The Light of My Hearts

Once Twillow left the Estate, Kendrick was left alone in her room for a time. He went out on the balcony and sat in the sunshine for a bit, taking in the clean, exotic scents of the Parliel Realm. After a while, he got up, walked through Twillow’s room, and exited out into the expansive hallway to explore the house as his mate suggested. The place was just as big, opulent, and well decorated as he remembered. (So unlike his home.) He casually walked down the hall, observing the paintings and sculptures that lined the wide green carpeted hall.

As he explored, he caught a whiff of what he associated was fairy scents: floral like Twillow but much more sugary smelling, like a fresh piece of honeycomb near a river. He’d smelled similar scents at the Golden Perryton amongst the fairy staff. No doubt the Birchwoods also had fairies living in their home as staff, but he hadn’t seen any yet. Still, the scent remained present and nearby no matter where he went.

He was pretty sure he was being followed.

…

From his high vantage, atop one of the curtain valances, Epi watched the gray-skinned man like a hawk as he traversed the upstairs hall. Fairies naturally glowed so he tried to keep the thick curtain material in front of him so his own light wouldn’t betray his position.

His sister wasn’t thinking like he was and he hissed, “Petal! Your glow!”

She gave a startled and embarrassed look and dipped behind the curtain as well, “Why are we hiding? I thought we were going to get started with our cleaning duties while Mrs. Birchwood was out?”

“Mrs. Birchwood told us to watch him. If he knows we’re watching he won’t do anything incriminating.” Epi explained quietly but with annoyance.

“What do you mean “incriminating”?” Petal asked naively.

Epi shrugged, “I don’t know…stealing something…cheating with another woman?”

Petal gasped, perturbed by such a thought.

“But that’s our mission. Who knows what he’ll do while Mrs. Birchwood is away?” Epi questioned rhetorically. “Come on. He’s going to the stairs.”

The pair secretly followed Kendrick from overhead, watching as he descended the stairs and went for the ballroom. He had left his sack of gold from the Lower Realm in the ballroom inadvertently as he was too preoccupied with Gelilah’s attack. Amazingly it was still where he dropped it, undisturbed. With a grunt of exertion, he hefted the sack over his back and shoulder to take it up to Twillow’s room for safe keeping. He couldn’t believe how weak he felt compared to his normal form as he marched back up the stairs, sweat trickling.

Up above in the glisten of the floating chandelier the Rose Twins watched.

“What’s in that sack?” Petal whispered.

Epi frowned, shaking his head, “I don’t know but it looks heavy. He must’ve taken something from the ballroom.”

Petal shook her head, “There’s nothing to take in the ballroom. It’s just the music tree”

The pair followed him some more until he reentered Twillow’s room, dropped the sack heavily against the wall out of the way, and sighed. He exited promptly and resumed his explorations. Using the passageway through the wall they pushed open a decoration in the wall trim and entered Twillow’s room. Usually, they used the passageways to enter rooms they intended to clean, today they were snooping.

The large brown burlap sack lay on the floor. It didn’t look very clean which made Epi’s skin itch. He couldn’t stand “dirty”. But he flew over and he and Petal pulled on the bag’s strings to open it.

“Why does he have rocks?” Petal asked when they viewed the contents.

“Not rocks, Petal. That’s gold!” Epi said with certainty. “Where did he get this?”

“There’s no gold in the ballroom.” Petal insisted.

Epi made a thinking face and then flew back toward their special tunnel, “Come on. We have to find him again.”

Petal sighed and shook her head, “You follow him if you want. I’m going to go start our cleaning duties.”

“But Mrs. Birchwood said we need to watch him!” Epi protested.

“We always do our cleaning duties when she’s away. We can’t shirk our cleaning duties, Epi.” Petal argued, brushing her hands on her tiny apron. “I’ll go get started, you can watch him.”

Epi looked frustrated but decided they could split up and still get their chores done while taking on this new task. He agreed, finally. With a flutter of her wings, Petal flew to tiny hidden door in the wall to make her way to the bath and sauna room for cleaning while Epi diverged for the hallway to catch up to his target. Epi made his way to the hall, but he didn’t see Kendrick anywhere. He darted back and forth, trying to decipher where he went. But he had lost sight of him.

“Oh…where did you go?” he whispered anxiously.

He had to find him and fulfill his duty to Mrs. Birchwood!

