“That’s not true.You could have any man you want.I’ve seen for myself how they fall over you.You deserve that life you’ve always had and enjoyed.More than being treated as lesser, which you always would be in my world, if you could even survive long, which we know you can’t.And I don’t belong in yours.”
“A fish and a bird could fall in love but where would they live?”Cha murmured.“My mother used to say that.”
“Your mother sounds wise.”
Cha couldn’t help the laugh that cracked out of her.“She was a bitter, worn-out, shadow of a woman who didn’t know how to love, only how to work herself to the bone.”And Cha had spent her life not becoming that.“If you’re so resolved on this, why did you fuck me in the salon?Don’t tell me I was just a convenient bang because I know from those.Nothing wrong with them, but this wasn’t that.”
He managed to look both sad and angry.“For reasons unknown, I seem to have difficulty resisting you.”
“Yeah, well, I know the feeling, buddy,” she snarled back.Then had to laugh.“What exactly are we fighting about?”
“The fact that you must reconcile yourself to my marriage to Lenorae and leave this place—and me—forever.”
“Haveyoureconciled yourself?”
“I must,” he answered simply.“And it will be easier without your distracting presence, Arantxa.If you want to do something for me, then go.Please go.Just… go.”His face shuttered as he repeated the directive.
She could take a hint.“Fine.I’ll go.”She stepped away from him, forcing herself to put distance between them when all she wanted was to cling to him and never let go.“Get ready for your wedding.Dy and I will witness and then be on the ley home.”
He reached out and caught her hand, tangling her fingers with his long, velvety ones.“It’s for the best, really.”
“Your best or mine?”
He only smiled sadly.“Yours.That’s what matters most to me.”
And that’s what Lenorae had used against him.She stared back at him helplessly.“See?You can’t say that shit to me and expect me to walk away from you.”
He squeezed their joined fingers.“I never think you’ll actually listen to me.”
“Ha ha.”But she was moved, oddly and utterly.“I would miss you for the rest of my life, Azul.”She couldn’t quite bring herself to say the other words.She didn’t need to say them, not yet.Because she refused to let this be goodbye.
He didn’t miss her phrasing, the conditional tense she’d used.Really, she should have lied.She could and that would have been smoother.“Arantxa.I want you to promise me that you will leave Citrine tonight.No lingering about after the wedding coming up with cockamamie schemes.”
“Cockamamie schemes?”she echoed in horrified disgust.She poked him in the chest with a stiff finger.“I’ll have you know that I’ve never once, in my entire life, come up with a cockamamie scheme.All of my schemes aregold.Sometimes the execution goes awry, I’ll admit, but the schemes themselves would make angels weep in envy.”
He chuckled, violet eyes dark, and stepped into her, sliding a hand behind her neck.“Promise me,” he instructed, and hovered his lips just above hers, tantalizing.She tried to close the distance, but he stayed just out of reach.The perfect metaphor for their relationship.“I have to hear the words, Arantxa.You might lie to me, but I know you won’t break your promise.”
She considered carefully.“I promise to leave Citrine tonight.”
He pulled back just enough to stare into her eyes.“No tricks?No schemes, cockamamie or otherwise?”
“A promise is a promise,” she answered solemnly, lying smoothly around the edges.“And I promise to leave Citrine tonight, come hell or high water.”
At last he kissed her, so sweetly she would weep if she truly believed it would be the last time.“Thank you,” he said.
Coming from a fae, the gratitude, the acknowledgement of a debt, meant more than any declaration of enduring affection.So she kissed him back and swallowed the smile of satisfaction.
*
She left himto his wedding preparations and found Dy in the bedchamber she’d been given.Katu draped across the bed, happy to have a nap companion.Like Cha, Dy was still dolled up and though she’d clearly been sleeping, she sat up like Sleeping Beauty rising from enchantment, not a hair out of place.She looked as fresh as the moment the pixies finished with her.Cha seriously doubted the same could be said of her.She closed the door behind her and mimed locking her lips with a key.
Bemused, Dy made a gesture, invoking a spell to give them a cone of silence.She’d developed it back when they were roomies at the academy, first so they could gossip about their classmates in peace, later so they could plot their next gig.
“I’ve been worried sick about what we’re going to do and you’ve been making out.”Dy flipped a hand at Cha’s appearance, confirming her suspicions about being less than fresh-looking.Purple lipstick looked great, but probably any smearing made transformed her from femme fatale to clown.She found a towel and scrubbed it off.“Hey, I can make out and worry at the same time.Better, I have a plan now.”
“I’m agog to hear the specifics.”
“Me, too.We have two hours to figure out exactly how we’re going to abduct Prince Charming.”