“Mammaw always told me that I define myself. My scars don’t, and neither does anyone nor anything else, unless I give away my power and allow it.” She took another sip of her tea and smiled; this time, it was not an unhappy one. It was proud. “And Mammaw always taught me to never give away my power.”
“Mammaw?”
“That’s southern speak for grandmother. She raised me after my parents died.”
He bowed his head. “I am sorry for yer loss.”
“Thank you. Mammaw took the best care of me. Spoiled me rotten, in fact.” She shrugged. “She nurtured me through several surgeries after the car accident that left me with these scars. I don’t remember much about my parents. I was too young when the wreck happened. My mother didn’t survive it, and my father took his life soon after.” Her voice went quiet and somber. “Mammaw said he couldn’t handle the truth that he’d had too much to drink that night. It was determined his alcohol level was definitely a contributing factor to the accident.” She huffed a soft laugh and shook her head. “Wow. Talk about too much information. Now I need to ask you to forgive me. I don’t know why I suddenly spewed my life history. I don’t ever do that.”
“Never apologize for sharing whatever is on yer heart.” Jeros never told that to anyone, but with Lexi, he meant it with every fiber of his being. “How else are we to know each other?”
Lexi frowned. “Not to be rude, but why would that be important? Mairwen sent me here to look after your horse, and from the look of things, you are not a man who suffers from isolation.” She jerked as though startled. “Oh my gosh, I just remembered the music. Did I pull you away from your guests in the garden?”
“Guests in the garden?” Now it was his turn to frown. “Why would ye ask that?”
“The music. And the lights. They led me here through the fog, through the dark forest.” She glanced around the room, her frown deepening as she eyed the flickering oil lamps and candles. Then she swept a hard look across him, starting at the top of his head and ending at his boot tips. “Uhm…it’s obvious you’re having some sort of historical costume party here this evening. If you could point me to your phone so I can call Mairwen, I’ll let you get back to it. Your guests will probably be arriving before too long…although, I’m not really sure what time it is.”
“I dinna ken for certain what ahistorical costume partyis supposed to be, and I have no guests arriving this evening. And sunset is soon.” A rare knot of powerful emotions lodged in his throat, threatening to choke him. She had heard his song, the song meant to call out to the other half of his soul and guide it to him. No one other than his fated mate would ever be able to hear that special music. When he played that particular song on his violin, it remained silent for everyone else, Fae and mortal alike.
“I see,” she said. But it didn’t sound as if she saw at all. She shifted on the couch, glancing around the room again. “Might I still use your phone?” With a nervous smile, she flicked her hand, encompassing the entirety of the place. “Unexpected houseguests are the worst. I don’t want to impose on you any longer than I already have.”
“Why would ye believe yer presence here an imposition?”
“Because I pretty much dropped into the middle of your life and somehow, an extraordinarily tame tiger followed me. I’m sure the zoo he belongs to is missing him. Or is he yours?”
“I told ye, lass. That beastie belongs to yerself. Or at least he is yer protector. Fae tigers belong to no one other than themselves and those they choose to guard. I have nothing to do with his presence here.”
She eyed him as if debating whether or not to call him a liar. “You are serious.”
“I am.”
“What you said about this animal is impossible. Tigers don’t change into domestic feline kittens. And why do you call him aFaetiger? I know of every subspecies ofpanthera tigris,but none are namedFae.” She apologetically rubbed the mighty beast’s head. “No offense. But there is no way you can be my little Aylryd.”
The fearsome tiger shimmered as if about to fade away like smoke, then a fluffy wee kitten with ginger fur and white stripes replaced him. Flipping his tiny tail, he squeaked with a pitiful meow, then leapt up onto her lap.
Mouth ajar and frozen in place, Lexi stared at the little cat until it stretched up and playfully batted at her nose. She jerked as though suddenly awakened from a deep sleep, then hurried to put the kitten on the other end of the couch and scoot away from it. It immediately scampered back to her, hopped onto her lap, and started purring.
“You cannot…be,” she told the persistent wee beast.
It purred louder.
She shifted her incredulous stare to Jeros, and he braced himself. “What is this place?” she whispered. “Am I dead or something?”
“Ye are not dead.” She needed to know that straight away. He wasn’t quite sure how to tell her all that she needed to know. But at least she was sitting on the couch, so if she fainted again, she wouldn’t hurt herself. “This is Sevenrest. Ancestral home to my family. The Seventhsons. We rule Scotland’s Seventh Realm of the Seelie, the Fae of light. Some might say we are thegoodFae, but that is debatable. I have known both good and bad Seelie just as I have known both good and bad Unseelie, the Dark Fae. It is the year 1811 here in the Seventh Realm in the Highlands of Scotland, where we openly live among those of the earth—our version of yer earth. A different sort of reality, ye might say.”
She shook her head and held up both hands, waving away his words. “No. No. No. I don’t know what your game is here, but none of that can be true. 1811? Fairies? Whatever realm in the Highlands of Scotland on a different sort of earth. Just stop it. You are not even funny.”
“It is the Seventh Realm, and I am not trying to jest with ye, lass. Ye are here because of the prophecy. Ye heard my soul song.Oursoul song. We are fated mates. We are destined to complete one another. Did Mairwen not speak of any of this?” The harder he tried to convince her, the more he convinced himself, and the harder the ache in his chest pounded. She was the one. His one. Scarred or not. Unbelieving or not. Of this world or not. He and Miss Lexi Vine were meant to be.
The kitten leapt to the floor, sat at her feet, then returned to its tiger form.
“Stop that!” She hugged herself while shaking a finger at the mighty cat. “Pick a size and stay that way. I have enough craziness to deal with.”
Jeros refilled her tea and held out the cup. “Here, lass. Drink. It will help.”
“I do not want a drink. I want to go home. To Kentucky. To my time. My world. Which is another thing—how can this possibly be the year 1811?” She drew her feet up, hugging her knees and rocking in place. “My car stalled in the woods. How could that throw me into a different time, into a different sort of world?”
“I have never seen one of yercarsfirst hand, but I do know that the tenets say mortal women can travel through time because they are the life bringers. The Fae of the Seventh Realm can only visit other eras and planes of existence through the Dreaming. Some of the royal bloodline have tested the limits of the Highland Veil, but rarely survived. We must remain in the realm in which we are born. I would never stray from the Seventh Realm myself, other than the Dreaming. I am most at peace here at Sevenrest. It is where I am meant to be.” He nodded. “And now ye have joined me.”
