Walking to work the next morning, Silvermist seemed more nervous than usual and kept her wings tucked down tight. Of course, there were more fairies buzzing around than usual due to the spring season about to occur on the mainland.

Her glow around his heart swirled with nervousness, self-consciousness, and embarrassment.

There were glances and a few whispers. Did they know about him? Were they picking on her for it?

She kept her head down and turned to him quickly, still a ways from where he usually dropped her off. "I'll see you tonight." Then she rose up on her toes for a kiss.

He leaned down and brushed a kiss over her lips, catching her hand before she could go. "What's wrong, dewdrop?" Keeping his voice low would prevent anyone from hearing the conversation.

"Do you think she'll turn into a bird?" Someone whispered nearby—close enough that it wasn't just his Alamur hearing that would catch it.

Silvermist's cheeks flamed, even though she pretended to not hear them. "I'm fine. You'd better go so you're not late." Then she tugged her hand so hard that he had to let go or risk hurting her. She started walking away, her glow around his heart hurting. The crowd of fairies waiting at the doors began to swallow her up.

"Silvermist?" He called loud enough for others to look. Good. At least the attention was on him instead of her.

She turned, her eyes scanning to find him near the back of the crowd.

Locking eyes with her, he marched forward, forcing fairies to scatter out of the way. Then he captured her face in his hands and leaned down, giving a long kiss.

Someone whistled, and another fairy hooted and clapped.

Breaking the kiss, he smiled to chase the embarrassment from her eyes and stroked his thumbs over her cheeks. "I love my beautiful dewdrop."

And then it happened—that smile that put the sun to shame broke free and only happiness filled her eyes. It made her wings rise a bit, forgetting for a moment to be self-conscious of them.

A hard pat on the back. He glanced to see Terence grin on his way past and give a thumbs up.

In the next instant, Silvermist lurched toward him with a cry of pain. He caught her in his arms, her wings lowered again enough to see over them.

It was that bumble bee riding female from the nightclub with a feather in her hand and a smirk on her face. Until she spotted him and paled. The feather fell from her hand, and the two friends behind her ran.

Easing Silvermist onto her feet, he bent down and brushed a tear from her eye. "Where are you hurt, sweetheart?" Without waiting for an answer, he stepped behind her to check as the fairy took off running. A small drop of blood leaked out from between two feathers on the backside of one wing. Pulling a fresh leafkerchief out of his pocket, he pressed it to the small wound. He glanced up to see Fairy Mary and the Queen hurrying over. "I'll be right back, dewdrop."

The three fairies were scattered in the air, under a bush, and heading for the door of the pixie dust factory. Zipping too fast for them to see, they looked baffled to suddenly all be huddled together against a tree.

Grabbing the front of the leader's shirt, he glared at the quivering brat. One of the others tried to make a break for it, but he caught her without even having to look away. "You'll apologize," he snarled in a deep rumble meant to terrify Bright Fairies. "None of you will touch her ever again." His eye darted among the three of them, all pale and cowering. "You won't look at her. You won't speak to her after your apology. If I hear that anyone even glances at her the wrong way, I'll make a visit to your homes. Just me, just you. In the dark. Understand?"

The two sidekicks nodded so hard their heads should've fallen off. The leader simply gave a single nod, but a cocky glean still flickered in her eye. Grabbing two of them by the shirt collars, he flung them to stumble forward toward Silvermist for an apology.

With the leader, he simply glared at her. She would retaliate and take this out on Silvermist. She was bigger than Silvermist, just like most fairies, and had that bully streak in her to not care about getting in trouble to extract her revenge. "You want to be a bully to my mate because she's little and you know she won't hit back? You're the most pathetic coward I've ever seen."

The rage built in her eyes. And she took a swing, just as expected.

Catching her fist, he twisted to keep the momentum going right past his shoulder so she'd plant face first on the ground. The moment she was down, he quickly pressed on a tiny spot in her wing frame that caused arm and leg and wing paralysis. Then he squatted down beside her and said quietly when the Queen started running over, "You want to be a bully? I don't take well to bullies, especially against my mate."

The Queen stopped and watched, hesitation in her eyes. "Captain."

"Am I going to be making a call to your home?"

The fairy shook her head quickly, this time her glow brimming with fear.

"Good. Because I know where you live." Then he pressed on the spot again and she scrambled up and ran.

He stood and glanced back at Silvermist, who stood at a distance watching him while Fawn now tended to her wing.

"Ahem."

He turned his attention back to the Queen.

