Page 44 of Fairies Don't Fall

“Shake my hand. It’s an oath.”

“I’m bound by my word, like when I promised to terraform your cavern by accident, but if you want to shake hands…” I carefully placed my palm on his, and a ripple of warmth slowly ran through me, comfort, strength, happiness.

I pulled my hand out of his before I started levitating or kissing him.

“Thank you,” I said, staring at his shirt buttons instead of that face that needed a shave or a beard. Somehow, in-between was the most tempting thing in the world.

“That’s it, then. Here you are.” He handed me the papers and the small rectangle I’d forgotten about. “Don’t forget your phone. If you have trouble with your fairy business or anything else, you will call me. That’s the deal. You’re bound.” His eyes grew more intense while my heart burned.

That’s what I was afraid of. I took a step away from him. “Yes. I agreed. You are my loan officer.”

“And you don’t ask beasts for funding unless you want to be utterly consumed.” Those eyes were positively glowing.

I tried to take a step away, but the pull of him had me balanced between going closer and further away. I wanted to be utterly consumed, but Max wasn’t offering. His beast wasn’t him, whatever he said. I couldn’t bind a werewolf who took care of pixie-dust addicts as my consort. I would be the one consuming him.

I took two steps away and gave him a bright smile and a deep curtsy. “Thank you, Lord Max, for your considerable generosity. I will remember our agreement and your kindness.”

“You need to get changed before you leave.” He went to a closet and pulled out a purple silk dress with a long skirt andsleeves. It was a proper fairy gown, fit for a princess. Maybe even a queen. “Take a shower. When you finish dressing, I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” He handed me the dress, then pushed some shoes at me, and gestured to a door that I imagined led to the shower.

I stared at his stubble. “Okay. Why do you have a dress in your personal closet?” I smiled slowly as I looked from the purple fabric to his raw masculinity. “Oh, you’re secretly a fairy boy. I wondered where your pretty jaw came from.”

He raised a brow and shook his head. “That dress wouldn’t fit any version of me.”

I looked down at it and my smile faded. That meant it belonged to another woman but had ended up in the closet of his personal bedroom. Only he’d probably wanted her in his bed instead of having nowhere else to contain a molting venomous disaster.

I took a deep breath while my heart cracked alarmingly. I finally looked up with a bright smile. “That’s convenient, because then it’s more likely to fit me. I’ll return it once I find something else.” I had no money, I’d used up my favors to Rynne, and I had no way to get other clothing. It was fine. I knew where the bandages were. I’d just wrap myself up and call it theft.

“Keep it. It doesn’t belong to anyone else. How it got in my closet is a long story involving an insistent vampire tailor and a drama king. The necromancer I mentioned.”

I blinked at him and then felt a rush of relief. “Oh. Not a woman you brought to your bed?”

He gave me a strange smile with those soft eyes. “Would I bring a woman to my bed? Anyone else wouldn’t leave. It’s an extremely soft bed, but you didn’t even notice, did you? It could be a hard mat in the warehouse and you’d be just as content.”

“No, it’s a very soft bed. Why did you take me to a bed instead of a mat? I must have burned acid holes in the fabric.”

“I wanted you isolated until you were through the worst of it. My room is very isolated. It’s where my beast can be himself. Which as you’ve seen, comes with risks. Still, you survived the beast.”

I nodded and turned towards the bathroom without answering him, because I was afraid of what I might say about his beast being lucky to have survived me.

It was like stepping into a forest, smooth stones underfoot, green vines printed on the walls in soft velvet. Flocked. Plants grew in a tangle over the huge shower and the enormous tub on the opposite side of the room. This is what the cavern should feel like. Wild, alive, growing.

I had work to do.

I shook off my distracted haziness and got in the shower. I had to scrub every drop of death sickness off my skin. Oddly, I was mostly clean. I frowned as a fuzzy memory of a long tongue on my scalp played on the edges of my mind. Max’s beast had licked the poison death off me? He was insane, but he’d seemed mostly healthy. Very healthy if the way his muscles had rippled was any indication.

I washed anyway, shaking off thoughts of Max. I needed to get Shotglass’s information and finish terraforming the cavern. Berry had pointed out that it had no water. I should have realized that, but I’d never terraformed anything before. I needed to fix it, make the caverns truly come to life, and then I’d find the poisoner and go back home. Forget that this bathroom, and his bed with Max in it, felt more like home than anywhere else I’d ever been.

After I shampooed and conditioned my hair, I stepped out of the shower and studied my reflection critically. I looked like a proper midnight fairy, sparkling skin, smattering of galaxyacross my cheekbones, dark purple hair thick and rich with glittering starlight strands. My eyes shone with power and confidence.

I’d come to Singsong City broken, and Max had made me a queen. He rehabilitated fairies, and he’d done a stellar job with me. Why did he work so hard for a people he was supposed to hate? There must be a reason, but I’d probably never know.

The dress fit like a dream, stitched together, so I only had to wrap and tie it, not lick anything to keep it stuck on. The layers of various purple shades were light and soft. The only thing that didn’t match the picture were my tattered wings, grayish, dingy, sad. I really needed to pull them off and regrow new ones. As soon as I went back to Fairyland.

I left the bathroom and found Max wearing a black fedora with his black suit and purple tie. “Lord Max, you look ravishing.”

His eyes twinkled. “Naturally. You look…” He raised a brow. “My beast insists. I apologize in advance. He says, and I quote, ‘You look ready to be ravished.’”

I laughed, because it was either that or burst into tears. “Your beast is impossible.”

---