“They suit you,” I say.
“They don’t make me look too not human?”
The anxiety in his voice makes my stomach twist into a knot. He feels a need to change his appearance to please me? It’s wonderful that he likes me that much, and terrible that he feels so insecure. Mabon is perfect, wonderful and divine. Insecurity should not exist anywhere in his heart, soul, or mind.
“I love that you’re not human.”
He goes still in my arms. “Really?”
“Really.”
He pulls away from me and gives me a pleased grin. Then he preens like a peacock. I chuckle warmly.
“Come on, let’s keep moving.”
The motorway is huge. Looming above us at the top of an extremely steep embankment. The roar of the passing traffic is nearly deafening.
“I didn’t know it would be so big,” says Mabon as he glares at it with his hands on his hips. “I thought it would be easy to cross.
I sigh wearily and sit on the ground. I’m tired. My feet hurt. Finding a way over the motorway could take miles and miles of more walking.
Mabon looks down at me and bites his bottom lip. He looks as fresh as a daisy. Lucky bastard.
“You truly like that I’m fey?”
Where has this come from? Is it still on his mind? I thought I had succeeded in reassuring him.
“Yes,” I say confidently.
He stares at me for a moment. Then he nods decisively. Then he starts taking his clothes off. My eyebrows rise. This wasn’t exactly the type of rest break I was thinking of, but I’m not going to complain. Mabon has cured me of that.
He stands before me naked and I greedily drink in the sight. It’s a view I’m never going to get tired of. I blink, and now I’m looking at a magpie.
I yelp and scramble backwards, my ass and hands flailing on the ground. The magpie squawks at me, ruffles its wings, and then takes to the air. I watch until it is out of sight. Then I just stare blankly at the sky. I’m far too shocked to do anything else.
I have no idea if it is minutes or hours later, but the magpie returns. It lands on the pile of Mabon’s clothes and then suddenly it is Mabon standing before me. Naked and awe-inspiring.
“There is a tunnel under it, only a mile that way,” he says as he points behind me.
My mind is still not functioning. I’m sitting here, gaping like a fish.
“What?” asks Mabon.
A laugh bubbles up inside of me. It is too strong to contain. It flows up and out of me. It shakes my shoulders. It makes my eyes water.
“I knew you were a magpie!”
Mabon’s eyes narrow and he crosses his arms over his chest.
“It’s a good thing!” I wheeze.
His fury dims to suspicion. I wipe the tears from my eyes and try to calm down.
“Can you shift into anything else?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Magpie is myisbrydanimal.”
I don’t know if he has slipped into speaking fey and my translator can’t cope with that word, or if Mabon is using English but is unable to find the right word. But it doesn’t matter. I get the idea. Magpie is his spirit animal and it makes so much sense. In so very many different ways.
