Page 80 of Wind and Water
Another giggle. “No, I suppose not.” She flies over our clothes and dries them in a moment. “You should dress first.”
I reach around Liam and grab my underwear, jeans, bra, and shirt. “Um, thank you. I wonder if I might ask a favor?”
She flies around Liam and sinks so that she’s eye level with me when I pull my jeans on. “Are you the second human from the prophecy?”
“Maybe. I guess we’ll find out.” I cinch my bra, then pull on my tattered shirt. “Can we sit a little while before you make the portal. I’m not quite ready to face…whatever I’ll have to face.”
She looks from me to Liam, who has his pants on and is pulling the black t-shirt over his head. “If I don’t return by nightfall, Rían will come with a company of soldiers to find me.If I leave you here—” She shakes her head. “I cannot abandon you here.”
I pick up the smooth stone from the grass. “What if we sit and talk a little while, and you take us through your portal before dinner is served at the castle? These fairy glens are safe, right?”
Grinning, she sits in the grass. Her wings never stop moving. “We will be safe here.”
Taking my hand, Liam leads me to sit with Niamh. He crosses his legs. “Did the centaurs and Wren’s mother arrive safely?”
Wings beating faster, she bubbles with energy. “Almost two months ago. We believed you were both lost. Your mothers have been mourning you all this time. They’ll be so happy to learn you’re alive.”
“Venora brought us to Coire.” Liam plucks a blade of grass and tears it into shreds.
“I thought I scented that foul place. How did you escape, and how did you get here?”
While Liam explains our journey, I can’t bear to see the pity on the fairy’s face. Getting up, I find some longer grasses at the back edge of the spring. Plucking them, I sit on a rock and weave a braid around the little stone, imagining it done in gold with smaller stones on each side.
“Wren?” Liam’s voice is full of concern.Are you alright? I’ve told her as much as I’m going to. Will you come back? I think we should go through the portal. Your mother has suffered enough.
Swallowing down my selfish tears, I stand and join them. I hand the little bracelet to Niamh. “This is for you. A gift for finding us and saving us the long walk.”
Eyes wide, she smiles softly. “This is beautiful.”
My cheeks heat at her compliment. I’ve never been good at accepting those graciously. “If I can find some gold, I’ll do itthe right way when I can. That grass will dry out and crack eventually.”
“I love it, and I thank you, Wren, daughter of Birdie.”
My surprise must register since neither of us mentioned my name.
“Your mother has told me all about you. She is a lovely person with so many wonderful stories. My father has taken a particular liking to her.” Niamh rises with her wings lifting her off the ground.
Liam stands and takes my hand. “The fairy king is in Tús Nua?”
“Not all the time, but he visits and meets with the Riordan often. It’s why I sensed you. He comes through this glen, and I felt a different kind of magic. I guess that was your human portal. When he didn’t portal right away to the city, I worried he was in danger and flew here as fast as I could.” She ties the bracelet with magic and admires the stone.
“Why didn’t you portal here?” It fills me with joy to watch her look lovingly at my work, even if it’s just grass and a rock. She likes it, and that makes me happy.
“I can only portal from a glen. Even my father needs a glen’s magic to create a portal. The magic of our island is similar, but no sacrifice was made, and he can only come to a glen. That is why I keep my senses open to this place to know when he’s arriving.”
With a gentle squeeze of my hand, Liam says, “We’re ready to go home now, Princess.”
“Just Niamh. We are practically family as Rían has told me he considers you like a brother.” She flies to the space in front of the trees and swings her arm in a wide arc.
A portal opens.
Before we walk through, she stops Liam with a hand on his arm. “I think I should warn you that your woman will not be happy about the obvious connection between you two.”
My gut lurches into my throat. “Woman?”
“She is not my woman. Dierdre is someone whom I dallied with some time ago, but she’s deluded herself into making more of it. I have told her many times that we are no longer together. I told her so again just before I left to find you, Wren. I promise you, there is nothing between Dierdre and me. She is a nuisance and nothing more.” There is so much anger in his voice, it startles me.
“Okay—if you say so.”
