Page 49 of Heartsong
This museumwasstrange. The whole situation was strange.
Fae magick,hissed through her mind. Anna thought it must be the magick binding his kind to the curse, but…
Could there really be some ancient magick here? She’d allow that many old objects held a certain power; so much history was imbued within them that they had their own gravity, pulling in the imagination and demanding veneration. Could so many objects like that, especially ones that had once been living beings cursed by the fae, brought together create their own kind of pull?
Something had always felt magical about this place. Anna had been attracted to it in a way that she didn’t quite like thinking about. Just seeing the job application, her brain had had an itch, a sense that she should apply, she shouldgo there.
She’d been drawn to the museum, to the collection.
To Frey.
Anna couldn’t help a small blush—damn all this blushing, he’s not even here!How many times had she found herself walking down the gallery to see him even when she didn’t need to be in that part of the museum? How many times had she taken her lunch on one of the benches to sit and admire him?
Was there something drawing her here, to him?
The obvious answer was one she refused to accept.
Mate.
He’d said he could sense her even in his stone state, just because she was near. Because they were mates. He’d said he knew who she was before ever knowing her.
Maybe…I came here because…
No. No, that couldn’t be it. She accepted that he believed in this mate bond. She accepted it happened for his people.
Anna didn’t believe that meant she was Frey’s mate. That they were meant to be together.
She was human.
She wasn’t soulmate material.
There had to be another explanation.
Blush burning hotter, Anna shuffled a little closer to the new statue, a crazy idea coming to her.
She wasn’t special, but what if…
Without thinking more, Anna reached out and placed a gentle hand on the new statue’s leg. Cool stone met her touch, and she held her breath, looking up into the frozen face. Her heart pounded as she waited—for something to happen, for a shiver of life.
What did happen was a series of piercing, blinding bolts of light filling the gallery.
Anna yelped, clapping her hands over her eyes. Across the room, she heard the clatter of equipment fall to the floor as June covered her eyes against the sudden shocks of light.
For a long moment, nothing happened. There was no sound except the pounding of her heart and heave of her panicked breaths.
Then, the steady slap of feet quickly approaching.
“What happened?”
Gavin.
After another moment, Anna dared to peek out from behind her fingers. The light had faded, replaced by an imposing, frowning Gavin Gwyneth. He stood a few feet away, apparently having rushed from his office down one of the branch corridors. Face severe and stern, he took in Anna, still next the new statue, and June and her equipment.
“I-I’m so sorry,” Anna rushed to explain, “I stumbled and caught myself on the statue. I shouldn’t have touched it. I’m so sorry.”
Eyes that were the palest blue Anna had ever seen slid from her to the statue and back again.
“You touched the statue. Nothing else happened?”
