Fayre

I step out of chem lab, buzzing with energy. It feels good not to feel weak and in pain. I’m very aware that unfortunately, it won’t last long. It’s amazing how much you appreciate something when you’re aware that you don’t have an infinite amount of it.

I walk fast to my next class, but I can’t help gawking. The hallway is back to normal. There are no signs of the previous destruction; there are no cracks in the windows and the stone head busts are perfectly in their places. It’s as if an hour ago never happened.

Did they do this? How? How did they get everything to return to normal so quickly? I’m pretty sure I didn’t imagine the whole thing.

I look at Ruen, then I look at Thane. They are walking on either side of me, just slightly behind me. Thane returns my look with a quick sideways glance before he stares straight ahead, his eyes glitter with amusement and mischief. Ruen just continues on, seeming unperturbed but there’s a determined look on his stunning face and the taut lines of his tall and lithe body.

A few steps and a turn later, I throw a suspicious look their way again. Are they following me? I turn the corner and they do the same. When I slow down, they slow down too. When I pick up the pace, they’re just a step behind me.

I know I share the next class with them...and Luella...so we’re going to the same destination, but this is ridiculous! They won’t let me get too far away.

“Stop following me!” I hiss at them as I keep walking, my gaze sweeping around the passing students.

“We’ll stop following you when you agree to talk to us,” answers Ruen without looking at me.

“Well, start talking then! You can talk to me now,” I tell him. “We have a few more minutes before---”

“I’ve already told you, a ghrá," he says. "There are too many eyes watching, too many ears listening. We need privacy and I need more than just a few minutes with you.”

My mom certainly wouldn’t like that. “I can’t---” I begin to tell Ruen before he suddenly grabs my elbow and drags me sideways. It happens so fast, I can't even blink, let alone think of resisting when Thane pushes the backdoors open. Ruen brings me out into the bright sunlight. The two boys nod at each other before Thane turns around and slips back inside, letting the doors shut behind him with a click, signaling the lock engaged, leaving Ruen and me alone outside.

The backdoor is always locked during school hours, how did they do that? Wait, why am I out here alone with Ruen?

I whirl around, and even when I’m a hundred percent sure that the door is now locked, I grab the handle and frantically try to push it open. It doesn’t budge. Of course. These doors are built in the 1800-s, Thick, solid wood.

I swallow thickly. My heart is galloping in my chest. I can feel his eyes on my back, watching me but I grip the door handle harder, not wanting to face him...yet.

“Are you afraid of me, Fayre?” His voice is quiet; gossamer-like. Unreal. Beautiful and lilting, tantalizing, so unlike anybody else’s that I’ve ever known. Even Thane’s voice has that ethereal quality to it, although it doesn’t grab me the way Ruen’s does.

I’m not afraid of him...not really. I’m afraid of the power he has over me. I’m afraid of this connection that we have. I’ve been trying to dismiss this thing between us since that very first time that I saw him in the school corridor with Luella. I even told myself that I disliked him, close to hate, really but I know that it’s not working. I’m afraid of my feelings for him. My obsession with him. I find everything about him appealing and irresistible, that’s why we shouldn’t be out here alone. “We have to get back inside. The class is starting soon.” I try the door handle again.

“Fayre.” His hand covers mine over the door handle. His fingers are long and graceful. The heat of his touch, skin on skin is captivating...and paralyzing. Sparks ignite where we touch. I can feel the heat of his body behind me. “We don’t have much time,” he murmurs in my ear. I close my eyes and take a deep shuddering breath.

He eases my grip of the door handle before he releases my hand. Then he curls his hands around my shoulders and turns me around to face him. Our gazes clash. Those bluer than the sky eyes are even more breathtaking up close. Those long, thick, black eyelashes should’ve made him look feminine but they don’t. His messy jet black hair glistens in the sun. He’s the grown-up version of the boy I’ve been seeing in my dreams. He’s heartbreakingly beautiful, I could look at him forever.

He lifts a hand to brush his fingertips along my temple and stop near the corner of my eye. My heartbeat increased a little more from the little touch. His eyes glazed over like he’s mesmerized by what he’s seeing. “All those years that we’re apart, I thought of you all the time. Missing you. I imagined how you look like as you grow older,” he whispers. “You’re even more beautiful than I imagined.” The pad of his thumb gently traces my cheekbone, moving slowly down to my jawline. “Your skin has always been soft, like rose petals.” My heart stutters and I forget how to breathe.

“Promise to meet me when you awaken tonight, Fayre. Meet me under the weeping willow when the moon is bright and high,” he says. “Please.” His vivid blue eyes are hopeful and pleading.

There’s no way that my mom would be okay with that. I’m about to tell him no when he says, “Don’t you have questions in your heart and mind? Don’t you ever wonder where you came from? Don’t you ever wonder why you feel like you don’t belong here?

“Don’t you feel the emptiness without me, Fayre? Because without you, I do...and it’s painful.”

My heart hurts. The pain in his eyes shatters me. Inside my head, a wall crumbles and I try to claw my way up but I sink deeper as another wall takes its place. I can’t go against my mom’s wishes. I shake my head. “I’m sorry... I...I can’t.”

His eyes flash. Those bright, vivid blues turn glacier. “You can’t or you won’t, Fayre? Not for my life? Not even for your own?” He pauses for a second. “Then what does it take? What does it take, Fayre? Just name it and I’ll do it.”

My heart is bleeding inside. I know deep down, as sure as I am that the sun is shining in the autumn sky above our heads that my end is near...that his end is near too. “I...” I shake my head.

