Allegiance (31 page)

It didn’t really feel like Christmas. I’d missed the lead-up—decorating the tree, carols by candlelight, Mum complaining she’d spent too much money and was definitely cutting back next year. It was kind of depressing, like a big chunk of my life was missing. But when I walked through the balcony door and Dad wrapped me in his arms, I no longer cared. After a moment, he held me away from him and, with a question in his eyes, said, ‘You don’t look well, love.’

‘I’m all right,’ I told him, my eyes threatening to erupt. I blinked a few times and swallowed hard. ‘Where’s Mum and Ashleigh?’

He didn’t press, just watched me a moment longer before telling me Mum was in the shower and Ashleigh in her room. I looked around while Dad greeted Leif, soaking up home and taking in Ashleigh’s decorating. Lights crisscrossed the room and
ornaments hung from every corner. As for the tree, you could barely see it under the tinsel. The whole place was a fire hazard.

‘I did good, huh?’ Ashleigh said, appearing from the hallway, newly black hair ironed straight. Every year we argued over the decorating. She always wanted bigger and glitzier, while I liked a little more subdued.

‘Stunning, Ash.’

She pointed to the sideboard. ‘Don’t say I didn’t think of you.’ Hidden amongst Santa candles and sleigh-pulling reindeer was the little wooden nativity I loved the most. I smiled and went to admire it, dragging Leif with me.

Mum joined us, the smile sliding from her face when she saw me. ‘Leif said you were sick but we didn’t think you’d be this bad.’ She turned her frosty eyes on Leif.

‘I’m fine,’ I told her. ‘And don’t blame Leif. It’s not his fault.’

Mum made a huffing noise before looking back to me. ‘I thought this Faera place was meant to be good for you. You look awful!’

‘Well, you look great,’ I told her. ‘You’ve had your hair cut, it looks… wow.’ I spread my hands wide.

Her eyes narrowed as a hand went to her shower-wet hair. Ashleigh laughed and told me I was the biggest suck-up ever born. I ignored my sister and carried on. ‘Wait till you see what I got you for Christmas, Mum, you’re gonna love it!’ I loosened the drawstring on my bag and took out the little silk bag with her name on it, waving it in front of my mother’s face before tucking it and the other presents I’d brought with me under the tree. ‘They have diamonds in Faera, Mum, and rubies and sapphires and…’

‘Well, I hope you brought some for me,’ Ashleigh interrupted, rooting through the presents to find hers. She found the box with her name on it and shook. The multi-coloured firelights rattled around inside.

Leif interrupted to tell us he had to go back to Faera for a short while. I frowned and had a silent whinge about his father—couldn’t he even give Leif a break for one day! Mum told him to hurry up so he wouldn’t be late for lunch. Leif said he’d do his best before kissing me and heading for the balcony.

By the time Leif got back we’d eaten breakfast, returned from church and been joined by Ashleigh’s boyfriend, Matt—a skinny guy with jet black hair, sticky hands and sharp blue eyes. He was sitting on the lounge beside my sister and every time I glanced in their direction, he was either licking his lips, watching her thighs or leaning across to whisper something in her ear as he scrunched ever closer. I wondered if he’d be acting the same way if Mum and Dad weren’t so busy in the kitchen. I felt sad for Ashleigh, who, apart from occasionally swiping a wandering hand away, seemed oblivious to his creepiness.

My attention was diverted from him when flickers of dazzling light and flashes of wings heralded Leif’s return. Matt let fly a string of astonished swearwords, Ashleigh slapped a hand over his mouth and I squealed and launched myself at my brother who had landed beside Leif on the balcony.

‘Lysander for Christmas as requested,’ Leif said with a grin as he set a girl he was carrying down.

I dragged myself from my brother and wrapped my arms around my betrothed. ‘I love you,’ I whispered, turning my face up to catch his eyes. ‘Thank you.’

He smiled and kissed me softly.

‘Gag.’

I turned to my sister, now standing beside me, eyes all over Lysander. I guessed Leif had confused Matt, because he remained
on the lounge, dazzle-eyed and silent. ‘Don’t be jealous,’ I told her.

She tore her eyes from my brother to look at me. ‘Are you joking? You look like a scarecrow.’

Lysander laughed and I glanced in his direction. That’s when I noticed the identity of the girl Leif had carried. She was hiding behind my brother, watching the floor, a curtain of sand-coloured hair falling across her face. But it didn’t matter—I knew who she was. I inhaled sharply, but before I could decide what to do, Ashleigh said, ‘Well, aren’t you going to introduce us?’

I released the breath and said, ‘Ashleigh, this is my brother and…’

‘Mona,’ Lysander said, bringing his girlfriend beside him before I could decide whether or not to give her deception away.

Mona tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, lifted her chin high and looked me straight in the eyes when she said, ‘Pleased to meet you.’

I didn’t know how to respond. Did I play her game? Pretend I’d never met her? I couldn’t. But shouldn’t I at least give her a chance to explain? I didn’t have time to do either because Ashleigh was saying, ‘You found him and you didn’t even bother telling us?’

‘I haven’t been
back
to tell you, Ash.’

If she heard my response she gave no sign. She was utterly captivated by my brother—staring so hard it looked as though she was about to suck him into her soul. Lysander couldn’t have missed her signals if he tried. Ashleigh seemed to shake herself out of it after a moment, blinked a couple of times and blushed a dark shade of crimson as she flattened her hair with her fingers and said, ‘So… you’re Lysander.’