"This isn't a battlefield where you get to interrogate fairies. What was that thing you did with her wing frame?" Her eyebrows rose, obviously irritated but uncertain how to handle this.

With a shrug, he glanced over his shoulder again. "Something I learned about Bright Fairies during war."

"And do all Alamur know how to do that?"

He looked at her and shook his head. "I came back with Lord Milori before I taught anyone that."

"If there is a problem with a fairy, you report it, you don't go beating them up!"

A frown formed. "I didn't hit anyone or break any bones, although if you think it'd teach that brat a lesson—"

"No!" The Queen's eyes widened in horror.

He cracked a smile.

She rolled her eyes. "That's not funny. You will not assault a fairy again, understood?"

"If you keep your fairies from assaulting Silvermist, then it's understood." He shrugged. "If not, I'll scare the shit out of them as necessary to keep her safe."

Queen Clarion buried her face in her hands. "You test my patience, Captain. Go say goodbye to Silvermist and get to work. And no, you don't get to tell His Lordship that I detained you—you can take whatever tardy punishment is necessary to make up for this stunt."

These Bright Fairies were so hilarious thinking they actually dolled out punishments. With another shrug, he spun around and headed toward Silvermist.

"Ahem."

Heaving a sigh, he turned and gave a lavish bow. "May I be dismissed from Your Highness's royal presence now?"

She threw up her hands. "I don't know why I bother."

It was hard to suppress a smile. The Queen needed someone to ruffle her feathers now and then, and he seemed to be quite adept at it. Turning on his heel, he walked away.

Worry wrinkled Silvermist's brow. "You shouldn't have done that. Fairies are already scared of you—"

"Good, they should be." He pressed a kiss to her cheek and then looked over her shoulder to see what Fawn was doing.

Fawn dug through the feathers and uncovered two that were broken next to the missing one. "Alright, we have to pull these out so new feathers will grow. Ready? I won't pull as hard as she did, but it'll still hurt."

Gathering her against his chest, he reached around and started rubbing near where the feathers were going to be pulled out. "It'll help distract the nerves," he explained when Fawn gave a strange look.

Silvermist only flinched a little when the two feathers came out, and she didn't bleed.

"Do we have to do anything special?" He kept his arms around her as Fawn cleaned the bare area as wide as two of his fingers.

"No, just keep an eye on it for a couple days that an infection doesn't start. But in about a month or two, you should have new feathers. It might be closer to two months because these are the longer feathers, whereas the shorter ones at the top probably grow in a month."

Silvermist tried to twist to look over her shoulder. "Does the skin show?"

Fawn smiled. "Nope. The other feathers hide it. Have you been cleaning your feathers at least once a week?"

She nodded. "In the shower—"

"No, like this." Fawn pulled out Silvermist's wing to the side a little more, and then she ran her hands through in a way that didn't damage the feathers but sent dust and small bits of pollen and dirt falling out.

Silvermist jerked away from everyone and shook her head as she stared at the ground. "I didn't know I was supposed to," she whispered with so much shame and embarrassment that even Fawn looked as sad as he felt.

"Dewdrop, we didn't know, and now we do—" He stepped forward and took her hand.

Fawn smiled and came forward to take her other hand. "I bet the healers didn't know either. It's probably a secret animal fairy thing. I didn't know until Lord Milori's owl taught me. What if after work, we go find Lord Milori's owl and practice?" Then Fawn looked up at him. "And you come, too. There are some feathers that Silvermist can't reach."

But Silvermist immediately jerked her hands free and shook her head.

Then it flashed through her glow around his heart—she was afraid of him being disgusted.

Leaning down to her ear, he whispered, "I wish to learn what to do, if you'll let me. And it gives me a reason to touch your beautiful wings more and then make love to you afterwards." He leaned back to look at her face.

A soft blush rose in her cheeks, and she glanced up from beneath her eyelashes as an internal debate warred within her.

Giving a soft smile, he stroked her cheek.

She bit her lip and gave a small, shy nod.

"Oh good!" Fawn's wings fluttered in excitement. "I'm supposed to work in the clover field today with the rabbits. I think I saw that you're on the schedule to work the clover field today, too?"

Silvermist nodded.

"We'd better get to work!" Fawn linked her arm through Silvermist's.

He pressed a kiss to Silvermist's cheek. "I'll see you after work. I love you."

"I love you, too. Tell Lord Milori it's my fault that you're late."

"I think I'll survive any wrath." Then he winked, which drew a blush from her, just like always. When Silvermist turned to Fawn, he mouthed, 'thank you'.

