“Then refuse,” Tully says. “I think you should go for it,though. People will eat this up.”
I flip the note over, grab a quill and ink pot, and start a reply.
I can’t possibly dothis, Mistress Avalon. We don’t get along, Archer and I. Sorry, but no matter how great it would be sales-wise, I can’t work with someone like him.
I sign the letter,and Tully flicks her wand and sends it back where it came from. I take a deep breath.
Crisis averted.
Tully leaves with well wishes, and I go about my day, checking town visitors into their rooms and training the employee I hired to run the front desk and the bar when I’m off. Dew is a small, female fairy, and she’s a quick learner. Everything runs smoothly, and when my kin, Magnus and Aila, return from their trip to Kingstown, the inn is in perfect order. New furniture in place of the broken pieces. Clean bed linens in every room thanks to the inn’s particular magic. A tidied kitchen and bar. It’s perfect. The inn sighs contentedly, the shutters fluttering, as it opens and closes the front door to allow folks in and out.
After hugging Magnus and Aila—it’s not easy to hug an orc as large as Magnus or a fairy with such large wings—and giving each of their younglings a scone from the batch I bought from the baker, I show them around. Aila’s fairy skin shimmers in the light from the window, and I marvel again at how lovely my stepsister is. I’m glad they’re staying with me until they can move into their new house here in Leafshire Cove.
I lead them upstairs and point down the walkway. “I’ve got you in rooms four and five because they have an adjoining door. You can put the younglings in one, and you can enjoy the other yourselves.” They are both eyeing me oddly. “What? Do I have pastry icing on my chin?” I wipe it with the back of my hand.
“No, you’re lovely as always,” Aila says.
But her brow furrows and I know something is up.
Magnus glances between us and then peers over the balcony railing to where his younglings are eating their scones at the bar top in the gathering room. Dew is handing them little cups of water.
“Wonderful,” he says finally. “Thank you, Colette.”
Aila’s wingsflutter, a sign that she’s excited or anxious. “I have tried to wait for you to bring it up, but you aren’t, so I will.”
Here it comes. “What is it?”
Magnus rubs his green face, then looks from Aila to me.
“The kiss with Archer Darkheart!” Aila blurts out, her cheeks pink and her eyes shining.
My heart drops. “Right. Of course.”
“The news is everywhere, Colette,” Magnus says. “Every broadsheet in Kingstown had you and him sketched out right on top.”
Sometimes I adore magic; other times, it’s a nuisance. Only with magic could this news travel so quickly.
“That’s right,” Aila says, clasping my hands. “It’s so exciting!”
I gently detach my fingers from hers. “It’s not what you think. Come in here, please.”
Magnus leans over the railing. “Stay with Dew,” he orders his younglings. They look up at him and wave.
I lead Magnus and Aila into my room so we don’t have any eavesdroppers. Magnus stands by the door and Aila settles at my desk.
“When it happened at the faire, well, I thoughtArcher was leaning in. But then I realized he tripped. He had his arms around me, and it was…”
I breathe out and try to find a less embarrassing way to explain this.
“I misread the whole moment,” I say, “and he’s very handsome. I’m an idiot and the kiss was a mistake.”
Aila stands and wraps me in a hug. Her wings fan my face. “You’re not an idiot. Don’t you dare say that, darling girl.”
Magnus chuckles, scoffing. “From what we heard, Master Darkheart already came to visit you today. A male doesn’t come knocking if he has no interest.”
I shake my head in disagreement. “He only came by because a large group of folks bothered him at Halvard and Rychell’s house, and he was worried I’d be harangued here.”
Magnus and Aila trade a knowing look.
