Page 57 of Fire of the Fox

My heart warmed, and I had to work hard to keep the happiness off my face. “But this is a couples painting class. You know, for like a date night.”

He glanced sideways at me, his mouth turned down slightly. Furrowing his brow, he mumbled, “Well, we’re a couple, aren’t we? Fake or not. I can still take my fake girlfriend out on a fake date.”

I tried my absolute hardest to keep from smiling. Pinching myself didn’t wake me up, but I had to be dreaming. A date with Rune? Dax never even took me on a date, yet he had been my actual boyfriend. For Rune to want to do this, to take me painting no less, was like a sweet dream that I never wanted to wake from.

I beamed at him, and he glanced at me again. When he saw me smiling, he quickly looked back at the building and asked, “Can we please go inside now?”

I nodded. Despite the fact that he looked slightly annoyed, I knew it was a façade. Rune tried to put out an air of unconcerned arrogance, but after spending so much time with him, I knew better. It was a way of keeping himself guarded. According to Rune and the others, Fox Fae had trouble loving others. They were selfish creatures by nature who thought of themselves above all else. Rune’s attempts at being unaffected by me were his way of ensuring that nothing took root inside of him. Based on his bringing me here, I wondered briefly if it was already too late for that.

But then, of course, common sense reminded me that he didn’t get involved emotionally with partners. To him, this was just a part of preparing for the ruse.

We made our way to the building, side-by-side. The rain didn’t even bother me. I could hardly focus on anything besides Rune. Not only was he taking me out on a date, he was taking me to do something he knew I loved. I was eager to paint beside him.

When we walked in, the smell of acrylic paint greeted me. It was the best welcome, and it smelled like home to me—a place where I belonged. I couldn’t wait to pick up a paintbrush and feel it glide across the canvas, bleeding the colors onto its surface. It had been a while since I had done an actual painting outside of the fox painting, which I’d barely gotten started on due to my limited free time.

“Welcome!” a young girl announced from behind the counter.

It was placed directly in front of the doorway that led to the space where you painted.

I tried to peer past her into the room, hoping the class wasn’t already full, but everything was blocked from where I stood.

Rune stepped up to the counter. “Reservation for Rune Beckett.”

“All right. I’ve got you and your date listed right here. There are two easels set up for you in the next room. The class will start in a moment. You two have fun!” she said with a bright smile. She waved her hand behind her to let us know to go in.

My worry dissipated, replaced by uncontrollable excitement. Rune had this all planned out, and I wondered how long he’d been arranging this little date.

When we walked in, almost every table was taken. Each couple seemed to be in their own worlds. They leaned in close to one another, and I saw most of them holding hands or joking. Putting some pep into my step, I followed Rune to our easels, where he sat looking around the room nervously. He fidgeted with the end of a paintbrush on the table, and he stared down at the palette, which held red, blue, yellow, white, and black paint.

I leaned sideways and nudged him with my elbow. “What’s wrong? Do you not want to be here? We didn’t have to do this, you know.”

He sighed and shook his head. “It’s fine.”

“Then why do you seem like something’s bothering you?”

He glanced at me, then turned to the canvas that sat on the easel in front of him. His frown deepened as he mumbled, “I can’t paint. I’m going to look stupid in front of you.”

My mouth opened slightly as I stared at him in disbelief before bursting into a fit of laughter. I covered my mouth with my fingers, fighting against my mirth. “That’s what’s wrong? You’re worried about looking stupid because you can’t paint?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Looking foolish is not something I particularly enjoy doing.”

Mouth still lifted in amusement, I shook my head. “You aren’t going to look foolish. I think it’s going to be fun to paint together. I’m honestly really excited and happy that you brought me here.”

Rune looked at me with an intrigued glint in his eye. My cheeks grew warm under his stare, so I turned away. At the same time, the instructor for the class waltzed in. He was an older gentleman who wore an apron, which was stained with paint in every color. His glasses sat on the bridge of his nose, and he smiled at everyone in the room. He carried a canvas depicting a lake at the base of mountains, which he placed on an easel at the front of the classroom.

It was a simple enough picture for beginners, but as I gazed at the picture, my mind began to see other possibilities for my own painting. I would still keep the idea of the example piece, but mine would be original to me.

The man at the head of the room gave us a warm greeting. “Good evening, everyone! Welcome to The Paint Palace. I’ll be your instructor for the night. My name is Harris Lancer, and it’s lovely to meet all of you fine couples. Tonight, we’re going to work on a landscape piece. While I have an example piece to work on with you, we are artists in this building. Your picture can be your interpretation. Do not hold back, dreamers. Paint as you see fit! Now then, to begin our class—”

I tuned him out as he explained to everyone how to start the painting off with the background color. Picking up my paintbrush, I dipped it into the white paint. I brushed it out into my mixing tray before getting a small dab of the yellow to mix with it. Once I had the color I wanted, I began to make soft, gentle brushstrokes across the canvas. It took hardly any time to finish coloring the canvas.

The outer edge of the room had tables with hair dryers set up so we could dry the paint quickly and move on to the next part of the painting. I got up to join the others who were already working on drying their wet paint. When one of the dryers became available, I grabbed it and started drying my canvas.

Rune came up next to me and looked over my shoulder at my yellow painting. He looked down at his blue one then back at the front of the class at the one we were replicating. Its sky was blue as well.

Rune looked at me again, and he pointed to my canvas. “Are you color blind?”

I stopped drying mine to hand him the dryer. Smiling at him, I shook my head. “No. I know it’s not the same color as the one up front, but I’m doing something a bit different.”

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