Page 144 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
She pulled him along.
“It’s just …” His voice hitched as he tried to talk and walk even while he was obviously dealing with the notifications in his tab still. “I don’t like crowds.”
There was a little more to this than not liking crowds, Brownie guessed, but she simply nodded. “Now I know. We don’t have to go to big events like this again.”
His voice dipped low and aggrieved when he whispered, “Sorry for ruining everything.”
Brownie’s heart broke at the self-hatred she could hear in his voice. They were so close to Bea’s, but she stopped him short right then and there. “Don’t say that.”
“But—” His golden eyes opened and found hers, but they were empty of the usual warmth and joy she loved.
“Do you know,” she cut him off, “when I started falling for you?”
“What?”
The change in subject brought him out of himself and closer to her; she could feel it. She continued. “When we were in Thistlecrick, you thought General Knolith had hurt me, and you were so … sointense.”
Rufus didn’t reply, but he was blushing. They continued walking up to Bea’s Bed & Breakfast, and Donna blew out her nose at having to listen to them being all lovey-dovey.
“You said, ‘If he hurt her,’ in the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard,” Brownie confessed. “When did you first start, you know,likingme?”
“I—”
The front door of Bea’s Bed & Breakfast opened, and a tall elk fae stepped out, speaking to a group of people behind her. “We will meet back here at aquarter to, since Minstrel Bronwynn’s performance starts tonight at—Minstrel Bronwynn?!”
Everyone stopped and stared. Brownie recognized a few of her regular listeners and stamped down the urge to brush them off so she could find a quiet place to cuddle Rufus and hear his answer.
The group stared at her holding onto Rufus’s hand.
“Commander General—” A pink pixie fluttered off the fae’s shoulder to greet Rufus, but stopped and squinted up at her beastman. “Wait,Fergus?”
CHAPTER 87
Scape-Cat
Rufus
I admit it; I considered running … but that was futile. So I said the first thing that came to mind. “Hello, everyone.”
“Really?” Frida turned a quizzical eye on the pixie. “How could youtell?”
Ross pointed. “Those are Fergus’s clothes, and who else has such pretty golden eyes and hair? How could younottell?”
The heavy weight of anxiety I’d been battling moments before felt like nothing compared to the gaping hole I was sinking into as Ross nodded knowingly after revealing my deepest darkest secret.
“Fergus?” Bronwynn herself turned to me and stared. She squinted, searching for something—and finding it. “You’rethatFergus?”
Sometimes, there are moments that live down as the most horrible, no good, absolutely dreadful moments in a lifetime. This was that moment. I should have told Bronwynn this morning. I should have told her yesterday. I should have cut Ross off and confessed right then and there …
But no. A pink pixie had beaten me to it.
At least Donna looked impressed. She was eyeing me with newfound respect.
With a sigh that let go of a year’s worth of secrecy, Ipoofedinto my folk form, one hand waving. “Surprise?”
I was slightly shorter than Bronwynn in this form, since I was standing on my heel instead of my canine toe pads. I had a military frame, muscular like a troll, but with light-brown skin like a human. I wouldn’t be mistaken for one of the lithe elves, but my ears were pointy. My eyes were still the same. I could barely pass for a human if someone wasn’t looking closely.
“Wait!” A catkin from Gren’s Keep named Nelly pointed her finger at me.“If Fergus is also Commander General Rufus … does that meanthe leader was dating Minstrel Brownie? And didn’t tell us!”