“Nothing?” His blue eyes roam my face. Frustration, fear, hurt, anger, longing reflect on his expression. “Fight it, Fayre. Fight whatever mortal sorcery they have on you...for us. Please, Fayre.”

I swallow thickly. I wish I could. I wish I could save us. I wish I could save him. But the walls inside my head are high and they have roots that dig deep. These walls are the end of me.

He’s watching me with those eyes. Reading every expression flickering on my face. I wish I could give him what he wants, but I can’t. “Very well,” he states grimly as if he’s made up his mind. His jaw clenches with determination. His nostrils flare. Suddenly, his fingers curl tightly around the nape of my neck, holding me captive, then he tilts his head and swoops down to press his lips to mine.

His lips are scorching like a branding iron on mine. I close my eyes against a quick flash of white light that engulfs us. Something happened, I don’t know what exactly, but my heart stutters. When the blinding light disappears, the world stands still. Our lips, chest, and limbs are pressed together. My hands are on his arms. One of his hands is in my hair, while another is flat against the small of my back, crushing me into him. For a while, we both stand like that, unmoving. Stunned.

He pulls back slowly. Shock and awareness in both our locked gaze.

Did I just imagine that? Did he really just kiss me?

“One,” I thought I hear him say but I’m too lost in my own head. His vivid blue eyes search mine, trying to read my mind. The air around us is thick, crackling around us. Did that kiss really happen? I flick my tongue over my bottom lip, trying to catch the taste of him. His thick eyelashes sweep down as his gaze travels from my eyes to my lips. Those bluer than the sky eyes of his flare dangerously. He groans and as if he can’t help himself, he leans down, and once again, covers my mouth with his.

A surge of energy shoots through me when our lips touch. His lips on mine feel good and I want more. I don’t know what more means but...I just do. His mouth is hot, desperate, and demanding. He pries my mouth open with his and I willingly let him. He’s ravenous, feeding me his tongue. That first taste of him and I lose all thoughts. He moans into my mouth as our tongues dance and tangle together. I can’t get enough of the taste of him. His arms circle my waist, pulling me flush against him. Energy sizzles up and down my spine, along my arms, and through my fingers that I tangle in his silky curls. Our bodies strain to get closer.

I don’t know how long we stand there and kiss. It feels like explosions after explosions of white-hot energy burst all over my body. My senses are only tuned to him and what he’s doing to me.

He tilts my head to the other side and takes my bottom lip in between his, sucking it fervently. “Ruen...” I sigh.

Suddenly he’s pulling back. When I open my eyes, he’s already staring at me. His blue eyes are piercing, hungry, and all kinds of angry. His lips are red and swollen from our kisses. His hair is messier than usual from my hands. His hands grip my waist, hard, for a few moments before he lets go. My heart is hammering in my chest. We’re both are breathing hard as we stare at each other like we're in a duel. I want to run away from the intensity of his blue gaze. I want to pull him back by the collar and kiss the hell out of him again.

The cawing of a crow breaks our absorption of each other. The sound comes from afar. His eyes scour the sky for a moment before he turns his gaze back at me. His expression is carefully blank. I don’t know what he’s thinking except that I know that he’s angry. “Your body knows who I am even when your mind forgets,” he says before pushing the door open without any trouble at all. If possible, he’s looking even more furious now than before we kissed.

We kissed. That was my first kiss and it didn’t feel awkward at all. At least not during the kiss. Now it’s awkward...for me.

Something else happened when he kissed me that first time. I want to ask him but he’s walking ahead of me. His steps are sure, graceful and a little bit aggressive.

Thane is waiting in the hallway near the stairs. He’s leaning against a wall. His navy blazer is unbuttoned and his hands are in his pockets. His pale blond hair shines from the ray of sunlight coming from one of the windows on the landing. He looks better than any models in one of those glossy fashion magazines. He turns his head and he lets his electric green eyes survey Ruen’s appearance from top to bottom before doing the same thing to me. I’m sure his sharp gaze misses nothing. He pushes off the wall as soon as I walk past, saying, “Great! You kids are just in time for lunch.”

Wait, what? Lunch? It’s lunchtime already? That can’t be right. But judging by the way that everybody is rushing to the lunchroom, that’s exactly right. Did we just miss the whole period? How? God, just how much time did I spend making out with Ruen? That thought brings my eyes to Ruen’s tall figure in front of me.

I can’t believe I just had my first kiss. Emmet and I never...wait, Emmet. My boyfriend, Emmet! I shouldn’t be kissing anyone else because my boyfriend is Emmet. Emmet is my boyfriend. I should feel guilty, right? Why don’t I feel guilty? Oh god, I’m such a bad person. But the kiss had felt right. It felt great, even. I didn’t feel bad at all...still don't. Why don’t I feel bad?

No matter how hard I try to fight it, I feel like I belong to him. Ruen. I should feel bad about that too but I don’t. Instead, the thought of kissing Emmet like that is unpalatable. The thought of making out with Emmet feels all kinds of wrong. Oh god, I’m such a bad, bad person. My mom wouldn’t approve of this behavior, nor would she expect it from me...and I still don’t feel bad.

Ruen is walking not far in front of me while Thane is just a couple of steps behind me. My energy is high. My lips feel bruised...the best kind of bruised. I try not to touch them as I straighten my tie before I smooth my hands down my school uniform. I hope I didn't look like how I feel - like I had just being devoured in the school backyard.

“Ruen! Finley!” exclaims Luella cheerfully as we step into the lunchroom. It’s as if she’s waiting for them by the door. Her bright smile falters when she takes in my position in between the two boys. Her wary eyes assessing my appearance. “Where were you?” She sounds suspicious.