“Never.” Her smile grows, stealing his breath away. “Let’s sleep under the stars tonight, Tharios. Curl up together to stay warm. Wake with the dawn.”
“Sounds absolutely perfect, my love.”
“Really? You mean it? We’re not just dreaming out loud?” Her eyes light up to match her smile, and he nods.
“I’m completely serious. I’ve heard faeries glow in the moonlight, so I devised a plan to lure one into my trap. Make passionate love to her beneath the night sky and find out if it’s true.” He grins at her, and she drops her head back and laughs.
“Have you ever seen me glow in the moonlight, elf prince?”
“You shine always, my love. Shine for me tonight?”
She pulls him into an eager kiss, which is answer enough, and soon, they sneak out of the hotel to find Stardust.
A Trap for a Faerie
Episode 121
Stardustissohappyto see Tharios that she almost breaks down the door to her stall, and Viala watches with amusement as Tharios gives the creature a mock glare.
“Are you making a good impression on your new human friends?” he asks.
Stardust calms as Tharios stares her down, and Viala shakes her head while the grooms watch with wide eyes and parted lips.
Tharios is using his magic to calm Stardust. It won’t last long. It never does. Unicorn magic is too strong to be affected by even Tharios’s powerful life magic for more than a few minutes. But it will help them get her out of the stall without her breaking anything in her exuberance to see her beloved Tharios again.
Meanwhile, the humans just think Tharios is a master unicorn handler.
The stable master says something to Tharios in Nunian, and Tharios responds in kind.
Viala tries to pick out some words, but nothing familiar sticks out. It’s such a guttural language. Not like Lothlesian and Elvish, which flow like silk across the tongue.
Will she ever master it? In Lostariel, it never mattered that she hadn’t yet learned Nunian. But in Nunia, it’s beena lonely few days as everyone speaks Nunian to benefit the humans. As they should. But even Tharios has been so distracted by other things that he sometimes forgets to translate for her.
As he does now.
With Tharios’s magic calming Stardust, he quickly saddles her and leads her from the stable just in time for his magic to wear off.
Stardust prances around him and shoves her nose into him so hard that he stumbles backward.
“Yes, I’m happy to see you, too. I’m sorry you’ve been neglected. I’ve been a little busy, you know.” He speaks Lothlesian, as he always does when he’s conversing alone with the unicorn. She responds better to the language of the people who bred her than she does to Elvish.
Thank the fates for that, though. It’s the reason Tharios learned Viala’s language in the first place. So he could talk to a unicorn. Such a Tharios thing to do.
He had no idea he’d bind with a Lothlesi princess someday.
Stardust shakes her head and huffs, and Tharios lifts empty hands to her. “I don’t have any sugared plums. Not everything is about you, you know. Just be glad I’ve come to liberate you from your poor existence being traumatized by humans who don’t understand that water can only be drunk from a river or lake. Have they been making you drink from a trough?”
His tone is mocking, but Stardust lets out the most mournful whinny imaginable, and Viala struggles not to smile.
Father has a unicorn, too. Viala’s witnessed plenty of unicorn shenanigans during her lifetime.
“I will do my best to find you a creek to drink from, but as I said, tonight’s not about you. It’s about her.” Tharios juts his head toward Viala, and Stardust prances again.
“She’s so enamored with you that she only just noticed me,” Viala says, laughing as she steps closer so Stardust can maul her, too. “Not that I blame you in the slightest,” she says to the unicorn. “He’s pretty amazing, isn’t he?”
The unicorn pushes Viala toward Tharios, and Tharios grins at Stardust. “Yes, I still love Viala, she’s still mine, and your matchmaking services are not required. Well, beyond the fact that I’m planning to romance her tonight, and you’ll have to come along for the ride.”
Despite Tharios’s reassurances, Stardust nudges Viala toward him again, and he finally ducks to give Viala a quick peck on the lips. They’ve already drawn a few onlookers. Who knows what the humans are thinking now? But Stardust seems satisfied that her dear Tharios is still happily in love with his Lothlesi princess. Finally, the unicorn stands still enough for Tharios to mount, and Viala climbs up behind him, resting her cheek against his back and wrapping her arms around his waist.
