Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel (34 page)

She wouldn’t have…?

I opened my shields. I could tell from the way the woman beside me stilled that my eyes lit from the inside, but I didn’t care if she noticed. She was playing a game, and I intended to See through it.

And I could.

Faerie had its own layers of reality, but the land of the dead and the Aetheric weren’t among them, so while I could sense the realities around me, they weren’t visible. That meant absolutely nothing obscured the fact both men were bound in glamour—a strong one, too. But while the glamour was thick, it didn’t change the fact that with my shields open, the men switched places.

So that’s her game
. Now I knew why “Ryese” wouldn’t meet my eyes—the queen had likely ordered Falin not to reveal the trick.

“I pick him,” I said, pointing at the real Falin.

“Ryese?” the queen asked, those perfect eyebrows arching.

I almost said yes, as that was who Falin currently looked like, but stopped myself. She could drop the glamour at any moment. If I said yes to Ryese, she may do just that, and I’d be stuck with the real Ryese. “No.”

“Then you mean him.” She pointed to the fae glamoured to look like Falin.

“No,” I said again and crossed the space to Falin. I opened my shields wider, until I couldn’t see even a shadow of the glamoured shape hiding Falin’s form.

Glamour is belief magic. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure how it worked from the fae side, but the basic principle was that if you believed what you saw, it became real—at least temporarily. If enough people disbelieved what they saw, reality would reject the glamour. Not all glamour was equal, and Faerie accepted it easier than mortal reality—so much so that the first time I met the Winter Queen she’d transformed my outfit into a ball gown, which still hung in my closet, complete with ice embellishments that never melted. But even Faerie wouldn’t accept that one man was another.

Normally it took a lot of like-minded people to disbelieve glamour, but reality and I had an interesting relationship. With my shields open, I could see the men as they truly were. I just hoped reality agreed.

“Him,” I said again, and reached out and touched Falin’s arm. As I did, I gave a push of power, willing reality to accept what I saw as true.

The queen’s top lip quivered, as if she were fighting a scowl and close to losing the battle. Reality had clearly accepted my truth over hers.

“Very clever, Lexi,” she said, the words clipped but even. The air tingled with her anger, but her face smoothed to controlled perfection. Then her lips curved into a cold smile. “Your prize then, I suppose. I promised you contact. I didn’t promise you conversation. Knight, come here.”

Falin didn’t hesitate, striding to her without so much as a glance at me. She wrapped one pale hand around his neck, pulling him down so she could whisper in his ear. As she did so, she pressed her body against his. My jaw locked, a mix of anger and jealousy twisting in my guts. I turned away, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of seeing my reaction.

I glanced back in time to see Falin’s eyes widen and then narrow, but whatever she told him, all he did was incline his head as she stepped back. She turned to me, that cruel smile still claiming her face.

“What ever will you do with my Knight for a day and a night? He’s all yours, except his words, but you don’t really need those.” She tilted her head, but if she was aiming for innocence, she failed. “Be merry, dear Lexi.” Then she glanced at her nephew. “Ryese, let’s go.”

While the Winter Queen might have control of her features, Ryese certainly didn’t. His expression wavered between confusion and anger. I doubted the confusion had anything to do with me breaking the queen’s glamour and a lot more with the very blatant thought of
How the hell did I lose?
When he stood there, staring, his expression darkening by the heartbeat, the queen called his name again. Ryese’s head snapped up, and I wiggled my fingers in a mock wave good-bye. Ryese scowled, but turned on his heel, following his aunt.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I said once they disappeared into the crowd.

Falin didn’t answer, of course. He just laced his fingers into my hair and leaned down. His lips claimed mine, and he kissed me as if in that one kiss, he could make up for a month of lost opportunities. My body responded, warming under his attention, returning his kiss.

Then my brain rebooted, screaming warnings at me. I flattened my palms against Falin’s chest and pushed hard enough to get my point across.

He didn’t release me, didn’t let me step away from him, but he broke the kiss, giving me an inch or two as he stared at me like I could somehow save him. But I couldn’t save
him. Hell, I couldn’t save myself. I’d won him from the Winter Queen, but for only a day and a night, and I had no idea what she’d told him. He’d spent the last month conducting raids on my home and being cold to the point of cruel because she’d commanded him to. I didn’t know her new game, but I wasn’t interested in playing.

Falin started to lean forward again, but I pressed my hands against his chest, feeling his heart beating fast and hard under my palms.

“Slow down, and let go of me.”

He cocked his head to the side, but the look he gave me was more bemused than confused. I couldn’t blame him. After all, we’d done a lot more than kiss several months ago. But now was different. The Winter Queen’s plots aside, I needed distance now for the same reason I couldn’t kiss Death yesterday.

Once I could have enjoyed the “right now.” Could have lost myself in the moment and had no regrets. Could have relished the fact that for a day and a night, Falin was mine.

But Falin would walk away from me at dawn. That was inevitable. The only question was how many pieces of my broken heart he’d take with him. Between Falin’s month long chill and Death’s long absence, I didn’t have many pieces left.

F
alin lowered me to my feet as the music stopped.

I was breathless, but smiling. I normally hated dancing. Not today. And not just because I had to figure out something to do with a man who couldn’t speak. As the fiddler and the bagpipers started in on another lively tune, the music seeped into my blood, my bones, and combined with the heady merriment filling the toadstool-ringed circle. Falin led as we danced with a mix of fae. There was no choreography, just carefree movement, as if the spirit of the dance spurred us on. I laughed, losing myself in the excitement.

I wasn’t the only one. The queen may have commanded Falin not to speak, but he could laugh, his face aglow. I didn’t know if part of his compulsion was to stay by my side or if he simply wanted to be with me while he could—it wasn’t like I could ask him— but he’d refused to leave despite my initial insistence. Now I was glad he’d stayed.

