Page 48 of Immortal Sins
Cole clears his throat, suddenly looking all serious. “To set the record straight—you’re okay with the fact that I married you for your powers now that you have some of mine as well?”
His wide grin turns my brain to mush, but I slap his chest.
He spins me around to face the glass again, his hands massaging both my shoulders. “After you.”
The specifics of Faerie travel elude me. Cole couldzapfrom anywhere in Dark Falls to Faerie without a proper gate like this one, but he clearly can’t teleport at will around Faerie.
I dig my heels into the marble to resist his light push. “How does it work, exactly? Can you build portals wherever you want? Why was Dark Falls different?”
A puff of air caresses my cheek. “I’ll explain it in detail, but not today. Today, I’m taking you to my favorite place in the three realms. We haven’t slept nearly enough, I’m famished, and you’re grumpy as hell.”
“I couldstillget grumpier.”
“We’ll go to my place for a day or two. Figure this all out. Let the dragon digest his failure. We need to come up with a real plan—one that doesn’t end with either of us in a Magisterium cell—or worse.”
I grip his hand and crane my neck to see him. “What about the horn?”
The confident look on his face soothes my fears. “I’ll ask Mary to pack our things and send Flynn a note. They’ll catch up with us later. We can’t solve all of our problems—expose Osbourne, clear my name, fix Dark Falls, end the bigotry between our realms—in one day.”
The offer is too tempting to resist. “Alright. I’ll give you a few days. But then, we need to act.”
* * *
Faerie bread simplymelts on your tongue. The pastry reminds me of a trip to Hawaii, with its purple shade and the sweet, fluffy butter. The late morning meal soothes my nerves and brings a semblance of normalcy to the whirlwind that has become my life since I left Dark Falls. With all the chaos, I simply had forgotten to eat.
Cole shows me around hisestate.
Marble halls and golden doorways are nowhere to be found here, the atmosphere closer to a fancy—but very human—mountain lodge. Exposed wood beams run above our heads, and the windows open to the excited chatter of small, round, yellow birds with bright pink eyes.
Cole admires the one closest to us. “They’re calledMelhei, for their melodic chants.”
Whenever he speaks his native tongue, I want to rip his clothes off.
A stone chimney divides the main living area in two, and I pick out a few history books from the shelves on each side of the fireplace, determined not to remain illiterate about this new realm and its inhabitants. When we circle back to the main room, Cole guides me past a row of retractable glass panes to a patio. A bright, pleasant morning replaces the stuffy Mellen humidity. Crooked rocks form a staircase that descends toward a waterfall. The medium-sized stream spills into an emerald basin, not quite as tall as the one in Dark Falls, but ten times more beautiful.
Cole gestures to the ground. “Watch your step, it can get slippery after a rainfall.”
Puddles of rain squish below the balls of my feet as we head down to the water.
“You’re always barefoot here,” I note. “Why?”
“Wearing shoes disconnects us from the magic in the soil. Power runs deep below the surface of our lands. Mary can bring you a pair of flats if it bothers you.”
“It’s okay. I was just curious.” Magic in the soil. If the obsidian rock from yesterday is any indication, Faerie’s geological formations will be interesting to study. Beth’s notes and speech about Dark Falls’ center and the experiments done on it over the years to “mine” out its energy might even relate.
Up-close, the emerald basin stuns my senses. The surrounding mist holds a sweet scent of sunshine and vanilla. Orchid-shaped flowers snake along the rocks. Their aerial roots create beautiful patterns over the electric-blue moss. Pink, purple, and white petals sway in the breeze.
I inhale deeply.
A wood platform runs up to the edge of the water, a lounge chair and a small, white cabana installed where the trees are scarce and allow for the sun to pass through the intricate vegetation.
Cole shrugs off his jacket and pants and jumps into the pond. He’s submerged to his shoulders, but the clear water magnifies the green rocks near his feet as though they are inches from my face.
“I don’t have a bathing suit,” I say with a smile, very aware that Cole doesn’t give a damn.
He splashes me playfully. “You don’t need one.”
“Are we going to strategize, or have sex?”
