If I weren’t holding back a sob, that question may have made me laugh. How uncanny for him to assume it washewho did something.
“Nothing. Your powers areextraordinary. They’re beyond anything I could’ve imagined,” I croaked, the words broken and strained.
“I—” Jack started, the ice covering his face melting, followed by the wind taking the rose away in a snowy drift. “—don’t understand.”
Sniffling, I gripped the edge of my seat. “I’m nothing compared to you, Jack. This? All of what you’ve done? I’m not nearly this powerful.”
Jack said nothing, only continued to stare at me, and slowly, we descended.
“You know what I can do?” I rolled my shoulders back and sat straighter.
Jack remained silent and calmly folded his hands in front of him, listening to me intently.
“I can use my magic—” Conjuring some of it, I let it swirl my knuckles and collect in the air between us. Jack wiggled his fingers through the tiny snowflakes, his ears perking. “—to lace food with what beings need to uplift them. The spells could last an hour, a day, or a week. I can fly, and the cold,winter, makes me feel like I could blanket an entire village with my magic.”
Some of my power still settled on Jack’s fingers, and a small smile lifted at the corner of his lips at the sight of it.
Pushing to my feet, I held my arms out at my sides before letting them flop. “That’sallI can do. You’re so powerful, Jack. You clearly need someone who can match your speed, and that’snotme.”
Jack closed the distance between us so quickly he must’ve used his magic, and my chin was within his grasp, thumb and forefinger holding me captive, his cerulean gaze locking me in. “Do you think so little of yourself to believe your magic is any less worthy than mine, Sylvie?”
The chill flowing into me from him made my knees wobbly, and he snaked an arm around my waist to steady me. Jack’s eyes closed for a moment, a carnal moan bubbling in his throat before he looked at me again.
“I can’t compare to you,” I whispered, nuzzling against his touch now.
Jack shook his head left to right, deliberately slow, making fainttskingsounds. “Mates aren’t supposed to be a comparison to each other, but a balance.” He wiggled my chin still within his grasp. “What do you thinkthisis?”
There was that word again. Mates.
Gulping because I’d probably regret it later, I pulled away from him. Fear of the unknown, terror at the idea of such a significant change, and skepticism from Jack’s sudden change in demeanor had me reeling back. “I should go.”
Jack’s hand stayed extended as if I’d return to his touch. When I didn’t, he curled his fingers against his palm and let it fall. “Shouldyou? Or is it because you’re scared?”
I wrapped my arms around myself, my wings fanning so erratically they kicked up snow behind me. “Both,” I said in a cracked whisper.
“I won’t stop you.” Jack pointed at me. “But just know, I’ve searched centuries for you, and don’t intend on giving up that easily, faerie.”
Whether I should’ve taken that as a grand declaration or a threat was still unclear, but either way, I believed him. Shuffling backward, I kept my gaze locked with his. Jack stood motionless, watching me disappear into the woodlands’ thick mass of snow-covered trees. When he was no longer in sight, sobs overcame me, and I bolted for home. But I didn’t run, Iflew.
“Well, shit,”I mumbled, leaning against my polar bear with my ass on the ground. “Now what?”
Nanok huffed, pushing me forward only for me to flop against his side again. “What? You saw the whole thing. I pulled out all the stops, and shestillran away.”
Nanok lowered his head near my cheek and snorted, the air from his nose wafting and misting my cheek.
Frowning at him, I wiped it away. “Really?”
A sparking chime sounded in my mind, and I groaned.
“Of all the times—” Snarling, I swiped my hand in the air, creating a one-way window with a view of my realm. “Yes, Diedre?”
Her face appeared in a ripple, skin as pale as snow, eyes like rubies. Her hair hung in stringy grey tendrils, black tar leaking from her eyes down her cheeks and disappearing before it rolled from her chin. She adjusted her onyx crown, her pointy dagger-like fingernails catching the light of a sconce overhead.
“You actually answered. Color me surprised,” she mused, her voice thick with the old English accent she loved to use.
Sighing, I hitched my knees and rested my forearms on them. “You left me no choice in that regard.”
Diedre tapped a nail against her midnight lips and cackled. “Oh, that’s right. How silly of me.”
