Page 1 of Honey Bee Hearts

Prologue

Fable

“Do you think that dark elf liked my tattoos?” Jinx asks with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “I stuck my number in his armor. Wanna bet he calls tomorrow?”

I laugh and shake my head, my own leather armor shifting with my weight. “That dark elf was enamored with you. Especially with your knight armor. He was ready to bow down and let you put your sword to his throat,” I tease.

The renaissance festival this year is as epic as always. This year, Jinx had gone all out and made metal-looking armor out of foam and hot glue. It looks authentic as fuck despite it being made out of foam. She’s wearing real chainmail though that I’d watched her handmake for almost six months. Any princess would swoon to see my best friend swooping in to rescue her from the tower. Any man, be they fae or orc, would kneel at her feet. But Jinx has always had that effect on people. I used to wonder what she saw in me, why she chose me as her best friend, but I’ve long since stopped questioning it. We both just. . . work. I don’t know how to explain it, but we’ve been best friends now for fifteen years, practically sisters. Never once has Jinx lookedat me as anything other than the most important person in her life. It’s just us against the world.

“Oh, please,” Jinx says, grinning. “I saw how that Viking was looking at you. I bet if you’d have approached him, he’d have slayed your dragon, if you know what I mean.”

The snort that comes out of my nose is as unladylike as they come. “That Viking barely looked at me.”

“He was looking when he thought you weren’t,” she points out, grinning. “That man was ready to risk it all for a taste of that sweet fairy pus?—”

“Jinx!” I laugh, clamping my hand over her mouth. “Stop. We’re in public.”

“What? Like these people haven’t heard the word pussy before?” she scoffs. Immediately, she turns to the crowd waiting for ride shares just like we are. “Pussy! Pussy! Pussy!” she sings. Everyone cheers around us, all equally as tipsy as we are. “See! They like it!”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever. He wasn’t interested. He didn’t even give me his number.”

“Psh!” Jinx shakes her head. “Sometimes, you gotta approach these men. I mean look at you! You’re fucking gorgeous, Fable, especially as a fairy warrior princess. It’s intimidating.”

I flush under her compliment and look down at my outfit. Unlike Jinx, my armor is made of top-grain leather, each piece hand crafted by me over the course of the last month. I’d taken a long time to decide what I wanted to be, and I’d worked long hours to make the armor pieces on top of my flowy dress. The wings at my back are fashioned from wire and cellophane, each piece meticulously placed. I’d wanted to do stained glass wings, but I didn’t have enough time to learn the process before the ren faire. My ears have the perfect prosthetics on, making me look fae. The crown on my head is tooled from wire and beads. At theend of it all, I look pretty damn awesome. But I still don’t think I could have pulled the Viking. His armor looked like he’d literally forged it.

“You’ll have to help me get these wings off before the car gets here,” I remind her. “I can’t reach the straps.”

“I know,” she says, looking around with a groan. “How much longer is this guy going to be? I thought it said he was right around the corner?”

I pull my phone from my little leather hip belt. “It says he’s literally right around the corner.”

“Good,” Jinx grunts. “My feet are killing me in these boots.”

“I told you not to wear those ones,” I say, shaking my head.

“They look the best with my armor,” she argues. “We agreed on this.”

“But you knew we’d be here all day,” I point out. “And we bought way too much stuff. You knew we’d be carrying it all.”

Which is also true. We often come to the ren faire every year saying we’re not going to buy anything. And then we get here and there are vendors selling handmade leather journals with handmade paper, awesome hats, quality collectible swords, and all manner of cool things. My own bag is overflowing with cosplay items and jewelry I couldn’t say no to. Jinx hadn’t been able to resist one of the forged kitchen knives and journals. We’d both ended up buying a cloak and a corset. Apparently, neither one of us has any will power, especially once we start drinking.

“Oh! I think that’s him. Red Kia Sorento,” I announce, pointing to the car pulling around the circle. Everyone else around us perks up, but when they see it doesn’t match their car, they go back to their conversations.

“Fable Everhart?” an older man asks from his window as he pulls up and we step forward.

“That’s me!” I say, smiling. “Thank you, Steve. We appreciate the speedy ride.”

He steps out of the car and pops open the back before coming over to help us with our bags. “Of course, ladies. Let’s get you two all settled in the car.”

“Oh! Jinx. Wings, please?” I ask.

Jinx immediately reaches for my back and unties the fastenings before lifting off the intricate wings. The driver, Steve, watches.

“Wow, you guys go all out for this kind of thing, huh?” he asks as he carefully puts the wings in the back and closes the hatch.

“That’s the best way to come to the ren faire,” I reply, helping Jinx into the car with her armor pieces. She slides over behind the driver’s seat. I gather my own skirts in my hands and follow her into the back seat, sitting behind the passenger seat. “You get the full experience when you feel like you’re part of the atmosphere,” I finish when Steve climbs into the driver seat.

“I’ve never been to the renaissance festival,” he admits as he taps some buttons on his maps and puts the car into gear. “Always assumed it was just a bunch of nerds.”

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