Author's Note: Thanks for all of the reviews! We have some new people! Yay!

I'm glad everyone likes a saucy Clarion. :) Yesterday was super busy, so hopefully I'll be able to write another chapter tonight.

It felt like days waiting for the clock to strike quarter to midnight. She paced for hours on her plush carpet so no one would hear her up, worried how things had gone for Milori. A thousand terrible scenarios ran through her head until she couldn't stand it a moment longer. Bundling in her winter clothes to keep warm as much as to hide her glow, she climbed out her window and cut through the grass toward spring. Luckily, the moon was full and lit her way.

She reached the border within minutes, breathing slightly hard, and stopped on the stone to look down. If she crossed, she'd leave tracks. Biting her lip, she pulled out her acorn whistle, unsure if she should summon Mountain and risk Milori charging into battle.

There was a loud flap above her, and she darted into the tall grass. Crouching down, she looked up and saw the silhouette of an owl circling. Raising her hand to give a blast of pixie dust and scare the bird away, she heard a familiar sound.

"Who?"

A smile spread across her lips, and she stepped out onto the stone.

Mountain landed and hopped over to offer his chest for a rub.

"Hello, friend," she whispered and gave him a scratch before climbing up.

He crouched and spread out his wings. With a giant flap, he took her up into the cold air of winter.

They arrived at her evergreen tree, but Mountain landed on a branch high up.

"No," she frowned. "Go down, Mountain."

"I told him to come here, my lady," a deep voice said.

Her head whipped around to see Milori leaning a shoulder lazily against the tree trunk with his ankles crossed and arms folded over his chest. He pushed away and walked across the branch toward her.

"Why are we meeting in a tree?" she smiled.

He lifted his arms to catch her. She slid down, and he caught her around the waist and held her close as he slowly set her to her feet.

"So no one will see our rendezvous," he replied huskily and kissed her.

A sigh escaped her, and she pulled him down closer to wrap her arms around his neck. She tugged his arm around her tighter and deepened the kiss. Then she backed him up against the tree trunk forcefully enough that he gave a light grunt from air being knocked out of him. Her demands excited him, and he returned her kiss with fervor.

When she finally let him come up for air he grinned, "Whatever has gotten into you, I like it."

"What did your fairies say?"

"Let's sit so you don't fall." He helped her sit down on the branch and then sat beside her. "They were understandably shocked to see me. I think they took it rather well. I explained how it was my plan to be captured but how you truly thought I was behind the fire. Then I explained your plan and rescue. There were a great many questions, but in the end, they started asking how they could help. What I thought was interesting, though, was one of my animal fairies asked on her own if Bernard had anything to do with any of this. Intrigued, I asked her why. She said that she noticed him sometimes hiding in the woods of autumn during animal crossings, but she didn't think much of it at the time. She also said that he was often belligerent to the winter fairies when he was on border patrol. I asked Gliss if she noticed that, but she said she didn't. So now I'm worried."

"Why?"

"If he was belligerent only when Gliss wasn't around, he was onto her. Has he slipped anything to you?"

She relayed her conversation with Bernard.

His brow furrowed. "Acting like he was smarter made him spill that?"

Feeling her face flame, she looked away. "I sort of let him unbutton my dress..."

His face instantly became passive. "What?" he growled, his eyes narrowing.

"He's a male, and sometimes it comes down to using what you've got to get what you need."

His eyebrows shot to the moon. "And what else did you 'use'? I want to know what exactly happened."

Clarion frowned. "It's not as if I mated with him."

"I have a right to know what he thinks is going on."

His scowl grew with each detail before he finally shot to his feet. "I'll beat the dust out of him! How dare he try to touch you!"

"Milori, calm down," she said and tugged his hand for him to sit.

He shook her off and paced angrily. "I will not! The worm probably would mate with you and then be on his merry way, leaving you alone for your glow to burn out," he huffed.

She laughed, "Milori, his glow would burn out too, not being near each other. I don't think he'd do that anyways."

He threw her a dark look.

When she stood, he flew over to wrap his arms around her. "Don't fall."

"Besides," she continued softly and set her hands on his chest, "if I mate with anyone, I'd want it to be you." Looking up from beneath her lashes, her heart beat faster, waiting for him to give her some clue.

"I wouldn't put it past him," he grumbled. "Have you told Mary anything?"

She sighed in disappointment. Clearly they weren't going to talk tonight about spending their lives together. Dropping her hands, she pulled away to walk over to Mountain. "Yes. And Fairy Gary. He wasn't surprised." She turned and looked at him as she stroked Mountain's chest. "Do you know they've been courting for years? He wants to wait to mate until he gets his dust shop going and a nice house established first."

His brow furrowed. "Why wasn't he surprised."

She clenched her teeth, frustrated by how dense he was. "He said Bernard always came across like he owned me." She climbed on Mountain.

"You're leaving?" He asked in surprise.

"You said yourself we can't risk being caught. The longer I'm gone, the more likely they're to notice."

He looked disappointed.

"Why?"

He shook his head. "What's the next part of the plan."

"Seduce it out of him," she said with disinterest.

His face fell.

"Any better ideas?"

"No," he replied quietly. "But I hate it."

She looked away from his sorrowful eyes.

"Do I at least get a kiss?" he asked hopefully, flew over and hovered.

She gave a peck on the lips.

"Clarion, what's wrong? You were all over me a few minutes ago, and now you seem angry," he frowned and touched her cheek.

"I'm not going to guilt you into anything," she said quietly and looked down at Mountain's back. "I'm just jealous. Gary told her he wasn't going to ask to mate for a long time rather than leave her wonder. I'm tired and in a bad mood. Good night." Then she took off, her heart too hurt to hear excuses tonight.

Author's Note: Readers, the website is currently preventing me from uploading the real chapter 35. Other authors are reporting of the same problem for the past five hours. My profile seems to still be working, so I'll update that daily. I've emailed IT. Forums show that sometimes when this happens, it lasts for days. I'll figure out an alternative if that's the case. Thanks for your patience.