Fawn smiled and then pulled Silvermist along.

He turned to leave and almost ran over Rosetta.

"Oh!" She fluttered backwards at arm's length. "I saw Silvermist over here looking sad. Is she alright?"

"She will be. That bumble bee group ripped a feather out of her wing and broke two others. Fawn was showing us how to care for her wing."

Rosetta turned red. "Bust my bonnet! I knew that poison-oak-faced fairy was going to do something! Fairies stare at Silvermist, but that one's been makin' fun of her since she came back to work with new wings. I'm going to go tie her up with poison ivy!"

"Wait, this has been going on for weeks?"

Rosetta landed on her feet and looked up. "Silvermist didn't tell ya? She wouldn't join us for lunch the first few days after Tink said something stupid again." Rosetta waved her hand. "Fawn, Iridessa, and I have been having lunch with Silvermist. She's been very solemn, but the past couple weeks she's been more like herself. But she's still really self-conscious when others are around."

"I put a little fear of Neverland in that bumble bee group of fairies, so they'd better leave her alone. Would you let me know if anyone bothers her? She hasn't said a word to me."

She nodded. "I knew it! I asked Sled if I should tell ya in case she hasn't, and he said to stay out of it! Ugh, sparrowmen!" She flicked a lock of her red hair over her shoulder and set her hands on her hips. "I bet Silvermist isn't feeling sexy, and she doesn't want everything fixed for her."

"What?"

"Ya know. She's so head over heels for you, and a female doesn't want to look all bumbling and dirty and gross in front of her sparrowman. She's always been picked on for being so little, and she was good at standing up for herself most of the time. She doesn't want these wings to mean she's different and have y'all go fix everything. A fairy needs her own independence, ya know."

Hm. That was certainly an interesting perspective.

Then Rosetta leaned in closer and whispered, "She told me that she's a siren. She's dealing with that, too. So don't you go swooping in and treating her like a little dandelion that's going to fall apart with the wisp of the wind." She snapped her fingers with some attitude.

Neverland, this was some intriguing information. "Is this your observation?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "This is female knowledge. You sparrowmen don't know everything, honey. And Silvermist told me weeks ago to not say anything to ya because she wanted to handle the bullies on her own, but I assumed she told y'all by now because they're getting worse."

He folded his arms over his chest and braced his feet.

Rosetta instantly took a step back.

So he dropped his arms, and she seemed to relax for the most part. "I didn't mean to intimidate you, I was just thinking."

Her eyes rose. "I know ya have a big bad reputation to maintain as Captain, but...I don't know, there's just something that seems different than other sparrowmen. And you're so much older than other males are from their mates. Y'all ain't from this land, are you?"

Cool and aloof. Don't panic. Rosetta wasn't Tink and wouldn't blabber information to everyone. "I blew into another land, and Lord Milori didn't find me right away. We keep it quiet because I don't want Silvermist judged for it."

"Oh, of course. I'm glad Lord Milori found ya before something bad happened. Sometimes…" She squinted. "Sometimes ya remind me of the stories Sled told me about the Alamur." She laughed. "But of course you're not, obviously. The Queen wouldn't let an Alamur in here and risk all of us. I'm being rude now. Your mannerisms are just a little different sometimes, but I bet that's simply because ya were born elsewhere. It's not like the Queen would let in an Alamur to slaughter us." She shivered. "Are y'all coming to the club tomorrow? We haven't seen ya there for a couple weeks."

Because he was in the hospital from the Alamur attacks, but she couldn't be privy to that. "Maybe. We're still unpacking. I'd better get to work. I appreciate you letting me know about Silvermist."

"Alright. Bye!"

He headed for work, now with two pits in his stomach—one for Silvermist having problems at work but not saying anything, and another that at least Rosetta was starting to figure him out. If Rosetta was, then other fairies were bound to start getting suspicious.

Sleet was attentive but fairly silent during the visit to Lord Milori's owl, and he seemed distracted the whole way home. As soon as he entered behind her, she spun on him in the living room.

"Alright, why do you seem stressed?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "I ran into Rosetta before work, and she said my mannerisms are off and I remind her of an Alamur."

Her eyes widened and she froze. "And you said…?"

"That I was blown into another land and Lord Milori didn't find me right away. I didn't know what to say."

"Oh. That's not so bad."

A laugh barked out. "It is when she said the Queen wouldn't let in an Alamur to slaughter us."

"Oh." She sank onto the sofa.

He nodded and dropped down beside her.

