Page 116 of By the Fae

Dima rolled his blood-red eyes up to the ceiling. “Fine, then. An hour.”

An hour.My stomach churned. Surely it wouldn’t take Goldie an entire hour to notice the bracelet, would it?

“What’s your guess, Holly?” Mal asked. “By the way, you’ve forgotten to wear your glasses.”

I slapped a hand to my face. Mal was right. I’d left them on the nightstand again.

“You won’t need them at all soon,” said Joey. “You’ll have to get ones with clear lenses.”

Like August.

Goldie had said that every time we were intimate, I’d steal — absorb — a bit of his magic, and since we were frequently intimate — very frequently — I’d already begun to feel the effects of it. This magic transfer, or whatever it was.

Was I stealing his magic? Was he sharing? I had no idea.

Either way, I was stronger than before. My hearing more acute. Sense of smell improved. Bruises lasted hours rather than days. And lately I found myself not needing to wear my glasses as much. I’d wake up in the morning and forget to put them on, and it wouldn’t be until the evening with the waning light that I’d remember.

It was kind of a shame. I liked my glasses. Goldie did too. He said they made me “adorkable”.

I paused. “Uh . . .”

My boyfriend. He was my boyfriend. I should know him. Should be able to guess how quickly, or not, he’d notice the purple Harness Stone tied to my wrist. The one that meant we would share the next five hundred years of our lives together. I wanted to say I’d know he’d spot it straight away. But a tiny part of me was terrified he wouldn’t. Dima’s guess had me gnawing at my fingernails.

Five hundred years. It sounded so long, and yet days with him flew past at the speed of dragon-fire.

Mum and Phil had been unsurprisingly okay about it all. As humans, and great believers in true love, they were happy for me. And I think no small part of them was relieved to have me gone from their flat. To not witness my constant moping and snack-cupboard draining.

I had moved in with Goldie into flat 15A Halcyon Sunrise. Temporarily. While we waited for the building work on my apartment to be completed. Then Goldie would move in with me by the harbour.

It was a decision we’d made together. He would miss his flatmates of course, we both would, but the new apartment wouldn’t be ready for at least another eight months, and his friends had all been so incredibly welcoming in the meantime. Especially Mal. Who, I discovered, did in fact, give the best hugs.

“Our apartment will be only ten minutes’ walk from here,” Goldie had said one time after I’d had a mild panic attack that, once again, I’d be tearing him away from his friends. “We’ll still see Sugar Paste and Taur and Dima and Mal all the time. We’ll still have Mal’s Motley Meals every Sunday. Promise.”

We’d only be ten minutes away. We’d see everyone often. I wasn’t tearing his family up by asking him to move into my apartment.

Ourapartment.

Mal’s Motley Meals.

Friends.

I was so sickeningly happy.

Abby was happy for me too and didn’t seem remotely worried that I’d outlive her and her kids and grandkids. “Perhaps I’ll meet a handsome fae as well. Who knows?” she’d said.

She and Bailey had become good friends, though as far as I was aware, nothing more, despite having reportedlyalmostkissed several times. He’d joined the band as the new lead singer, and although Goldie had vouched for his brother’s singing voice, I did not expect it to be as hauntingly beautiful as it was. Consequently, The Bus Stop Willies’ gig schedule was filling up faster than Greyson’s sick bucket, and I saw my sister even less often these days.

“We won’t take any bookings on Sundays,” Bailey had said. “Will we, my angel of the underworld? Those are for family.”

“So, what’s your guess then, Abs?” asked Joey, when it became clear I didn’t have an answer ready.

Abby shrugged. “Eleven minutes, thirty-five seconds.”

“Wow, super specific,” Joey said. “Bailey?”

“Two days,” Bailey said, scooping all the cutlery from the drawer, and carefully laying a knife and fork beside each person. Mal had bought a larger dining table to accommodate the extra heads, and Joey had thrifted a few more chairs from a charity shop. It gave everything a cosy, eclectic, family-life feel.

“If it takes him two days, I think I’ll kill him,” I said, leaning to one side so Bailey could reach forward and lay my place setting for me.

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