“Anwen, I am so sorry,” I pressed my hand against it and hid my shape behind, letting only my face, most of it covered with hair, visible.
“What do you want?” she asked with a grumpy tone.
I pressed my lips to hers, quickly and smoothly. I needed the contact of her soft lips, the touch of energy I required to gain my strength, and with it, myself.
“Good night,” I parted my lips and disappeared into darkness, not waiting for her to answer.
I would visit Anwen again and explain everything. If I was to become like Vikram then so be it, if I had to give up my title or be tortured and punished for the revelation to a human, then so be it, but I was not willing to waste any more time, especially not after today.
When I got back, some of the faeries were leaving the cave to find new nests and homes, others were moving to the Western side while the ones who were too injured to move or travel either rested on my bed or on whatever pieces of furniture they could find or pillaged the pantry for food and more potions. I changed my clothes, finding a few that hadn't been destroyed in urgent need of dressing and distributed more potions and ointments. I would have to get a full supply once I returned into the kingdom, most of what I had now finished or missing key ingredients for completion.
I cooked for them, cared for them and created more bedding, making sure that each and every remaining faerie received the care it needed to get better. As the day progressed, the other regions came in with more healing herbs, food and invitations into their own homes until the forest regrew. They were accepted with kindness and tears while I kept making sure every injured being recovered quickly and safely.
Sleep was not an option but I kept dozing off when I could for the following days. My time wasn’t my own and in between changing gauze, making more potions and ointments and healing the affected part of the district, I ended up running up and down, sometimes without eating for a whole day and night.
Within a week and with most of my power spent, I managed to recreate the burnt section to its exact replica, including the nests and newer species that I had barely brought in the past month.
With it, my home started to clear, each faerie preferring the company of their families and friends once they were strong enough to walk and fend for themselves. As they left, we hugged or shook hands, all of them grateful for the care received and showing kindness and gratitude towards my very tired self.
When I finally had the bed to myself, I realised I was too tired and that, if I were to fall asleep I would not be able to wake up for a couple of days. Before I succumbed to my body, I decided to take care of my spirit. I left the cave with the door open should anyone need anything and started walking towards the queen’s mansion.
Chapter Twenty-One
A hard knock on the door made me startle and abandon my spot on the sofa. I hadn't even realised it was Friday already, I had been so involved in research and mapping that I completely lost track of time. I barely believed that it had been six days since my big-date-turned-deception. My head had been all over the place lately, so much that I even had a very vivid dream of Ansgar cropping up from nowhere in the middle of the night and then disappearing into thin air. Since then, I tried to make myself busy. I discovered some new routes and tried to get back to that bridge Ansgar had taken me, to no avail. It was as though it disappeared overnight. I did start reading about all the supernatural phenomena believed to take part in the forest and tagged a lot of articles and pages.
I had just turned a page to a new chapter when the noise of the knock drew my attention and forced me to head towards it. Any speck of peace I had found till that moment vanished when I found the guard standing on the threshold.
“Rhylan,” I humourlessly acknowledged him and stepped aside to leave enough room for him to enter.
“Hello, Anwen,” he greeted back with his usual cold composure and headed into the kitchen to start unloading the food.
“I hope you didn’t add any extras into my delivery again, lots of the things you wanted me to try last time are wasting away.”
He sneered and froze from the action, glaring at me so deeply that for a moment the darkness in his eyes caused me to feel like I was falling in the pits of hell. I felt scared and happy at the same time, afraid that he could snap any minute and proud of myself for managing to annoy him so much that his brows almost touched his nose from frowning.
“I didn’t think you needed more, especially not since you made some special requests of your own,” he replied almost criticizing as his gaze continued to penetrate into every thought I ever had. I felt exposed, uneasy and somewhat defenceless.
He was a Forest Guard so in theory, tasked with caring after me and protecting me in case of emergency, but Rhylan felt different from any man I ever met. First of all, his looks were distinct from everyone else’s, his beauty appeared evanescent, as if he had been created to last through time and his posture so elegant it seemed royal. Every single gesture he made felt classic and dignified and he acted like his presence on Earth, and especially here in the mansion, was a huge favour to all mankind. He looked gorgeous, between him and Ansgar, I would have my hands full till the end of my life, but when Ansgar was making me uneasy with passion and butterflies in places that had been long asleep, Rhylan was curt and cold, making me feel eerie rather than sexy.
I noticed that he grimaced as he searched his pocket, then found a pink small package and placed it on the table, close enough for me to see. At first, I wanted to laugh at the image, a man with dark eyes, hair and everything underneath his uniform—even his sword had a black hilt—carrying around a pink box. Then it hit me.
“Fuck,” I let out through gritted teeth.
“I assume that’s what they're for, yes, the big question is, whom with?” he questioned as he scanned me, waiting for an explanation.
None of your damn business,my mouth wanted to shout at him, until I remembered that I was the only person who knew of Ansgar’s presence in the forest. I mentally reprimanded myself for being so silly and adding birth control pills on my delivery request list the morning I had a hot date. Or was supposed to. With my busy schedule, I forgot to delete the no longer necessary entry when I sent the email to the guards.
“It’s to manage pain,” I replied without giving it a second thought and hoping to be believable.
He took a step closer and forced me so close to him that I had to raise my head slightly to be able to look at him.
“You don’t like pain, then?” he continued to pin me with his stare until I was so uncomfortable that I shifted and stumbled up onto a chair just to get away from those eyes.
“You wouldn’t either if your ovaries decided to behave like little bitches every month,” I snarled and grabbed one of the bags just to have a reason to do something and keep myself away from his imposing closeness.
He seemed to relax, though I felt his stare lingering, analysing my every movement until he convinced himself of whatever he needed to. He relaxed and once again occupied a seat on the sofa, finding the exact same position as last week.
“And here I thought,” he said as he picked one of the magazines from the table, “that you found one of the fae and wanted to have some fun.”
