Then she realized why Nina had magical music, but she would tell no one.
Movement from the corner of her eye caught Samantha’s attention and she turned just in time to see a beautiful, auburn-haired fairy dressed in light delicate fabric of pinks, golds and greens pour a fairy-sized bucket of liquid into her wine.
Samantha smiled at her. How delightful! She knew about fairies and heard their music but this was the first time that she had ever seen one.
She leaned closer. “What is your name?” she whispered.
The fairy simply held a finger to her pink lips, then danced away.
Oh, she would have loved to have talked with her but suspected that the fairy had also not intended to be seen.
With a shrug, Samantha straightened and drank her wine.
There was no change in the taste, then again, so little had been added to her glass that it was unlikely she would notice a difference.
“What are you doing and who are you talking to?” Petra asked.
“I saw a fairy,” she answered and drank again.
“Guard your drink,” Maia warned.
“Why?” Samantha laughed at the question and lifted her wine to her lips. Even if there had been something in that little bucket, it was hardly enough to affect a full-grown person such as herself, so she drank again.
“Their wine is not meant for humans. It is far more potent than we have ever had and they say a thimbleful is all you need to become fully intoxicated,” Maia explained.
Samantha frowned down into her glass of wine. It was nearly gone. Had she drank all of what the fairy poured in?
She must have but she certainly did not feel any different.
She blew out a sigh and finished the wine and set it aside. Such stories were likely folklore and possibly invented by a male to explain to a wife or mother why they were so drunk. Samantha could envision her brother standing before their mother, deep in his cups and barely able to stand. “It was the fairy’s fault, I swear. I had but a sip.”
“They say if one needs courage, to drink from a fairy’s cup.” Petra laughed.
“Maybe that is what Samantha needs,” Antonia suggested. “Courage to approach Cassian.”
She blinked at her friend. “I never would.”
“But you would like to,” Maia teased.
“I…” Oh, she did not have it in her to lie. “He does not care for me in that manner.”
“I am not so certain,” Petra offered. “We have all seen the way he looks at you when nobody is watching, then when you were caught with him under the mistletoe…”
“That is just it!” Samantha nearly cried. “He has had several opportunities to kiss me but has not.”
“But you want him to,” Antonia clarified.
“Of course.” Samantha’s eyes widened as she placed a hand over her mouth. She should have never admitted such in front of her friends. Now they would tease her endlessly. “Please, do not say anything. It will only make him uncomfortable.”
“I think he wants to kiss you,” Antonia insisted as Petra and Maia agreed.
“And I think that you should ask him why he has not kissed you,” Petra insisted.
“Oh, no, I could not.”
“Yes, you can,” Maia stood and pulled Samantha to her feet. “Go now and ask him. You know that he is home.”
“I cannot call on a bachelor in the middle of the night. It is not done.”
