Page 106 of By the Fae

“Falling in love looks well shit. I hope it never happens to me. You’re so miserable,” he said on the fifth or sixth evening. I dragged my eyes to him. “You glamour her, you know? Your human girlfriend. At night. Well, early in the mornings actually. It’s how I know when you’ve really fallen asleep. She sits on the end of the bed or stands and watches you.”

I bolted up. I’d been glamouring Holly in my sleep. It didn’t surprise me. I never did seem to have any control of my magic when she was on my mind.

“Was she clothed?” I prayed to Gods I did not let my brother see Holly naked. I couldn’t bear the thought of sharing her like that.

You’ll have to get used to it,said a tiny voice inside my brain.If you want her to find a human man and forget about you.My stomach churned. I shook the thought.

“Often,” he said, a smile slipping across his face, betraying his fae half-truth. “Your human girlfriend, is she a farmer?”

A noise burst from my chest. Half sob and half laughter.

Those dungarees.

On the seventh morning, or possibly the ninth, I decided to join Hay Bale in the banqueting chambers for breakfast. I plated up some toast and poached egg, and my brother and I took our food to the courtyard.

“A winged man approaches,” he said ominously, taking a fist sized bite from his toast. Gods he was so weird. “No, really. A winged man is walking up the garden path. He’s Black, and very tall, and has horns and—”

“Mal!” I jumped to my feet, my plate shattering against the stone. My empty plate. I’d eaten all my breakfast without even realising. “What are you doing here?!”

“I’ve come to drag your sorry ass back to Remy,” he said, stopping two feet in front of me, stretching his wings out behind him. Had he flown there? “Honestly, if I have to listen to one more minute of Joey telling me all the ways she’s going to“kill you to death”when she sees you next, I would’ve torn my horns off. Much easier to take you to her and let her murder you quietly at home. If only to shut her up.”

Hay Bale gazed up at my flatmate with obvious awe. “An incubus!”

“Mal this is my brother . . . Hay Bale,” I said, wondering why simple words felt so difficult to summon.

I didn’t know how I felt about Mal turning up unannounced. Annoyed that he’d ignored my wish to be alone? Relieved to learn that people were actually missing me? Anxious to hear any minute detail abouther? Excited?

“Hay Bale, nice. I see the Golden family naming tradition still holds up well. It’s like stepping back in time four-hundred-years, you look so much like Goldie. I’m Mal. I’ve come to take your brother back to his mate.”

“Wait—” I said, stumbling forward over nothing.

My mate.

My mate?!

If I hadn’t already smashed my plate, it would have been in that moment.

“Holly Briar is my mate,” I whispered. Barely audible, but the words still came out of my mouth. “We’re fated. Oh my Gods.”

Of course we were.

Of course!

If I was being honest with myself, I’d known since the day she walked into FaeGames. I felt it in my chest. In her scent. In the way that Seth instantly took on her form.

We were fated.

We were fated.

I didn’t know how long those words bounced around in my head. Minutes, hours, maybe. We were fated. Holly was my mate, and we were destined. The thought was instant balm.

It shouldn’t have been. Knowing that I’d bonded with a super-mortal human. Knowing that I would outlive her by centuries. But I could no longer be apart from her while she lived. I simply couldn’t do it.

She would get old and die, but she would have me to see her through that.

I would be there for her.

I would endure it all.

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