Arabesque: A Wings Companion

Chapter Sixteen

But still happy?

She'd made up her mind to treat humans with greater respect, and this particular human was especially interesting to her, but she was working against a lifetime of mental inertia. Things seemed to change so fast on this side of the gate!

To Rowen's surprise, Shawn was grinning.

"So we can start from scratch?" he whispered.

"Is this scratch?" she asked, forgetting that she shouldn't question humans on their saying and idioms.

He chuckled, as though she'd said something clever. "Maybe a step above scratch." He pushed back her bangs and cupped her face with one hand. "I'll let you get through auditions—I know how important they are," he said solemnly. "Then let's get together. Away from here." He leaned forward, his cheek against hers, mouth close to her ear. "This place makes people a little crazy."

She laughed. He wasn't wrong; it had been much the same in the corps in Avalon.

"You sneak out first," he said, reaching for the doorknob. "I'll wait a couple minutes. We'll talk later."

Rowen nodded and reached for the knob, her hand over his, then paused. "Will you tell Meghan?"

He sucked in a loud breath and held it for several long seconds. "I think," he finally said, "that depends on how auditions go."

***

"I don't understand how they can be fae," Yasmine said, her face crumpled with concern as she joined Tamani and Laurel on one of the Gate Garden's many stone benches.

Tamani held Laurel's hand in his lap, fingers clasped tightly in his own. He hated that he was, for the second time in little more than a decade, bearing ominous tidings to Avalon. Of course, Klea's attack wasn't the last time Avalon found itself torn by conflict; though Yasmine's coup had been relatively peaceful by comparison. But Laurel—and, by extension, Tamani—had been safe in San Francisco, in the student housing at Berkeley. About as surrounded by humans as possible.

Tamani hadn't grown complacent, exactly, but there had definitely been a settling in—a feeling of safety that had become his new baseline. His new normal. He couldn't remember a time in his life when he didn't love Laurel, so the risk of personal loss had been with him during the years he faced constant danger on her behalf, but in the last dozen years their love had grown like an oak, becoming a stronger and more deeply-rooted version of the sapling it had once been. The concept of loss felt far more tragic now. And with a seedling on the way? Tamani couldn't put into words the degree of fear that washed over him at the thought of that round, green pod coming to harm.

Which was why he'd struggled with the decicion of whether to send Laurel to Avalon with his questions, while he remained in Orick—or to go to Avalon on his own, leaving Laurel to protect their home. Much as she hated fighting, Laurel was an extremely gifted Mixer; in her home, surrounded by her gardens, she would make an extremely dangerous foe. But in the end, he'd had to trust Laurel's parents and the Gate sentries to mind things for a while. Tamani needed to be here because he was the one who saw the sea-fae, and he needed Laurel here to lend her wisdom.

"I don't understand it, either, and I've had more than a week to think about it. They didn't look a thing like us. I mean, they looked like ... plants. And they came up out of the saltwater like they belonged there. All I know for certain is what I felt, and what I felt was Enticement. It's unmistakable—any half-trained sentry would be able to confirm it." He was actually a little chagrinned it had taken him as long as he did to identify the sensation. But he couldn't have expected anything of the sort!