learn basic things, you’d realize I’m more than you think.” She sat down and ripped a hunk of bread off the loaf.
He kneeled across from her. “But… that… I don’t even ride that well.”
“That sounds like a you problem.” She laughed at his stunned expression. “I grew up on a farm, Griff, of course I know how to ride horses.”
He still hadn’t taken his eyes from her. “What more don’t I know about you, Brea Robinson?”
She met his gaze. “This magic—or whatever cheesy way you weirdoes describe it—I can’t do it. I can’t control it. The next time you try to make me, I’ll throw you in that deceptively beautiful lake. And I won’t cry when the mermaids eat you.”
“What’s a mermaid?”
“Seriously? Don’t all you fairytale people know each other?” She wasn’t sure what existed or didn’t exist anymore, but this fae world made her realize anything was possible.
Griff smiled. “I think I like you.”
She grunted. “Well, everyone has their flaws.”
Waiting sucked. Brea started losing track of the days since Griff pulled her through that portal. Not much changed in the cottage she’d considered idyllic at first. Now, it was mostly boring.
She spent most of her time with Mack and Maisie, enjoying their stoic silence. Leith was like a ghost. Tasks got done, but they rarely saw him. Each evening, Brea sat at the table across from Griff to eat dinner. It was becoming her favorite time of day, the only time he wasn’t busy and would sit there for hours talking to her about anything and everything.
She’d never been much of a talker with anyone other than Myles, but something about this man brought it out of her. She told him stories of the human world, though he knew the basics since he’d traveled there a few times on missions for his queen.
Even the topic of Myles came up. He assured her what happened wasn’t her fault, but if she couldn’t blame herself, then who? It was easier not to think about it, and Griff made that easy. His charming smiles and gregarious stories filled her with a kind of laughter she’d rarely experienced in her life.
One night, he leaned across the table, meeting her eyes. “Let’s go outside.”
“Why?”
One corner of his mouth curved up. “Do you have to question everything?”
“Yes.” Despite her protests, she stood and gestured for him to follow her out into the warm night air. A full moon shone brightly overhead, surrounded by a scattering of stars.
“I used to watch the stars a lot at home.” She sat on the ground and leaned back against the side of the cottage. “We had a barn behind the house. I’d climb into the loft and out the window to pull myself onto the roof.”
She hadn’t even brought Myles there. It was a place that belonged to her alone. And now Griff.
“Sounds dangerous.” There was no chastisement in his tone, only curiosity.
“I know you think humans are so… breakable, but trust me, it was better than being inside my house.”
“Why?”
She didn’t want to explain the sordid details of her family or her parents’ constant berating to a man she barely knew, no matter how much she’d started to trust him. “That’s a story for a different time.” She leaned forward against her knees and drew in the dirt near her feet. “So… elves… do you all like live forever and stuff?”
His lips quirked at the term elves, but he didn’t correct her for once. “Not forever, but we do live longer than humans.”
“Let me guess… you’re over a hundred years old.”
He laughed. “Thanks for that. I didn’t think I looked a day over sixty. No, I’m nineteen.”
She looked up. “Only two years older than me. I… didn’t expect that. How come you live out here all alone then?”
“I’m not alone. I have Leith, Mack, and Maisie.”
She leveled him with a stare.
He looked away, and she wondered what he was hiding.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
A sigh rattled through his chest. “It’s just… I didn’t have the best upbringing. Queen Regan saved me after my parents died. She raised me, but she also realized court life wasn’t for me. I need space to think, to just be me. That probably doesn’t make any sense.”
“No.” She reached for his hand, threading her fingers through his. “It makes perfect sense.” She’d never done well around other people, preferring animals and a desolate farm to parties and class. Griff could have lived in a palace surrounded by opulent things, but he would