Page 39 of Bound By Blood
She grabbed up the onions, potatoes, lavender, and spices and set them on the counter. There was just enough cream in the icebox to be sufficient.
Her heart was still fluttering and battering about when Ryul returned. His pale-lavender hair had mostly dried and fluffed, and he patted at his chest and shoulders with the towel. Then he set the towel aside and pulled off his doublet.
Well, polph.
She looked away, then glanced up. The pale-blue undertunic clung to his ridged muscles and emphasized his cut shoulders and collarbone.
Pressing her lips in a tight line, she resumed organizing her spices. Was he doing this on purpose? He might be. Why did he have to be handsome, charming, and thoughtful? If he was only one of those things, it would have been fine, but somehow, he was almost everything.
As she finished organizing her spices and ingredients, he picked the towel up and draped it around his neck. "What can I do to help?"
Somehow, his offers to help were stirring her desires even more than his good looks. Somehow, she had to do what was best for both of them and not let the feelings develop any further.
"Um, you could separate the lavender buds for the soup. Do you know how to do that?"
"Yes. Did someone find this, or did you purchase it from the town? I've heard it's expensive in many of the human places, and you can't harvest it from the sky."
"You harvest it from the sky?" She laughed, the tension coiling tighter within her. "I've never heard of that. No. Here it just depends. It isn't so bad in these parts, really. Besides, I never really splurge on things. The last time I did was on a dress. Which was a big mistake."
"Why?" He tilted his head, his brow drawn up in a questioning expression. "Even if the dress was not a beautiful one, it would be so on you."
She pursed her lips. Damn him for making this so much harder than it had to be. How was she not supposed to fall in love with someone like this? Maybe that was part of her punishment.
"It was a mistake because I have nowhere to wear something like that. It was just extravagance. That's all. And I should have been smarter than that. Women like me don't need fancy dresses."
"Maybe what you need is a reason to wear one. Maybe it's enough just if you want to wear it. Unless you were waiting for someone special to make the moment special."
She hadn't told him about that little dream. Had he just guessed, or was she simply that easy to read?
She cut off the end of the onion, trying to think of some way to change the subject. Some way to start pushing him away.
"So." She peeled the onion carefully, letting the thin yellow-orange skins fall into the small pile. "I heard that you are actually very young."
"Two hundred seventy-eight lunars," he said. "Old enough to fight and fly and almost as tall as I'll ever be."
"You're more than tall enough."
"How old are you?" He gave her a coy look.
"Old enough to do whatever I want." She tried to give him a playful smile as she started chopping the onions.
It was easier to see now how young he was. Though he didn't seem to be acting nearly so innocent. Perhaps he had fallen in love before? Her gut tightened. Barely twenty-four. No wonder he'd been so easy to beat. His powers would go through so many changes over the upcoming years. There wasn't such a huge gap in years between them, but she wasn't going to go through some sort of metamorphosis in the next decade.
She cleared her throat. "And none of your business. Besides, it's irrelevant."
"I don't really understand human aging anyway. Isn't it all rather moot?" He moved with surprising precision over the lavender, separating out the buds and the stems. "The differences in lifespans can be addressed."
"If we have access to the healing fountains and restorative pools, yes. But the years aren't the point. We humans grow up fast. At least compared to your kind." She chopped the onions slower. "Sometimes, maybe we should grow up a little faster. We also stop getting new abilities and such that would transform us like your kind."
"It seems to me that humans go fast enough as it is, and I am old enough to do whatever I want too. Except—" He shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. Unless human women prefer fae to be significantly older than they? Does my age bother you?"
"For what?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm making you soup to replenish your magic to buy a dog. You're old enough to make trades. That's all that matters."
"What if I wanted more?" he asked, cutting his gaze to hers. He pulled another of the spires of lavender out of the bundle.
"More soup?"
"No. And Buttons is yours. I wouldn't take him from you. Wouldn't turn him into anything either. I like him. And…" He pushed a fresh lavender spire over her hand. "Maybe I might like you. I know most fae who pursue humans are significantly older and far more experienced. I am neither. But I want to share those years and learn with you."
