Hatter's Heart - Erin Bedford Page 0,4

beat while I waited for my meal to finish.

By the time, my meal was ready, I'd already finished another glass. If I had been human, I would have stopped at the one glass, especially after drinking at Kat's house, but human wine was nothing like Fairy Tears, the drink of choice in the Underground. I poured myself another glass and sat down to my tasteless meal of some questionable meat and potatoes.

While I had acquired magical abilities in my time in the Underground or what I had called Wonderland when I was a child, I unfortunately never developed the ability to cook. Magical food wasn't something you could just make appear out of nowhere in the human realm. It had to come from somewhere.

I leaned back and sighed, my plate empty as well as my wine glass.

Mercury was still not home yet.

Forcing myself not to panic, I washed my dishes and then took a bath. The plumbing had made leaps and bounds since my time. Since servants were only something the rich had in this world, I was ecstatic to learn I didn't have to haul the water in myself. I could also have as many hot baths as I wanted without having to worry about my water going cold.

I took advantage of that aspect and laid about in the bathtub until my fingers and toes were wrinkly. Smiling at them and how much my mother would have disapproved, I climbed out of the bath. Wrapping a towel around myself, I tilted my head to the side and listened.

Nothing.

Now, I was beginning to worry.

Where could he be? It wasn't like him to be gone this long without a note or anything to let me know where he had gone.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed my phone and pressed the shortcut on my screen to dial Mercury. The phone rang and then after a moment a responding ring echoed through the house. With a huff of annoyance, I marched through the house following the sound.

I found it in the living room, stuffed in between the couch cushions.

"What's the point of having a phone if you do not bring it with you?" I growled to an empty room. When it didn’t respond back, I went back to our bedroom and proceeded to get ready for bed. If he didn't show up by morning, then I would call Kat.

I would not be that woman who had to know where her lover was every moment of the day. Besides, there was surely a perfectly rational explanation for his disappearance. Perfectly, normal.

A thumping sound made me shoot up out of bed. The room was dark, and the shades were pulled down leaving no moonlight to see by. Another thump sounded. This time followed by a grunt of pain.

"Mercury?" I called out into the darkness, sitting up further in bed.

"Yes, love. It's me." Mercury's shadowy form moved through the room. The bed dipped on the other side and I shifted toward him.

"Where have you been?" Exasperation and relief filled my voice as I reached for him. My fingers found the edge of his long hair before touching his bare chest.

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close so I could inhale him. The sickly-sweet smell of the grass he smoked, and tea leaves filled my senses and settled my anxious heart. Mercury stroked my hair and murmured reassurances in my ear.

"I apologize, little one." His nose brushed along my forehead. "I thought I would be back before you came home."

"Where were you?" I asked once more, leaning back from him wishing to see his face. The lights next to the bed flared to life. Silvery depth, the color of his very name, bore into me in his sharp angled face. Hair just as silver as his eyes fell over his shoulders and across his naked chest. He only wore a pair of plain black cotton pants, allowing me to look my fill of his pale muscular chest and stomach.

He stroked the side of my face, a small smile on his lips. There was a light in his eyes I hadn't seen since the first time we met back in the Underground. When he used to drink too much tea and he was surrounded by some disreputable creatures. I had wondered if I would ever see that side of him again. It seemed now I would.

"I think I found it."

My brows furrowed. "Found what?"

Excitement lit his eyes and he grabbed both sides of my face.