Page 51 of This Is Not True Love’s Kiss

“It’s our first official training session,” Aoife said. “I invited all the Fair Folk in the royal guard.”

She braced her legs, and I copied the movement.

“I don’t recognize this way of fighting,” I said, raising my arm and bending it over my chest like she did.

She smiled, and it was truly luminous. “That’s because this is the Fair Folk way. We weren’t allowed to have weapons as slaves, so we created our own method of fighting.”

She was so happy, so in her element that for maybe the first time ever, I couldn’t admonish her for how dangerous this was.

“The key to tachika kan is not strength,” Aoife said as she struck out her arm, lightning fast and right at my neck, where she could stop me from breathing if she’d followed through.

“Then what is the key?” I asked, gaze stuck on her hand at my throat.

“Technique,” she answered simply. “Precision. And speed.”

“Well, you’ve certainly got those down,” I said.

She stepped back, studying me with a suspicious look in her eyes. “Go ahead and say it.”

I slowly shook my head. “Say what?”

“I know you want to reprimand me, to demand we all go back inside Fairwitch Isle.”

What struck me in that moment was that I didn’t. I stepped closer to her, once again resuming the initial fighting stance. “I want to know why you choose to come out here,” I said. “Is it just to make me angry? Because you know I don’t like it?”

She whirled around me, and I spun on my heel right as her foot was crashing into my stomach. I stumbled back a few steps, raising my hands to defend against her strikes, so quick I could barely keep up. This was so different than fighting with a sword.

She backed me up into a tree, and I raised an arm to block her hand, but her other hand still ended up right at my neck, at that same point it had the first time. My heart pounded, and she breathed heavily, her bosom rising and falling as she said, “Maybe a little. I do like irritating you.” I huffed a laugh, and she tilted her head. “That courtyard is where the godwitches trained with all their weapons. It was the place Fair Folk weren’t allowed to go. Not ever. It’s a reminder of all the freedoms we weren’t allowed to have.”

That niggling thought I’d had with Ambrose was back, but this time as I studied my wife, it was becoming clear. The parts to Aoife I didn’t understand were slowly falling into place in a way they never had before, and I felt like a fool, an utter ass, for not understanding all the painful reminders Fairwitch Isle were for Aoife. How hard it was for her to be back in this place where she’d been a slave. All the other Fair Folk had thousands of years to process their grief, their trauma, in a way Aoife hadn’t. They’d all adapted, assimilated, so I assumed she should be able to do the same. But while they were moving on, she’d been trapped, cursed. Logically, I’d known all these things, but I’d never put enough thought into it, always too busy, too distracted by my own issues.

“We can find you a new place to train,” I said. “We can build you a new training ground, one just for tachika kan, if you’d like.”

She lowered her hand, eyes wide like she couldn’t believe what I’d just said. “Why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I said, biting back the rest of the reason, not telling her that if I could get her to smile at me again like she had just moments ago, I’d do damn near anything. I’d build her an entirely new city if that was what it took.

Her face fell for the briefest of moments, so brief I wondered if I imagined it as her jaw set. “Maybe we can come up with something that will work for both of us. My people have forgotten much of their history, and I want to start reminding them who we are, separate from the people of Fairwitch Isle.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but a branch cracked in the distance, the sound of feet tromping through the forest echoing around us. Everyone stilled, and my throat went dry.

No one came to the top of Kiln Mountain.

I spun, looking from terrified face to terrified face. “Use your portals,” I said. “Everyone⁠—”

Before I could finish, a voice called out, “Do you hear that?”

“Fuck,” I said. They were closer than I’d realized.

Portal magic would be bright and loud, and it would absolutely draw the attention of whoever this was.

“Hide,” I whispered, and the Fair Folk moved into action, everyone disappearing behind trees, under the cover of fallen logs or behind bushes.

I grabbed Aoife’s hand.

“What are you doing?” she whispered as I yanked her behind a thick knotted tree, pushing her up against it and laying my hand over her mouth. I pressed into her, trying to disappear into the crevice in the tree trunk as much as I could. Just like when we’d slept together, her body molded to mine so perfectly, so wonderfully warm and soft. I wanted to sink right into her, but of course now wasn’t the time. I was losing myself around this woman lately, unraveling in ways I didn’t like. Especially not in situations like these, where I was paying more attention to her than the very present—and real—danger surrounding us.

Her eyes widened, flashing with anger, but thankfully she didn’t say anything else, and we fell into silence.