I try to picture little Ashton on a cloud, building a house out of rain and sunlight, and I almost laugh. Instead, I just say, “Sounds lovely.”
He shrugs, but he doesn’t disagree.
Then he reaches for the sword at his belt and lifts it to his hair, cutting a lock of his long golden hair. He cuts a little piece of leather from his shirt, wraps the hair and ties it, and presents it to me.
“Thanks?” I say, taking it in confusion.
He smiles. “It’s something we wind fae do.”
I go to put it in my pocket and find Oberon’s fire rock that he’d given me. “Is that like this stone Oberon gave me?”
His jaw drops open, and he takes the rock out of my palms. “He actually gave you this?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“When?”
“Before we left for the maze.”
He rolls it in his hand, grinning. “That old softy was marking you from the very beginning.”
“What do you mean?”
He hands the stone back. “Fire fae present a stone to a fae woman when they’re wooing them.”
Now, it’s my turn for my jaw to drop open. “What?”
“I know!” he says, laughing. “I don’t think the old fire king has ever given a woman a stone before.”
I tuck both the stone and the lock of hair in my pocket, feeling embarrassed. “Then what does your lock of hair mean?”
His smile disappears in a flash. “Don’t you mind that. It’s just something for my lovely wife.”
We sit there, hands on our knees, neither of us knowing what to say.
After a while, he asks, “When this is over, what do you really want? You say you just want to go home, but the more I hear about home, the less I think that’s what you should want.”
It’s the second time he’s asked. The first time, I gave the answer I thought he wanted to hear. This time, I give the answer that’s true. “I just want to live,” I say. “I want to go somewhere where people are kind, and it’s safe, and I’m never hungry or hurt. Maybe grow something. Maybe not.”
He’s quiet for a second, then says, “You could stay. In the fae realm.”
I look at him, not sure if he’s joking.
He shrugs, but I can tell he means it. “You don’t have to go back. You’re not like the other humans, our servants. You’re smart, charismatic, interesting, and, well, a lot of things. You’d fit in here with the fae.”
I think about that. The only humans here appear to be mindless servants. And the fae?The fae are evil… aren’t they?Somehow, the world doesn’t seem so black and white any longer. I don’t say any of it, just shake my head. “I don’t know if I can stay here.”
He nods, like he was expecting that.
We sit. The sword-light goes out, and we’re left with just the moon and the soft, black silence. I’m about to say something, anything, just to fill the quiet, when I see it. Fog.
It pours in through the hedge, a brilliant silver color. Thick, rolling, heavy as steel. It blankets the ground, then rises, slow and deliberate, until it’s just below our knees.
Ashton stands, tense. “You seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Yeah.”
He reaches for my hand again, and this time, I squeeze first.
