He grinned. “Exactly.” Looking up at the windows he said, “It’s getting dark. Let’s go outside.”
“Okay.” We retraced our steps, the length of the nave. Several times I stopped to admire the mosaic on the floor. Several times I stopped to turn in a circle to take it all in. “You could make a fortune if you charged admission to see this.”
Keir chuckled softly. “Perhaps. But fortunes in the human sense don’t mean much when you can have what you want.”
“I guess that’s true.”
When we reached the gardens, Keir steered me toward one of the pathways as wide as the pedestrian trafficway of a mall.
“You ready?” He grinned, but didn’t wait for me to answer.
The space he’d occupied became a Keir-shaped mass of shimmering air for a couple of seconds. Then, with a soft pop, what stood in his place was a winged lion so enormous he was at eye level with me. I may have whimpered from the surprise of it, but would never admit it if pressed. The new Rita doesn’t run from vampires who go still as the grave in the middle of a shop, or Border Collies that turn into bigger-than-life wolves, or nasty little goblin cobblers, or even banshees. Certainly she would not run from a creature of such mythic magnitude.
I stood my ground, but did inhale deeply. Involuntarily. As if my lungs decided on their own that courage requires more oxygen.
The lion’s fur was a golden tan, much the same color as Keir’s skin, sleek and shiny. The eyes were the same green with gold and rust flecks. The mane had the slightest suggestion of curl, as did Keir’s blonde locks. As if he could read my thoughts, he shook his mane, stretched his neck, and angled his head as if he was inviting me to touch.
I reached out my hand slowly, chanting the assurances I’d been given that I would not be in danger from magic kind. When the lion didn’t move, I lightly touched his mane and found it soft as newly conditioned hair.
He angled his body slightly away from me. I didn’t know if it was permission to look or touch. I ran my hand along the silky fur of his neck to his back and to his shoulders that supported mighty wings. When my fingers touched the joint where the wing closest to me met his back, the wings lifted in a slight flutter, but did not expand.
The feathers were gold and gray with silver under-down.
When I found my full-throated voice, I said, “Can you fly?”
“Yes,” came a deep rumble.
I jerked back because I hadn’t expected him to be able to talk in this form. “You can talk.”
I supposed the sound that followed was a chuckle, but it was too growly to be sure.
Dusk was spent walking through an enchanted garden beside a creature so fantastic, he defies description. When the last trace of light had faded, the air shimmered and Keir walked toward me smiling.
“Look up,” he said.
I did. As he’d promised the pitch-black sky above was resplendent with stars bright and twinkling like diamonds. I laughed out loud. “It was cloudy. How am I seeing this?”
“I told you. A deity owed me a favor.”
“This is all…”
Keir stepped in front of me and stood close. Close enough for me to smell wind and musk.
“Tell me what I want to know,” he demanded.
“What do you want to know?”
“You know.”
“I don’t.”
With a scoff, he said, “Can you be attracted to someone like me? Now that you know everything?”
There wasn’t enough light to read his face but his eyes glimmered even in the dark. “I don’t think I know everything.”
“Everything you’d be angry about if you found out later.”
I hesitated. “I’m not really sure what you’re asking.”
With an exasperated huff, he pulled me into his body and brushed my lips with his. Testing.
“Kiss me,” he said.
“I can’t. I’m married.”
He released me and stepped back. “Is that the only reason?”
The question begged to be thought through. After all, Maggie had suggested I beware of Keir, the player. And she did it right in front of him.
“If I said that’s the only reason, what would you take from my answer?”
“That you’re interested in me and will be open to getting to know each other better when you’re no longer bound. Technically.”
I had to agree that the whole married thing was an excuse to stall while I sorted out my feelings. I’d never thought I’d have