My brother grinned.

‘His name’s Grant actually,’ Mona snapped, before he could answer.

Ashleigh tipped her head to the side and smiled, not taking her eyes off him. ‘So, which is it—Grant or Lysander?’

‘Whichever you like,’ he told her, blue eyes sparkling. Ashleigh looked like she might melt. Mona looked like she was about to slap her. I looked to the ceiling. This couldn’t end well. Meanwhile Leif was murmuring something to Matt—sending him on his way apparently because a second later he was getting up and heading for the door.

‘Lysander it is,’ Ashleigh decided, not even noticing what was happening with her boyfriend. ‘I
love
your accent by the way.’

‘And I love your hair,’ Lysander said. His girlfriend scowled as he flicked his eyes to where Ashleigh’s natural colour peeked through the black.

I pulled a strand and said, ‘Told you so.’

Ashleigh rolled her eyes and blushed some more.

Either ignoring Mona’s glares or oblivious to them, Lysander continued. ‘It’s like fire and sunsets and goldfish.’

Leif chuckled beside me.

‘Goldfish?’ Ashleigh repeated, eyebrows hitching up.

Lysander smiled and absently hooked an arm around his tutting girlfriend. ‘Who doesn’t love goldfish? I’ve got three back home.’

I tuned out and silently said to Leif,
I did tell you I invited my grandparents for lunch, didn’t I?

You did, but if my father intended to question them about your brother, he would have done so already.

I smiled as excitement welled inside.
You think so?

Leif returned my smile.
Let them come. Your brother should know his grandparents.

‘What are you two saying?’ Ashleigh asked. She looked at Lysander. ‘They’re having a silent conversation. Rude, if you
ask me. At least if they were whispering, there’d be a
chance
of eavesdropping.’

‘Oh, right,’ Lysander said, as Leif smiled at my sister.

‘You’ll be just as bad when you meet your betrothed.’

I heaved a sigh of relief. At least Ashleigh had no delusions about a possible hook-up with my brother.

Mona pushed Lysander’s arm from her waist and folded her arms across her chest. ‘What
is
she talking about, Grant?’

I stared at her, eyes wide. She knew
exactly
what Ashleigh was talking about and I burned to tell her so.

‘Oh, didn’t you know?’ Ashleigh said, grinning. ‘Every faery has a soul mate and no one else will do. They call him or her their
betrothed
. Leif is Marla’s.’ Ashleigh turned back to Lysander. ‘Do you know the name of yours? Marla had Leif’s name bugging her for ages before they met.’

Mona’s eyes were about to set Lysander on fire. ‘Yeah, do you, Grant?’

My brother watched his feet as he mumbled, ‘It doesn’t matter, I won’t be meeting her anyway.’

‘But you’ll be
compelled
,’ Ashleigh said helpfully. Lysander had turned a paler shade of Mona’s scarlet.

I elbowed my sister in the ribs—hard.

‘Ow!’ she cried. ‘What was that for?’ Her eyes were round with fake innocence.

‘What’s her name?’ Mona persisted, watching my brother, determined to know the details and feel the pain. Her jealousy looked ugly but I could certainly relate to it.

Lysander shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

Leif turned to Mona and gently said, ‘He will not know until he reaches eighteen.’

Lysander caught his girlfriend’s eyes. ‘But you’ve got nothing to worry about. I don’t plan on going anywhere near her—or Faera.’

‘I’m sorry about before,’ I told my brother when I had a moment alone with him. He was helping me set the table for lunch. We’d moved the furniture around and brought the trestle table and plastic chairs up from the garage. The combined tables would just accommodate everybody. ‘Ashleigh can be full on sometimes.’

‘She’s great. Anyway, this is who I am and Mona needs to deal with it if she’s going to be with me.’

‘Would she really expect you to give up the girl you were born to be with?’

Lysander raised an eyebrow. ‘What do you think?’

‘Well, you need to know, this is not just about you. The Fae say there’s a part of a guy’s soul inside his betrothed. She
will
look for you.’

He sighed heavily. ‘Well, she’s not about to find me here, is she?’

My brother looked away and picked up the forks. He was quiet as he matched them to the knives he’d already placed.

Finally he said, ‘Who’ll be here for lunch?’

He was committed, that was for sure, and it only made Mona’s deception harder to take.

‘Everyone here and our grandparents—except for Dad’s father, he died last year.’ A familiar heaviness settled in my chest. But then a thought struck me: I
would
lose my human loved ones over time—there was no getting around it—but I didn’t have to lose my twin. I had to find a way to keep him.

Our grandparents started to arrive soon after that. The physical contrast between the Fae and the humans was dazzling. But, apart from that, they really weren’t so different. And they were all overjoyed to meet Lysander. Faun got to him first. She
wept and clung, stroking his face and hair as Melody danced around, clutching her hands together as she waited her turn. My human grandmothers welcomed Lysander to the family with hugs, apologising for not having a present for him and pressing money into his hand instead. And all three grandfathers were proud as they waited for their chance to speak with him.

Lysander was overwhelmed. He had to sit down. Mona didn’t like any of it. She sulked on the lounge, not speaking to him or anyone else. I felt sorry for her, because as I watched my brother bask in the love of his newfound family I knew her chances of keeping him were slipping away.