savagery receded.
Chapter Forty-Five
Azrael and I turned the night to day and basked in the heat of a magic sun. We swam in an underground ocean and rinsed away the salt with the spray of a waterfall. We lazed in the grass and swung in a hammock of darkness. We dined at an elegant table in the middle of a jungle and drank wine near a lava flow. And through all of it, I tried desperately to reach my fading husband.
Over and over, I tried to pierce the magic and touch the real Azrael. I kept getting glimpses of him but then he'd be yanked away and the Faerie God would take over with a knowing glint in his eye. The landscape would transform, sometimes becoming a seascape, and Az would whisk me across a ballroom floor, or sail with me in a pirate ship, or make love to me in the air—anything to dazzle me and keep me from calling to the real him. I had to hand it to the magic, it was clever and relentless. And a bit of a show-off.
“Are you hungry, Carus?” Azrael escorted me down a garden path, between a tangle of rosebushes, their blooms the exact color of fresh blood.
I knew they were that exact color because they bled, dripping over their deadly thorns. And no, in case you're wondering, it wasn't paint. My beasts had scented the blood as soon as the garden appeared and had been prowling anxiously inside me throughout our entire stroll. In fact, I was pretty sure that Azrael had made those wounded roses precisely for that reason—to keep me on my toes. I drew those toes back from a drop of blood that fell on the white stones near my foot, thinking absurdly of Snow White. It felt like a fairy tale, walking through the strange and wondrous lands Azrael created, and I suppose it was. I just hoped I didn't end up in a crystal coffin... again.
“Sure,” I answered. “I could eat.” I knew we'd eaten once already down there but my belly gurgled at his words so more time must have passed than I'd realized.
“Yes.” Azrael laughed at my rumbling belly. “I see—or hear, rather—that I've been lax in seeing to your needs. That shall not happen again.”
I wasn't sure if I liked the sound of that.
A clear, circular platform appeared before us and Azrael stepped upon it. He helped me onto the disc and it began to rise, then expand. Soon, it was over forty feet across—large enough to hold the dining table that appeared on it. The table had gilded legs, carved in swirling designs, and a creamy marble top. On the marble, crystal plates and goblets waited with golden flatware. Azrael sat me in a throne-like chair and then took the one beside it.
“What would you like to eat?” He asked as the scenery changed below us.
I glanced down to see the garden go hazy as if it were a wet painting and the artist had just swiped a brush across it. The colors blended, diffused, and changed. Garden became desert—great rolling dunes beneath a warm sun. My clothing shifted to suit the scenery, becoming thin layers of silk, embroidered with gold. Something Scheherazade would have been proud to wear. But then the dunes started to shimmer and shift. Golden sand took on other colors, vibrant shades, and I realized that it wasn't sand at all but gemstones. Millions of faceted jewels sliding over nuggets of gold. A hoard that made my dragon squeal. And she never squeals.
“Strawberry shortcake,” I whispered in awe.
“As you wish.” Azrael inclined his head and a golden-brown shortcake, covered in strawberries and whipped cream, appeared on my plate.
I gaped at it and then at him. “That was an expletive, not a request.”
“I know.” Az grinned broadly. “But I couldn't resist.”
“Oh.”
“You can have all of the precious jewels that you want, my love,” the Faerie God declared indulgently. “Your dragon can roll in them like a cat in catnip. Whatever you desire, I will provide.”
“Az...” I trailed off as I looked down and spotted the shortcake again. I was really hungry. I took a bite and groaned in pleasure.
“Yes?” he prompted me.
“How about a steak?”
A huge slab of perfectly cooked prime rib shimmered into existence on the table in front of my dessert. It had a baked potato and sauteed green beans with it. I sighed and put the shortcake aside in favor of the meat. Azrael chuckled as