. I wasn’t here. Let’s go here, let’s go there!” Season had turned her answer into a song before he could blink, and there was no going back to serious talk.

“If you’re going to buzz around and
sing
like the annoying creature you are, could you do your little disappearing act and at least leave us in peace?” Tessa demanded.

Season whirled long enough to stick her
tiny tongue out in Tessa’s direction, and then she was gone. Blip.

Tessa watched him for a moment. He wondered if she’d close the gap between them and pick up where they left off.

Then she waved a hand and he was dressed.

Damn pixie.

Nine

“Are they like moths?” Nathan asked, jolting Tessa out of her runaway thoughts.

“Moths?” They’d been walking for a while now in silence, and the question surprised Tessa.

“The pixies. Their wings and skin are dusted, like a butterfly or a moth. Those creatures – Order Lepidoptera – are actually scaled. The scales are just so tiny we see them as dust. Are the pixies scaled, and shedding their tiny scales at such a rapid pace that they fill the Tir Nan Og air? That seems highly inefficient.”

“I have no idea,” Tessa admitted. Is that why he’d been so quiet? He was thinking about the origin of pixie dust?

“It is magical, you know,” Tessa told him. “Pixie dust is used in all sorts of spells. For creatures without a natural draw – like the Sidhe possess – pixie dust can be used to enchant a lover, or to entice someone to think like you do. They are powerful pests, the pixies.”

“This one seemed good-hearted, if a bit too amorous for my liking.”

Tessa laughed. “They are drawn to beauty. And she was right. You are a beautiful man, Nathan. No woman could miss that.” She wasn’t sure why she shared that sentiment. It made her feel more vulnerable than she liked, especially after that surprising kiss earlier.

“Your beauty is enough to haunt a man
, Tessa. To be honest, you scare me a little.”

Her eyes swiveled back to his face, and she wondered how she must look to him. Humans were just so much softer around the edges. Softer, in general. “That is natural,
I guess. I’m the first of the Sidhe you’ve gotten to know. The draw I spoke of affects those around us, even if they’re Sidhe. Among Sidhe, we just grow accustomed to looking beyond the draw. Since you’re half-human, it is probably harder for you to look beyond. We should have asked Hazel that question, though I suspect it would be different for each of you.” Tessa had little inclination to invite another visit from Ian’s wife just yet. They’d probably have more questions by tomorrow, anyway.

Home was right around the corner, and Tessa wasn’t sure what to do when they reached it. Outside, she knew the bug – er, the pixie – was watching their every move, doing the Morrigan’s bidding. But inside her home, the pixie would not enter. Not ever.

So what to do when she had Nathan to herself?

T
hey probably shouldn’t get involved. In her situation, it went beyond a conflict of interest. Abarta expected her to sell the half-humans out or he would ruin her family name, and her brother’s life.

But that kiss earlier intrigued her.

She hadn’t expected to feel anything at the half-human’s kiss, but he touched her with a possessiveness she’d never felt from a Sidhe male. He obviously didn’t know her reputation as cold and standoffish, or her stature among the Sidhe with her position as Curator of the Texts. But that meant she didn’t intimidate him, either. She wanted more of that touch, and what it awakened in her.

As she closed the door behind him, she could already feel the weight of his stare. She turned to find him closer than she’d thought; close enough she nearly stumbled into him, with uncharacteristic clumsiness.
Another flare of vulnerability lit her insides. She said a little spell under her breath to be sure a blush didn’t betray the emotion to Nathan.

N
ow that she felt like an idiot, he was making his intentions known. He moved even closer, until she was caged between his body and the wall. Her pulse surged, and she took an unsteady breath.

“The
Sidhe aren’t shy about sex, are they?” Nathan asked, running one finger along her collarbone, a bare whisper of touch where her body craved an onslaught.