Author's Note: Glad you're back, YazmineXD! It's fun seeing previous followers back. I love hearing from readers!
The guards led him to the winter border where Lord Milori stopped and turned. With a nod from Milori, the guards left. "Now, Spruce told me your mate is Silvermist." He crossed his arms over his chest.
He tensed, gauging how best to approach this for Silvermist's sake. "Clearly I'm not going to mate with her," he growled.
Milori stepped closer so they stood eye to eye. "You'd damn well better not. The Queen will have your head if you hurt one of her fairies," he hissed.
Lord Milori's breath blew icy cold against his face. "I have not betrayed you," he snarled. "You dare insinuate I would take a female, knowing the cost to her?"
"I'm not insinuating, I'm warning." Milori snarled, their faces a hair apart. "You are here by grace of Her Majesty."
His hands fisted at his sides. "And not a day goes by that you don't remind me." He spun on his heel to leave before he did something he'd regret.
"You are not dismissed." Milori's tone was like steele.
He stopped but did not turn. He needed to leave. The invisible chains suffocated. Each day they grew tighter and tighter. One day they'd choke too tight, and he'd snap. With a heaving chest, he battled down the fury. His hands fisted tighter, the skin over his whitening knuckles promising to split under much more tension. "You will not stop me," he growled. He had to get away.
"You will return to base in winter, Captain. That's an order."
Not base. The walls of the tower were too confining. Milori's invisible collar around his neck squeezed tighter. No one understood. No one would believe him capable of any emotion other than anger. The humiliation of having Silvermist witness him being treated like an animal, of having a female begging on his behalf...he shot into the sky, breaking the sound barrier.
"Sleet!" Milori roared.
He sat on a boulder at the farthest recess of winter without being in the frigid North Woods the next night. He rubbed his bleary eyes. Of course Pixie Hollow wasn't large enough to hide from Lord Milori forever. He had been put on night watch for punishment for his insubordinance. And to be kept as far from Silvermist as possible. It was a boon for Lord Milori to know about them being mates, actually. Lord Milori served as another safety net to make sure he wasn't tempted to go to Silvermist.
It was her touch that he missed most. She touched him without fear and with love. He kept reliving that night at the hospital over and over in his mind. Had she meant it that she loved him? She'd been half asleep and exhausted from being ill. Surely she didn't even remember what she'd said.
Getting up to pace, he ran a hand through his hair and kicked the snow. She couldn't have meant it. They hardly knew each other, after all. But he felt tenderness for her-a feeling he never thought to have again after all those years ago.
The crunching of snow made him still. He sniffed. No sign of fear from whomever was coming. Crouching behind the boulder, he peeked out and quietly drew his sword. It sounded like a small creature. Quick footsteps. Yes, now he started to smell the nervousness. The glow in his heart felt stronger. Silvermist?
He shot up into the trees to scan the forest bed. There, a golden glow. Swooping down, he landed with a thud directly in front of her.
She startled hard and leapt back. With wide eyes, she released a huge breath. "You scared me." She wore a heavy blue cape and mittens, but her nose and cheeks looked rosy from the cold. In her hand, she held a basket. The other arm remained hidden under the cape.
"Scared you? Why are you this deep in winter? At night?" he demanded and pulled off his own cloak to wrap around her.
Big brown eyes looked up at him. "I got out of the hospital yesterday, but you didn't come. I talked to one of the autumn border guards, and he said you were on duty over here." She cocked her head with a furrowed brow. "You promised to wait for me."
A deep sigh escaped him. "I couldn't come. Lord Milori has put me on winter night patrol."
Her brows knit together. "For how long?"
He watched her face and slowly said, "Indefinitely."
Pink lips parted in shock, and her eyes fell to his chest. "I don't understand." The sadness in her eyes broke his heart when she looked up at him. "Did you ask for this? Because of me?"
"What? No." He pulled her into his arms when she shivered. "I've been forbidden to see you," he whispered.
Her arm wrapped around him. "No."
He chuckled. "What do you mean, 'no'? Lord Milori ordered it."
She leaned back in his arms. "You aren't seeing me if I'm coming to you."
"Silvermist, this isn't a game. Very serious consequences could happen to you. I don't care about me, but I do care if you are punished."
Taking a step back, she lifted the basket with a brilliant smile. "I brought cookies that are overdue."
"You shouldn't be here."
"You shouldn't be there." She tugged him closer, pulling his arm around her. "You should be here."
A smile spread over his lips. "And then we're getting you back home." He flew her to his cabin and lit a fire to keep her warm until he'd take her home. "Are you warm enough without a fire?" He offered his hand to help her sit.
She sat and scooted closer when he sat down. "Yep! Are you cold without a cape?"
"No. Extreme cold bothers me and summer temps. I'm fine." He sniffed and leaned closer. "Are those oatmeal cookies?"
"Yes. And chocolate chip," she laughed. "Easy now."
He leaned back, maybe too quick because she glanced at him.
"Do you not like chocolate chip?"
