Kol averted his gaze though his chest ached. They didn’t understand—they couldn’t possibly. Their world was just simpler, existing in a place where they belonged, hidden away and with no other expectations but to justbe.
He settled in deeper against the fehszar, blocking out the wind and focusing on his spell. At least the spruce wasn’t being a nosy, little know-it-all, but as he inspected the closest bough, he had the creeping feeling that it would tell him he had fucked up too if it could communicate as clearly as the creatures.
Exhaustion was creeping up on Kol by the time he heard the honking. He hoped he was only imagining the wretched sound as it echoed out over the grove, lifting a heavy head, shoulders and back aching. But his faith was dashed when swooping down from the sky came six stymphalian geese with pixie riders. The cailleach fluffed up as they landed chaotically in the snow all about it, not at all the regal greeting it was likely expecting.
Kol hefted a sigh, an expert at that now. “Look, I put it back, just like I said I would.”
One of the pixies dismounted, but his feet never touched the snow. Instead, he zipped over to Kol on iridescent wings and stopped short just at his nose. With a snap, a glittery pall swirled before his face, invading his senses with itchy magic until something materialized from the mist. The object dropped out of the air, falling onto the back of Kol’s hand and bouncing off.
“Um, ow?” Kol glared at the pixie, then leaned down to inspect what had fallen. A polished stone with striations running over it every shade of earthy brown lay in the snow between his hands, and for just a moment, Kol felt he was looking into Piper’s eyes again. “Oh, gods, damn it, you too?”
The pixie shrieked at him and threw out its spindly arms. The others joined in with more nonsensical blabbering, and the geese started in too.
Kol groaned and fell back against the fehszar, glancing up the length of the tree, and to his utter relief, the top of it was standing straight once again. “Fina-fucking-ly.”
Free of the spell and confident the grove had accepted the spruce once again, he wiped off his hands and snatched up the stone. Clearly the work of a human, he turned it over and felt its smoothness, chest aching. He pushed himself up to his feet, body tired, and the fehszar stood behind him, chuffing.
“I’m thinking about it,” he grumbled.
The cailleach hooted lowly.
“But what if it’s a mistake?”
The geese hissed.
“It’s a lot more complicated than that!”
There was a flash of red just before his face, and Kol stood stark still as a cardinal landed in the tree. It didn’t have tiny fangs or glowing eyes, it wasn’t stymphalian or the guardian of any wood, and it really didn’t even belong in the Everroot Grove, but it sat there all the same. And then it tweeted.
“Okay! Fine! I’ll go back, and I’ll tell her how I feel, all right?” Kol threw his arms out and shouted at the creatures around him. “I’ll admitallmy stupid, big feelings, that I think she’s the most wonderful woman in the world, and that I’m falling in love with her, and I’m pretty sure I’ll shrivel up and die if she doesn’t say she feels the same about me even though that will probably scare her off for good. Will you all be happy then? Huh?”
The critters fell silent, black eyes staring back at him, heads untilting. No one even chuffed. And then he heard his name in a clearly human voice.
Piper stood behind him in a sweater two sizes too big, hands tucked up under her arms. Snow dusted the top of her head, and her face was as red as a gift bow.
“What in the nether are you doing out here?” He closed the gap between them and caught her just as she wobbled in place. Her teeth chattered as she fell fully against his chest. “How did you even find this place?”
Her shoulders lifted briefly, and she huffed out a single word, “Bird.”
He opened his coat and pulled her against him. Utterly bewildered at how she was there, he could only look back at the cardinal for an answer, but it was gone.
“I just wanted to ask,” Piper spoke in a tremulous voice, shivers subsiding slightly, “do you want…to go on a date…with me sometime?”
Kol’s brain emptied completely. “What?”
“I want to take you out for pizza.” She took a shuddering breath, pressing her forehead to his chest. “Or to the movies. Whatever you want.”
Kol rubbed her back, and her arms slid out from around her and encircled his middle. “What I want is for you to warm up. Come on, we’ll go to the cabin, and—”
“Please say yes.” She tipped her head up, her eyes big and round and full of that thing he’d been searching for and was all too lucky to find and all too stupid to have almost lost. She squeezed him tightly, purple lips trembling as they quirked into a smile. “Every time you asked me what I want, and I said you, I meant it. I want all of you. I want to see the treehouse you live in, and I want to convince your weird family to like me even though I’m human, and I want to cook dinner for just the two of us, and I want to hold your hand. Toreallyhold your hand.”
Kol cleared the thickness from his throat. “I actually just live in a really boring apartment.”
She snorted, giving his middle a shake.
“That’s what I want too. You heard me yelling at all the birds, right?Youare what I want, Piper,” he admitted, and he reached for one of her hands, squeezing it and bringing it to his lips. “Can I take you home?”
“Take me anywhere, as long as I’m with you.”
