His friend grinned. “Was that why you had the castle walls reinforced, though we hadn’t had a war in centuries? And all of our battle armor polished? Our weapons sharpened and counted?”
“Among other things that I did, yes. Our soldiers never knew why their workloads increased, but they could tell that something was bothering me,” he admitted. “It was a year later that I finally saw her again.”
Reeve simply stared at him, waiting for him to continue with his tale.
Thalion sighed, unsure if walking down memory lane was a wise endeavor, given that he was already at his breaking point. But, then again, he’d begun this tale without much coercion on Reeve’s part, so he might as well finish it.
“I was in the human realm,” Thalion began. “Leede had asked me to find a certain plant that she needed for one of her more difficult salves. She’d been out of it for some time.”
Thalion stepped through the veil from his realm and into the human one. The cold rain that hit him did not improve his already irritated mood. He looked up at the sky and, through the trees, he saw dark clouds and flashing lightning. The trees branches danced in the strong wind that blew through their whistling leaves. Just where he wanted to be: in the human realm being pelted by polluted rain, all the while hoping he didn’t get struck by lightning. While that wouldn’t kill him, it would make him very cross. Where he really wanted to be was back in the confines of his own comfortable room, pacing and growling over how long it had been since he’d last seen his Cyn. But, regardless of his irritation over not having the woman he knew was made for him, he still had a kingdom and a race to care for.
He walked deeper into the forest, leaving the veil behind. His eyes scanned the ground as his feet moved quietly over the dirt and twigs. Leede, their healer, hadn’t been sure if the plant would be growing during the current season in the human realm, but she’d asked him to have someone try to find it. Thalion hadn’t even considered giving the task to another. The chance of him seeing Cyn was next to impossible. But anything that took him out of his own realm gave him a chance, however small, to bump into the beautiful fae. He knew now he was getting truly desperate to see her again.
The rain continued to fall, and curses began to slip through his lips the longer he looked without success. He was so focused on the ground he didn’t even hear her approach.
“Now that’s something you don’t see every day—a prince lost in the rain, having a conversation with the ground. Have you gone mad, Prince Thalion?”
Cyn’s voice was the sweetest sound he’d heard in a year. He closed his eyes as he stood up straight. “Speak again,” he commanded.
“Standing in the rain is not the best place to have a conversation. I thought I made that clear the first time we met,” she said in that cool voice that never allowed him to know what she was truly feeling.
Thalion’s eyes snapped open, and he turned to look at her. His heart nearly stopped at the sight of her. She had her hair gathered and pulled up away from her face, emphasizing her high cheekbones. Her face was flushed, her lips slightly parted and begging to be kissed. Cyn’s clothes fit snugly, molding to her curves so they wouldn’t hinder her in a fight. The boots that laced up her calves seemed to make the fae’s small frame seem taller.
When his eyes finally made it back to her face, Thalion caught the confusion in her eyes before she quickly blinked and returned to the emotionless warrior he’d met a year and a half prior. She took his breath away and she didn’t even know it. How could he make it any more clear without screaming it from the top of the highest mountain and then repeating it at the depths of the deepest valley?
“What are you doing here?” Cyn asked him.
“I could ask the same of you,” he countered.
“I am not the one who avoids human interaction. I am often found in this realm.”
“But why are you here, at this particular location?”
Cyn didn’t answer right away. She seemed to be attempting to decide if she wanted to tell him. Finally, she spoke.
“We monitor all the veils. We know when they are crossed. I was sent to determine who had just crossed this particular veil.” She motioned in the direction of the veil he could no longer see.
She knew that someone had crossed from the elven realm. Did she intentionally come herself, when another could have been delegated the task? Did she come in the hopes that it was I who had crossed the veil?He didn’t bother to give voice to his questions. He knew she would either refuse to answer or simply answer with an infuriating question of her own.
“Are you going to tell me why you’ve crossed over into a realm that you supposedly care nothing for?” Cyn asked him.
He didn’t even try to stop the chuckle. It seemed that hewasable to get under her skin and coax some emotion from her voice and features, even if only a tiny amount. Thalion liked that he was the one able to shake her.
“I am looking for a certain plant for our healer. And I never said that I cared nothing for the human realm. I simply made it clear that my own race must come first.”
“What plant?” she asked, ignoring his other comment.
Thalion started to answer, only to realize he couldn’t remember if it was a borage or boldo. He knew it started with a ‘b’, but seeing Cyn had cast all other thoughts from his mind.
He pursed his lips, feeling a tad embarrassed that he’d forgotten the plant. “I’m not quite sure.”
“You don’t know what plant you’re looking for? Then how were you expecting to find it?”
“Uh…”
“Did she tell you the name of it, or what it looked like?” the fae snapped.
Thalion pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was she asking all these questions about a plant when what they should have been doing was kissing the life out of one another? When he raised his head and looked at her, the desire he was feeling must have been evident in his eyes because her breath caught and she took a step back.
