Nothing mattered now. Dani sat with her back to the Faerie, patiently allowing her friend to pick at her hair. All she really wanted was to climb into the big bed behind her and draw the covers up over her head, shutting out the world of pain.
“Are all women without guile in your time, or is it only you? Don’t be such a simpleton. Of course it matters when you’re dealing with a man. Men are simple creatures. They sample you with their eyes first, whether that man be Faerie, Mortal, or something else.”
A twinge of irritation elbowed its way into the pain.
“I have no intention of being sampled by anyone, thank you very much. Especially not one particular anyone who’s getting ready to marry someone else.” The thought sent a brand-new stab of pain zinging through her heart. “And what on earth is a ‘something else’? I mean, we have Faeries and Mortals. What else is there?”
Elesyria moved to stand in front of Dani, hands on her hips, issuing forth a clucking noise that rivaled any chicken Dani had ever heard.
“You are robbing me of my faith in the women of the future. I am no longer so sure that I am comfortable with having my daughter live there if women have so lost their ability to reason.”
“I reason just fine.”
“Very well. If, as you say, reason isn’t lost, it certainly isn’t highly utilized, is it? There are more Others walking your world than you can imagine.” Elesyria rolled her eyes and leaned forward. “Obviously, more thanyoucan imagine, in any event.”
“That’s it.” Dani rose to her feet, turning to face the Faerie. She was done with this ridiculous primping and the insults accompanying the activity. “My problem isn’t lack of imagination. My imagination is as good as anyone else’s, thank you very much. Maybe my problem is that my Faerie godmother is just totally inept. Maybe said inept Faerie dragged my ass seven hundred years into the past to dump me in the lap of a guy who’s going to marry some. Other. Woman.”
“First off, I am not your Faerie godmother. Let’s get that straight right now. I am Faerie, true, but the whole godmother thing is a myth. Wishful thinking on the part of envious Mortals.” She patted her hair and walked toward the door. “And, second, I’m not sure you even deserve to be with the man into whose lap your Mortal ass was dropped. You’ve no idea the trouble the Goddess and I went to in order to findtheperfect woman for Malcolm MacDowylt, laird of the MacGahan. You obviously have no idea how incredibly rare a coupling between SoulMates is. Or that every Fae’s life dream is to achieve such. We’ve handed this precious gift to you on a gilded platter and you, ungrateful child that you are, you’re not even willing to exert the smallest effort to secure the union.”
Ungrateful?At the moment, Dani regretted every drop of milk she’d ever set out for Faeries. Regretted every single minute she’d wasted reading books about them. Regretted ever having heard of them.
“Well, I’m just oh so sorry that you find me ungrateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you’ve given me, but maybe you missed the last news flash. Malcolm is marrying someone else.”
Elesyria huffed out her breath, looking every bit the irritated Faerie. “Once in a lifetime? You wish. We all do. No, child, it’s more like once in a millennium. Once in a thousand lifetimes, and only then if you’re very, very lucky. You may never see this opportunity again, and what do you do with it?Pffft.” Her hand flittered above her head like a butterfly in flight. “You fritter it away as if it has no more value than a cup of dirt. If you place no more value on true love than this, you don’t deserve true love.”
With a flounce of her skirts and a slamming of the door, Elesyria was gone.
“Fine!” Dani yelled at the closed door. “I’m glad you’re not my Faerie godmother, because you suck!”
She sat down on the foot of the bed, head in her hands, rubbing her face with her fingers.
Just like Malcolm did when he was stressed.
“Damn it,” she whimpered, giving herself over to self-pity.
It was all so unfair. She’d just begun to feel accepted here. To feel as if she really belonged. As if these were the people she’d searched for her whole life. As if Malcolm was the one she’d searched for her whole life.
And now this. This other woman that he was going to marry simply to secure an alliance.
Elesyria was wrong. It wasn’t her turning down true love. It was Malcolm. She’d been receptive to his overtures. She’d made every effort.
“Ha!” she snorted, rising to her feet to pace back and forth.
Receptive? Oh yeah. She’d definitely been receptive. And it hadn’t required any effort at all on her part. Hell, she’d been all over the guy. If his brother hadn’t interrupted them yesterday, she’d probably have had him on the floor, and had her way with him.
Like that had required any effort on her part. If anything, the effort was tonotwrestle him to the floor.
No, Elesyria wasn’t wrong about her.
She’d been a fighter her whole life, willing to go after whatever she’d wanted, grabbing hold and hanging on for dear life. And now that she faced maybe the most important fight of her life? Now she was just rolling over and giving up.
“Oh, no, I’m not.”
That had never been her and it wasn’t going to be her now. The Faeries had handed her a chance at the perfect life. Her SoulMate. Her true love. And she was by God going for it. She’d been successful for years indiscouragingmen’s interest. Now it was time for success atencouragingit.
With a tug at the neckline of her dress and a push to her breasts, she exposed a little more of herself. A flip of her hair and one long curl dangled down on the bare skin.
If she ended up losing Malcolm to another woman, it wasn’t going to be without a damn good fight.