The setting sun coated the clearing in a golden-red glow, which added even more magic to the revelry. I finally understood why Rianna enjoyed Faerie. The day had been awkward, but fun. There were games, some familiar, some I hadn’t known the rules but played anyway, Falin laughing as he tried to teach me through charades, which became a
game within a game. There was music, and dancing, and everywhere the fae played, giggled, romped, and reveled in the gaiety. When the Harvest Queen and King had said to make merry, the fae had listened.

The song ended, and Falin led me out of the fray before the music started again. Walking arm and arm, I marveled at the beauty around me, at the way the last light of the day made the leaves look like they burned gold, red, and orange. At the fae, who even the most monstrous in appearance didn’t look dangerous, not now, not here. Heads turned to the sky as the last ray of light faded and night descended on the revelry.

I waited for the night blindness to set in, but it didn’t.

Hundreds of small lights in a dozen colors twinkled and then swirled and buzzed around the clearing like oversized fireflies. As a glowing blue figure passed in front of my nose, I realized they were pixies, the smallest I’d ever seen. Their light danced through the sky. But they weren’t the only ones casting their own glow. All the Sleagh Maith in the clearing glimmered softly, pale light lifting from their skin as if each were a ray of moonlight. The court of light’s members’ glow was warmer, almost golden.

“It’s so beautiful,” I whispered.

Falin’s hand tightened gently, as if in agreement, but he wasn’t looking out across the clearing. He was staring at me.

I looked away. Once I’d realized I wasn’t going to shake him this morning, and that I didn’t really want to wander around the revelry alone, I’d told him we’d spend the time as friends—no more kissing and sure as hell nothing the Winter Queen had hinted at. He’d agreed with a disappointed nod. Despite that agreement, this day was the closest thing to a date I’d had in my adult life.

And it was nice.

Something constricted in my chest, warning me of the pain to come at dawn. I fought to suppress it—I still had a night left. Falin may have been having the same thoughts, because as the night progressed I caught traces of sorrow in his face when he thought I wasn’t looking.

The Harvest moon rose, full, orange, and almost close enough to touch. Falin and I walked, going nowhere in particular. Now that night had fallen, more and more of the fae were pairing off, some disappearing into the outskirts of the forest, some not bothering with that much discretion. I found myself blushing more than once as my eyes tripped over bodies tangled in intimate positions.

Then I spotted a very familiar redhead lip-locked with a certain green-skinned fae. I stopped. “It’s never a good thing when your housemates hook up, is it?”

Falin glanced to where Holly and Caleb were lost in their own little world and shrugged.

“I guess I should have seen this coming.” Probably months ago. And they’d only gotten closer since Holly’s first trip to Faerie. “But they better not start walking around the house naked or doing it on the dining room table,” I muttered, making Falin laugh.

We moved on.

As we passed one of the large, endlessly overflowing banquet tables, Falin picked up a crystal flute and drained half of the amber liquid. Then he handed it to me.

I didn’t think about it. Falin handed me the flute, and I was thirsty, so I drank. It wasn’t until I’d taken a large gulp of the drink, which tasted of honey with a bite of alcohol, that I realized what I’d done.

I drank Faerie wine.

Falin snatched the flute from my hand, tossing it to the ground. Then he dragged me away from the table and into the tree line. I stumbled after him, my fingers pressed to my lips.

No.
How could I be so stupid? Faerie wine?

No, no, no.

Once past the first few trees, Falin ground to a halt and flipped around. He grabbed my shoulders and backed me up against a tree. The bark scratched against my bare shoulders, but I hardly noticed. Something warm spread inside my chest. Something changing me. I could feel it.

“Alex. Alex, look at me.”

I didn’t. I was too focused on what I felt, or maybe imagined I felt, happening inside me. The fact he’d spoken didn’t even register. My focus narrowed to the fact I’d drunk Faerie wine. Every human knew never to consume anything in Faerie.
And I drank Faerie wine.

Falin kissed me, his hand cupping my face. I was too stunned to react.

He pulled back. Then he pressed his palms against the tree on either side of my head and leaned his forehead against the rough bark, his cheek pressed against mine.

“Alexis.” My name, whispered so soft it barely made it past the buzz of shock in my ears.

I’d never heard my name said with so much heartbreak tangled in the simple syllables. I blinked.

“Alexis, I love you.”

Now
that
got a reaction from me, and I startled at the barely whispered words. I’m not sure if I made a sound or if he felt me jerk, but he pushed away from the tree so he could meet my eyes.

“You can’t trust me,” he said, his hands falling from the tree to my shoulders.

I blinked at him, my brain muffled in shock so that all I said was, “You can talk now?”

Falin pressed his lips into a tight line. “
She
froze my voice only until I completed her task. Ryese told her that you don’t eat at the Bloom. She wanted to see what would happen if you ate our food.”

Too many shocks had struck me in the last few minutes, so this newest one took me a moment to get my still reeling mind to wrap around.

“Then she…You…?” I hadn’t had time to consider it, but I’d assumed he’d handed me the flute as thoughtlessly as I had drunk from it. But if the Winter Queen had wanted me to eat Faerie food. If she’d told him to make sure I did…“You did that on purpose.”

He squeezed his eyes closed. When he opened them again, they were blue ice. Cold. Emotionless. His hands slid from my shoulders to my upper arms, and he gripped me
tight. The bullet wound on my arm screamed in agony, making me wince.

“You can’t trust me. Do you understand?”

“You’re hurting me.” My voice sounded a hell of a lot calmer than I felt. I’d have been proud of that fact, except it was from the shock, not any great inner strength on my part.