“We would like a cheese platter and one of those tapas snack spreads for starters.” Rhylan took the lead and smiled at the women. His eyes ran from one face to the other while he made sure to give them both the same amount of attention. “Then we’ll have soup, either French onion or pumpkin and filet mignon as an entrée. Something with chocolate for dessert and an extra cold bottle of champagne.” By the time he finished his right hand was an inch away from one of the girls’ thighs and instead of jerking away, she looked ready to fall into his lap.
I grimaced, aware of the effect Rhylan had on women. I too had almost fallen into that trap before I knew better and I couldn’t even imagine what went through those girls' minds. Or whatever thoughts he was putting in there himself. “Miss Anwen here and I would like privacy, so please only return to deliver the food during the flight.”
The disappointment in both their faces looked evident, but they nodded and excused themselves, not without taking one last look at him before pulling the curtain.
“You’re disgusting.” I accused and sat back in my seat.
“Jealous, sprout? There’s plenty more of that for you too,” he grinned but I immediately cut him off.
“I have no interest in you Rhylan, other than whatever lie you are about to spit out of your wicked mouth. And I don’t care what thoughts you put in their heads. I did my studies this time and I know everything about you and your powers.” I accused before he even had a chance to speak or spin any part of the story in his favor.
“Did you now?” He looked impressed and copied my gestures, making himself comfortable and lying on the seat. “What exactly do you know, Miss Anwen?” He pressed the last words, spreading them like a whisper in my mind.
“That.” I nodded the acknowledgement of his actions. “That you can talk into people’s minds. That you can read my thoughts and you—”
“Read your thoughts?” he chuckled at the information. “Is that what the internet says about me?”
“Not everything I learn is from the internet. There are books also,” I retorted.
“Little sprout, for this to work, you need to start trusting me. And for you to do that, you need to know some truths. One of them is that I am unable to read minds.”
“That’s a lie and you know it,” I accused.
“I do not read minds, but I can sense feelings, which sometimes is the same. If you think of a number or a specific phrase I cannot see it,” he explained.
“What is it that you see then?” I demanded.
“Colors, feelings, emotions, whatever you display in a specific moment. For general feelings it’s normally colors, like when you are feeling blue, you are not actually blue, you are yellow. I always found that annoying, but hey, who am I to change people’s expressions?”
He stopped just as one of the girls returned with the cheese platter, the snacks, and two glasses of champagne along with the bottle. Rhylan snatched one of the glasses and emptied it in a few gulps. “If something specific is happening, like your constant anxiety and abrupt pain stabs, it’s different and I can read whatever is happening to your body. But no, I can’t read minds,” he stopped to throw another seductive smirk at the girl who made her way past him.
“How can you speak inside my head then?” I enquired, remembering how he had done it twice in just a few hours.
“That’s a different matter, which we’ll need to talk about someday. At the moment, I assume, you have more pressing questions.” Rhylan grabbed a slice of cheese and one of the crackers from the other platter and started building himself an impromptu sandwich.
“Tell me what happened in Evigt. Tell me everything.”
To my surprise, Rhylan resigned to the order and served himself a full glass of champagne, which he emptied in three gulps this time, preparing for what was to be a long explanation.
“Due to circumstances I do not plan to get into with you at this point in time, I discovered the young prince’s assignment in Evigt. Let’s just say it was not as fated as the siren made it feel like. As soon as I received said information, I organized a visit to his accommodations and through some kind of calling, you decided to pop out of hiding at a precisely perfect temporal arrangement. I did not know who you were at first,” he paused as though there was so much more than needed to be said and he struggled with the timeline and information he planned to give me.
“So you are the one who hurt me that day,” I merely stated, even though I already knew the answer. I wanted to see if he had the nerve to deny it, if he actually thought that I would be so naive as to believe his lies again.
“Indeed,” he settled for one word. “I threatened with spilling your blood, knowing that it would drive the prince into a dash of panic and he would feel obligated to come to your rescue.” He paused just enough to stack a slice of brie onto a tiny piece of toast and adorn it with onion jelly, then shoved it in his mouth and, very unlike his usual elegance, continued speaking as he struggled to chew in between words.
“At first you were just a means to an end, Anwen, I will admit it. I have met tens of thousands of beings throughout my life and I will not waste both our precious time and pretend they meant something or that I ended up caring about either of them, especially humans. Frail, small creatures who live the illusion that they are superior and dominate all others. So yes, until I learnt more about you, you represented a means to an end.”
“Do you expect me to believe you care about me now? A frail human?” I retorted. I was not hungry but seeing how Rhylan enjoyed all those dip platters almost made me want to grab a bite. I wouldn't though. Until I heard the whole story or the lie he planned to twist me in, I couldn't release the thousand knots building up in my stomach.
“I do not concern myself with your beliefs, Anwen dear. When one has the absolute truth, he does not need to investigate further.”
“Continue with the story,” I demanded and without protest, he did.
“When I drew him out in the forest to find you, I did not expect the burst of energy your touch created. I had scheduled an easy death for you, brutal but quick, bloody enough to curse the forest, and expected the prince to fight, hopefully to the death. You touching him both weakened and shocked me, forcing this old plan to be put on hold. I spent my life planning every possible outcome in any given situation, but you two being mates is not something I ever expected.”
“What does it have to do with you?” I immediately asked but another thought sparked in my mind and led to a different question. “You knew we were mates since then?” I did not understand how he could possibly have known when it took us both months to realize. What business had it to do with Rhylan?
“I’m an old fae, Anwen. I have learnt to understand specific things through the years, and mating bonds is one of the least complicated. It doesn’t take a genius to distinguish that burst of energy and both of your hearts started shining. It was clearer thanpure water.”
