It only took a few minutes of being in the garden to see the truth in what he was saying. There was a wild and ancient feel to the flourishing plants, flowers, and trees that filled every space, outside of the paths that wound between them. The tops of some trees I couldn’t even see, hidden by the flowers that towered above me. Their bright heads twisted and turned in the breeze, seemingly moving with the energy of the air.
Maybe it was the glory of the garden, but it took me a beat to register what Len had just freaking said.“Wait,” I spun and faced him, clutching Tabitha closer. “Did you say…thousand or so years? You’re… old. What the hell!” At most he looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties.
Len laughed, a rich sound that had more of the plants freakily moving toward him. “We’re a long-lived race,” he said. “Near eternal, and very hard to kill, but it can be done.”
“Is that part of the reason why you struggle to have young?” I wondered, the thought occurring to me.
“Yes, but apparently it wasn’t always this way. The last few hundred years has our new births almost nonexistent.” He glanced at the child in my arms. “Until Tabitha.”
She was special in more ways than one.
“Let’s hope our memories hold the key to why Faerie has been weakening,” I said with a decisive nod. “It’ll be good to have a means to help this world.”
It was a stretch, but there had to be a deeper reason behind everything.
“We should head to the Silver Lands,” Len said after standing in the tranquility of his garden for a few more minutes. “It’ll get dark soon.”
“There’s a sun here?” I asked, not able to see where the light came from through the trees.
“Yes, we have one semi-weak sun,” Len said. “We also have five moons and a lot of crystals embedded high in the crust of our world. They all give us energy and light, rejuvenating the energy of the fae. We live in a symbiotic relationship too.”
“I like that,” I said softly, surprised by how relaxed and at home I felt here. “This world feels calmer. Less chaotic than Earth.” It might have been a stupid thing to say, considering I’d seen less than two percent of Faerie, but the vibe felt right.
“You both look stronger,” Len noted, those silver eyes locked on me. “It makes sense for you to be here. With me.”
It did make sense, and that freaked me out a touch. I wasn’t used to life feelingrightorcalmorperfect.In this moment, I had all three.
“So, does everyone in the Solaris System speak English?” I asked, changing the subject to another question that had plagued me since my first time in the library. “Your accent is almost a cross between British and American, which is weird, right?”
His lips twitched like I was amusing him. “English is what Shadow speaks, and he made sure to introduce it through the worlds. I’ve also learned how to blend into cultures, and this accent is the most natural for me.”
Shadow introduced English to the worlds. Okay, yeah, that was never in any of my history classes. I knew who to believe though: the beings who literally lived through history.
“Are you ready to leave now?” Len asked.
“Yep,” I said quickly, smiling as Tabitha waved her arms. We started to move, and she shifted forward in my grip, telling me she wanted to go to him.
This time, I finally felt comfortable allowing that.
“Len,” I called since he was a few steps ahead. He turned back, the plants framing him on either side. Lifting our daughter out toward him, I smiled. “She wants to go to you.”
The little girl waved her arms once more, and I noted how healthy her skin looked. She glowed in the soft light of Faerie.Just like her father.
Len’s eyes met mine briefly, before his gaze dropped to Tabitha, and I swore it was fear that creased his features before they smoothed out once more. “Are you sure?” he asked.
Tabitha waved her hands harder toward him. “I’m sure,” I said decisively. “She deserves to have both her parents in her life. To have the family you’ve promised. As scary as it is, I don’t own her, and cannot just keep her all to myself.”
Len’s expression softened, and even as he reached out for our daughter, he was looking at me. “You’ve already lost too much time with her, and I never questioned your need to keep her close. If anything, I admire the ferocity and protectiveness you hold toward her. It’s all I would ask for in the mother of my child. All I would ask for you.”
Slayed. Actually slayed.
“Thank you,” I whispered, thanking him for so much more than just those words. “You gave me space when I was a mess and desperately clinging to sanity, but now it’s time for you to hold your child.”
“I’ve dreamed of this forever,” he admitted, shaking his head as he brushed a hand over Tabitha’s hair. “It’s hard to believe that we’re finally here.”
Nearly impossible. This was a second chance, forgotten romance story, with the added bonus of a secret baby. Only nothing was that simple or clear-cut in this world, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. My daughter had her father, and she hadn’t been taken from me. As long as that remained, whatever else happened, would be fine by me.
19