"Just an allergy." She looked crestfallen. He shouldn't have said anything. Odds are even if they touched the oatmeal ones he could eat those.
"An allergy?"
He ran a hand over his hair. "Alamurs have severe allergies to chocolate. And cake and candy."
"What? Are you allergic to wheat? How can you be allergic to all of that?"
With a deep sigh, he shook his head. "Any food that's sweet and associated with happiness. There's something about oats or raisins that prevents an allergic reaction. Those are the only sweets I can have."
"Oh no, I'm sorry." She dug in the basket. "They're all mixed together. I'll make new oatmeal ones tomorrow..."
He caught her hand. "No, it's alright. It was kind that you wanted to bring some." He nuzzled her hair. "You smell so good. We're you born of the ocean?"
She giggled and pressed her shoulder to her ear. "That tickles. No, we're born of babies' first laughs."
He relented and slipped his arm under her cape to feel a hard cast holding her elbow at a ninety-degree angle. "Is it feeling better?"
"Yes. It just aches sometimes from being at an angle. In a month Spruce said I can be in a soft cast." Her eyes followed his hand sliding down to interlace with her fingers.
"You're so soft," he whispered. The way she blushed made him smile. "Is it true that water fairies drink the rain?"
Tilting her head back, she smiled. "No. Is it true Alamurs can survive losing all their sugar?"
"No." He ran a hand through her locks. "Alamurs can only die from losing all their sugar, being impaled in the heart, beheading or..." He snapped his mouth shut, realizing what he was saying and to whom.
A cotton candy pink tongue ran over her full lips, so innocent and tempting. "What?" she whispered.
"Or tearing their wings. What are you doing to me?" he breathed. His nostrils flared and sucked in the salty seabreeze scent of her. Something inside burned in a torturously pleasant way. His mouth watered for her taste. He didn't dare kiss her and stoke the fire.
She scooted into his lap and cupped his face in her hands, trusting him to not let her fall. Soft lips kissed his jaw and throat. "Sleet?" she whispered. "I don't want to stay away. I want to be mates." Her hand slipped down between them and started pulling up his tunic.
His eyes rolled back. Neverland, he wanted her. Drawing a deep breath for strength, he removed her from his lap.
"Did I not kiss you right?" She looked utterly confused in the moonlight and withdrew her hands.
"Neverland, you kiss too well." He stroked her small cheek and forced her eyes to meet his. "We cannot mate. I do not exaggerate when I say I will go into a frenzy and kill you. I'm too strong even for Alamur females, who are my own size. Do you even know what happens when Bright Fairies mate?"
"The male takes off his shirt and flies with the female. You won't hurt me." She reached for him again.
How perfectly naive and innocent, just like her. He caught her wrist and eased her back. "No. If the female accepts his proposal to mate, their clothes are shed. While kissing, the female releases a nectar in her mouth that causes the male to release a white dust on his hands. He then rubs it on the female's wings to make them incredibly pliable so he can hold her tight in flight. Then they fly into the sky and their bodies join..."
Her face turned red as he explained the details. Then she looked shocked. "How do they come apart?!"
He choked and smothered a laugh. So like his Silvermist to be so innocent. "He just withdraws."
She eyed him sideways and scooted away a hair. "I definitely don't want to mate."
He laughed and pulled her back over. "With a Bright Fairy, I promise you'd find it pleasant." Then his smile slowly faded...her with another make. He shoved away the thought.
"I had nightmares last night about getting the cast cut off again. Being you're working all night, may I sleep here? Your glow in my heart feels stronger if we're in the same season. It makes me feel safer." She looked at him with big brown eyes.
He smelled a tinge of fear from her. How could he deny that face? How could he deny her anything? "Of course." He got up so she could get in bed.
A brilliant smile lit up her face, and she flung her arm around him. "You're so good to me." Then she slipped off the capes, revealing a blue spaghetti-strapped silk nightgown that barely covered her thighs. Delicate white lace fringed the bottom.
His loins sprang to life, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What are you wearing?" he croaked. She shouldn't be making him desire her. Alamurs didn't desire, they wanted to control and conquer. These feelings of lust were new and unnatural-only Bright Fairies could feel desire for a female.
She pulled down the blankets, her back to him. A volumptuous bottom threatened to peek out. "My nightgown. Water fairies' skin is so delicate we must sleep in silk or nothing."
His knees nearly buckled as that image of her formed-her lushious, silky body ready to be claimed. Neverland, she had such amazing curves that they could only be better when unveiled. His hand itched to stroke that curve and see if it felt as wonderful as he suspected. Stop it.
She climbed in bed and burrowed under the covers. "That's good you're not interested in mating. Sounds dreadful." She shuddered. Then she reached up her good hand. "Stay for just a few minutes until I fall asleep?"
He swallowed hard and sat down on the bed beside her. It took self-control he hadn't thought he possessed to not seduce her right in his bed. When she curled up against him and rested a hand on his thigh, obviously oblivious, his state of indecency grew tenfold. He mentally snorted. He wasn't interested in mating, in trying to show her pleasures she'd never dreamed of. Not at all.