“You can make it up to me by helping me understand all this bizarre fae shit. How did meridians even start, anyway? Why would Fae want to join with human souls?”
But even as the words left her mouth, she knew the answer: to taste life, and all it offered. She could recall vague memories of an ethereal world of shadows and light — the realm of the magical creatures known as the Fae. The nature of the Fae’s magic meant they could not survive in the physical world: a world of sunlight on skin, or the sound of rain, of the thrill of a lover’s touch. So a long time ago, some of them had made a pact with some humans: to share their abilities in exchange for the joy—and pain—of life itself.
And it was this knowledge, more than anything else Verve had experienced so far, that cemented her new reality. There was no way she could know any of this on her own. All the Fae legends, all the glimmer stories… All true. If she searched her glimmer’s memories, she found Celidon’s, and the meridian before him: Jocasta.
And Space-Between-Stars, the Fae who linked them all.
Now she was part of the tale.
The notion was too big to fit into her body. Verve stumbled back, tried to catch herself on the fence, but failed.
Thank the One, Alem was there. Too bad he was also weak after their shared ordeal, so when he grabbed her, he lost his footing and they collapsed together in a lavender bush. The sweet, astringent scent overpowered her, making her cough, and when she finally looked at Alem, he had bits of purple stuck in his hair.
“We’ve got to stop doing this,” she managed.
“Lavender’s pretty tough, but point taken.” He grabbed the fence to pull himself up, then offered her his hand. She grasped it, found her footing, and allowed him to pull her to her feet. They stood close together amid the lavender, and again, his spirit bloomed before her senses, stronger than the surrounding herbs. They stood closer than friends should, but there was still a space between them. His breath was warm on her cheek.
Alem could hide his magic and his feelings, but he could not hide the heat in his gaze. And as she stared into his dark eyes, awareness of yet another feeling cascaded over her, through her, a riptide that pulled her out to his ocean.
“I don’t have the answers, either,” she managed. “But I’m trying.”
“I know,” he said, and took her hand. His own was warm and calloused, if a little dirty. “And I’ll help you, however I can. I’ll try to keep the bad behavior to a minimum.”
“Not too much,” she replied, winking, and he flushed.