She stared into the distance. Then her hand touched his thigh, and she twisted to face him. "My Sleet?" She batted her eyes.

His heartbeat took off, and he reached to pull off his tunic. It was earlier in the evening than usual, but he was game for any time.

"Since you can fly fast, would you just unpack the rest of these boxes?"

Stopping mid-reach, he blinked. "Boxes?" Then he followed her gaze. Eleven boxes sat stacked in the corner.

She looked so hopeful, and having boxes sitting out seemed to drive her crazy. With a sigh, he growled, "Alright, just these. But that's it for tonight." It might not be so bad. Getting them out of the way would give better access to the fireplace. He could set out the rabbit fur as a blanket and feed her dinner before the fire.

Zipping around, he even emptied the two boxes in the other corner so the entire room was free of the clutter.

Eighteen minutes. He brushed off his hands, excited to see her expression. Turning around, he stopped in surprise.

She'd fallen asleep sitting up. It was only six o'clock, but she seemed out cold. He sighed in disappointment.

Slowly scooping her up, he took her to the bedroom and eased off her dress from work. She didn't stir as he tucked her under the silk bed sheets, kissed her brow, and quietly closed the door.

Staring over the kitchen and living room, he sighed. Everything was all set up now so it looked like a home, but it felt lonely without her smile here to bless it.

Digging a can of beans out of the cupboard for dinner, he tore the top off and sat on the sofa to tip the can back and eat, not even bothering with a spoon. He stared at the dark fireplace. The sunset cast a golden glow into the room, but it otherwise felt too much like his bachelor days before Silvermist—cold, empty, and forever alone in a land full of fairies with mates. The memories returned the heartache from the past three hundred years before Silvermist had come along.

He couldn't go back to living without her. She had to be kept safe from the Alamur, at any cost. The darkness started to leak a cold hollowness around his heart, the disgusting evil that was part of the core of his essence. It tried to feed on thoughts of losing Silvermist. He rubbed his chest, needing her love.

The sadness fled, but the hollow, lonely feeling wouldn't leave. It was too cold and empty out here without her. Getting up, he tossed the can and headed for the washroom to shower the sweat and dust off from work before getting into bed with her.

But the loneliness kept growing, the darkness kept feeding and forcing fragmented thoughts of losing Silvermist. It began to turn into grief so profound that it was hard to breathe. If the Alamur wanted to truly torture him, it'd be to kill her and keep him alive so the darkness would make him insane with grief. And chain him immobile to a wall as the Alamur instincts would drive him literally to insanity with the need to tear his own wings because of losing her. Of course the Alamur would feed on his screams and ensure he'd spend the next hundreds of years of his life in a dungeon, screaming from the grief and insanity but unable to ever escape the agony. The darkness forced horrid images of her mutilated body left on the floor before him in the dungeon, but just out of reach, simply close enough to watch her rot away and drive him insane.

He leaned a shaking hand against the wall as the water rained down, struggling to fight the darkness. His hand had that ashen color of the darkness getting out of control. He rubbed his chest. It wasn't enough. The sickening thoughts wouldn't cease, and the darkness grew stronger. The darkness had never made him tremble in fear like this. But it'd also never forced images of Silvermist suffering a violent death and him living in Hell. That only fueled the fear that this could become reality if he didn't protect her from the Alamur.

Shutting off the water and wiping a towel over himself just enough to not soak the bed sheets, he walked into the bedchamber. Just being in her presence was enough to be able to breathe again. He climbed into bed.

She rolled over to face him and mumbled something in her sleep. Her hand rested over his heart and gave two sluggish strokes before she seemed to fully sleep again with her hand still in place.

His eyes rolled back with sweet relief as her love burned stronger and the torturous thoughts dissipated. Her love had to be stronger or maybe fully binding their glows had done something, because she'd never been able to save him by simply setting a hand over his heart when the darkness was bad enough to discolor his skin.

But then worry set in that the darkness had transferred into her. Gently rolling her onto her back, he leaned over and pressed his heart to hers.

As it grew warm, she stirred with a soft sigh. Then her arms and legs wrapped around him in a sleepy hold. "Sleet," she breathed. "Why are you sad?"

She released so much love that it was like her siren call, and he was powerless to stop himself from gently joining her body and making slow love. Although she remained sleepy, she welcomed him.

Once she was satisfied and asleep, he got a paper and pen and climbed back into bed. She immediately curled up against him.

