Page 84 of Whispers of the Water

The sound of his calm, even voice made me jump. I froze and stared wide-eyed at the tiles from where I was crouched. There was no trace of venom or fury in the way he said my name. Instead, it sent a wave of comfort and ease through me.

Swallowing hard, I dug in the pit of my stomach for an ounce of courage. Slowly, I looked up. Through the falling water, I saw Rune, still in Fae form. He sat on his knees in front of me with worry etched into his brow and the tilt of his fox ears.

He reached forward and carefully placed his hands on my arms, avoiding my skin with his claws. Trailing his palms soothingly along my skin, he grasped my hands and stood, bringing me with him. My legs felt like they weren’t my own, so I was thankful when Rune didn’t let go. He intertwined his fingers with mine and stepped closer, looking down into my searching eyes.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. It was an accident.” His tender eyes searched mine, and he reached up to tuck a strand of wet hair behind my ear. The gesture made a flutter spread in my chest.

“I don’t get it,” I sighed. “Why did the water attack you? I wasn’t in danger.”

He nibbled his lip as he fought against a playful glimmer trying to light up his eyes. “If I had to take a guess, your desire for me made the water act on its own, similar to what started to happen during one of our previous moments here in the bathroom. The target of your heightened emotions was me, so the water acted on that target, and without guidance or direction, it just engulfed me.”

I furrowed my brow and processed that. It made sense. It was like Dallas explained. Until that connection was established between the water and me, it was going to react whenever I did, good or bad.

“I think I’m in need of another lesson with Dallas,” I groaned. A brilliant idea occurred to me then, and I beamed up at Rune. “Maybe we could do training today?”

Rune cocked a brow at me. “Do explain.”

“I was thinking. You and Dallas are going to have to meet officially sooner or later. What if we all met for another lesson, and we could get those awkward introductions out of the way?”

“Together?”

“Yes, together.”

“Together as in the three of us? Gathering in close proximity?”

I folded my arms and rolled my eyes. “That is generally what ‘together’ means.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and stared up at the ceiling as he took a deep breath. “Hanging around Water Fae. Never thought I’d see the day.” He found my eyes and reluctantly said, “Okay. We can give it a shot.”

Bouncing on my heels, I leaned forward to kiss him, but before my lips could close over his, he reached his hand up between us, pressing his palm to my lips.

Smirking, Rune said, “We should probably avoid anything exciting while in the shower. You know, until you’ve had that training.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“I CAN’T BELIEVE we’re doing this,” Ardley said from beside me. “I feel like we’re headed into battle right now.”

“We’re not going into battle. There will be no fighting, I promise,” I said.

At least, no physical fighting. Verbal fighting is always a possibility.

Rune and I had joined Akira, Bassel, and the rest of the gang after getting dressed that morning. When we explained that we were going to meet up with Dallas, who was apparently bringing my entire security team, everyone said they wanted to join. It seemed both sides were eager to meet each other. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but both Dallas and Rune assured me that they’d keep everything civil. Part of me really hoped that this was the first step in having Land Fae and Water Fae get along.

Marlow stayed back at the house where he and the twins were locked in his room. Rune didn’t want the boys at the house without one of us there while we had this meeting, and the ever-afraid Marlow had been all too happy to remain at the house where he didn’t have to be surrounded by Water Fae.

Everyone except me was in their Fae form as we trekked through the private woods, away from Myra’s property, and I couldn’t help but notice how Bassel strode a bit taller with his shoulders back or how Rune’s eyes seemed to be scanning every tree for signs of something. Ardley walked close to Avana, his fingers twitching like he was readying to create fire at a moment’s notice. I couldn’t blame them for being on edge. A century of war with the very people they were about to face had conditioned them not to trust each other.

I wove my fingers through Rune’s and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

He looked down at me, and I saw how unsettled and anxious he was about what we were doing. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy for him, but I hoped that in the end, it would result in something wonderful.

It had to.

“We’re almost there,” I told everyone as we neared the area where Dallas and I had trained.

Our group rounded some overgrown bushes, and when we did, we came face to face with a dozen or so people. Dallas stood at the head of the Water Fae with Dax on one side and Rance on the other.

“Woah,” I mumbled, not expecting this many people.

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