When he finally set the journal on her nightstand, it was nearly midnight. He scooted down to lie with her in his arms, and everything was perfect for a moment in time. It only took moments to fall into a peaceful sleep, the darkness locked safely away again for now.

She woke up the next morning, and Sleet was still asleep. He usually woke up at least a half hour before her. Easing up to sit without waking him, she stretched. A book sat on her nightstand that she hadn't left there. Picking it up, she opened to the first page.

My dearest Dewdrop...

When he stretched and woke up, the sunlight burned bright.

A soft sniffle.

He rolled over. Silvermist was sitting up and crying with a soaked leafkerchief in one hand. "Sweetheart?" He sat up. The journal was in her lap. "That wasn't supposed to make you cry." He pulled her into his lap.

"I've n,never gotten love letters and p,poems before. You filled a,almost the whole book." She threw her arms around his neck and sobbed, almost instantly soaking his shoulder.

He froze in confusion. "So, these are good tears?"

She nodded. "I know you wrote her at least one. I was hoping for one, but I n,never expected a book." The poor thing burst into renewed sobs.

"Oh my dewdrop, I should've given you some sooner. I only gave her two, and I thought I loved her. But I know now it was only infatuation. So, you like getting them or—"

Her head bobbed immediately with a nod, weeping too hard to speak.

He stroked her back under her wings and reached into his nightstand to pull out a fresh leafkerchief. "Sweetheart, why are you crying this much?" Her tears began to run down his chest. She was almost a water fountain, instantly soaking the leafkerchief as he tried to dry her tears.

"I,it's just s,so perfect. I c,can't stop." She did seem a bit overly emotional, even for a water fairy.

The tears began to soak the sheets in his lap as they streamed down his chest. "Dewdrop, take a big breath. You're losing so much water that you're making me worried you'll dehydrate." Neverland, she'd soaked three leafkerchiefs. Easing the journal from her hands, he set it on the nightstand. "Let's go get a towel, sweetheart." Scooping her up, he carried her into the bathroom and set her on the counter. He draped a towel over his shoulder to soak up the tears and used the corner to dry her face.

Her face crumpled and she started sobbing all over again.

"Silvermist, what's wrong?" he asked softly, utterly bewildered.

"Y,you're being so s,sweet," she wailed.

This didn't seem like her at all. Trying to comfort her was making it worse. Barking at her like he would a soldier who was about to weep wouldn't help. Her glow around his heart was a huge jumble of emotions, but none of them were sad. The darkness fought to survive in him from happy tears—it wouldn't let a non-Alamur have happy tears, so it wasn't that she was infected with the darkness. She was losing so much water that the concern grew that she'd need to go to the hospital. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He pulled down her nightgown and pressed his heart to hers. Emotions from swirled around in absolute chaos for a few seconds before they started to calm as the glow began to warm up. She started to hiccup as the tears began to subside. "That's my dewdrop," he cooed and rubbed her back as the glow grew warmer.

When it started to grow hot, he pulled back and dabbed at her eyes. "Better?"

She nodded with a sniffle.

"What happened, sweetheart?"

"I don't know. I cried a little when I read the journal, and then it just felt bigger and bigger and I got overwhelmed."

"What got bigger?" He frowned and dabbed at the teardrops at her chin. Then he put her nightgown back in place.

"How much I love you. And you love me." She gave a shy smile.

His eyebrows rose. Never would he have guessed that's what happened. "Has that happened before?"

She shook her head.

"Well, if it does, tell me. We should tell Spruce if it happens again to be sure nothing's wrong."

Then he carried her out to the kitchen and set her in a chair. "Here, drink some water, and I'll start making breakfast."

He watched in concern as she easily ate everything at the table when normally there would've been leftovers. She seemed ravenous. "Do you feel alright?"

"I'm so hungry. Do we have strawberries?"

"I bought a bunch yesterday."

"I ate those."

He blinked. "You ate both cartons?"

She nodded, got up, and went to the refrigerator. Then she pulled out the bowl of blueberries and grabbed the one extra pancake left on the griddle.

After she ate all of that, she sat back.

"Full?" He smiled. Sometimes he ate enough for two fairies, but she'd eaten him under the table.

"No, I'm still craving strawberries." Then she popped up and set her dishes in the sink. "I'm going to the market."

"For strawberries?" He frowned. She was acting strange the past couple days—sleeping all the time, eating like a bear, crying for no reason, and now obsessing over strawberries.

It must be the growing three new feathers that caused this, although it seemed extreme for just three feathers. Hopefully she wouldn't molt, or she'd eat them out of house and home.