…

After leaving his gold in Twillow’s room, Kendrick returned to the hall to continue his roaming and exploring of the Birchwood mansion. His nose picked out his next destination: he smelled scented water. He traveled down the long hall and turned, finding a pair of white doors designed with golden leaves. It smelled like hot rose water and other aromatic scents. He cautiously opened the doors and a hot humid gust hit him. Inside he beheld a huge marble bathroom with both hot and cold pools lined with intricate tile designs. Steam filled the air in heavy clouds, lifting the floral, aromatic scents and making them stronger.

A pleased smile lifted his mouth. His last trip to the Parliel Realm gave him his first hot bath and he relished the idea of having another one. Now he could. In fact, he felt like partaking in a good soaking.

He stripped, made a pile near the wall with his clothes, stepped a foot down into the steaming pool, and exhaled a very satisfied growling sigh.

“EEEP!” a tiny female voice squeaked.

Kendrick jerked his foot out of the pool with surprise when he spotted a tiny pink-haired fairy with rosy skin and a little maid outfit through the clouds of steam. Her little hands were covering her glowing face with mortification.

“OH! Umm…ah..sorry! I-I didn’t realize anyone was in here! Sorry.” He fumbled, attempting to turn and cover himself.

But the more he spoke the brighter she got. Kendrick backed away quickly to his pile of clothes, still apologizing when the door behind him swung open and hit him hard in the back.

“OOF!” he grunted.

“PETAL! Are you ok? Are you…?” a second small voice called out only to fall away upon seeing Kendrick in the nude. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER?!”

Kendrick shook his head, flabbergasted, “WHAT?! Nothing! I was just…”

Quite suddenly the outraged male fairy shot at him like a pink bullet and struck Kendrick bodily in the chest. It startled him more than hurt but it felt like a full-blown slap from a person ten times his size.

“Hey!” Kendrick protested with a flinch.

“GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!” the little voice berated him as he attacked repeatedly like an angry bird defending its nest.

“I wasn’t doing anything! I just wanted a hot bath!” Kendrick tried to explain as he was assaulted by the pint-sized attacker.

Finally, he snagged his pile of clothes and stumbled out the door into the hallway. He stood there for a moment reeling from what just occurred. Thankfully the little menace didn’t pursue him. But as he stood holding his clothes the tittering giggle of two females sounded. Two notably short maids (they looked like dwarves) were blushing and giggling down the hall from him.

“Shhhit.” Kendrick hissed through his teeth.

Twillow hadn’t been gone an hour and already things were going wrong.

…

At the spa Lamose…

Twillow sighed with ease as her dainty feet soaked in the hot, scented water. Soon a foot masseuse sat before her and began firmly but gently massaging her feet. Even though she hadn’t been thrilled attending this outing, that hesitance was fading with the soothing foot soak and massage.

Her mother, for her part, hadn’t said much since they had arrived. The awkward air was heavy after their fight earlier. Neither mother nor daughter seemed willing to step forward with conversation.

Gelilah gave in first and mentioned quietly, “After your foot massage I’ve arranged for Gabel to give you a wing wrap and back massage in the crystal chamber.”

Twillow opened her eyes and nodded in sterile acknowledgement, “Sounds nice.”

Her tone was flat and Gelilah picked up on it.

She moved her lips a little and then asked, “You ate all of the infused fruit this morning?”

“Yes. Kendrick made sure I did.” Twillow explained in the same bland tone.

“I-I see.”

They were quiet for a bit longer as Twillow’s foot massage was winding down. Her feet felt almost numb with euphoria. The masseuse left and finally Gelilah sighed.

“Twillow…I…I may have…acted brashly yesterday.” She admitted slowly.

“Brashly.” Twillow said the word like dropping a glass in an empty room. “You were appallingly rude.”

Gelilah sighed, closing her eyes as she fought her urge to admonish her daughter’s cheek but couldn’t deny she was correct, “I just…I just don’t understand.”

Twillow stood up from her padded chair, “Well have you even talked to Kendrick since we’ve been together?”

Her mother glanced away a moment, knowing the answer was “no”.

“Perhaps if you talked with him instead of screaming and throwing things at him, you’d get to know him.” Twillow insisted with mild tart.

Twillow walked away toward the crystal chamber for the next step in her spa treatment, leaving her mother to stew on their brief exchange. For once, Twillow felt like she had a more solid position in their argument: using her mother’s staunchness in high society manners to her advantage.

“Ah, Miss Twillow. Just in time.” Gabel greeted her with a silky voice when she made it to the crystal chamber.

Gabel was a tall, yellow-haired elf, a cross of a regular elf and a dark elf. His skin was deep navy blue with solid white eyes. Most would think he was blind but the solid color was a tell of the dark elf bloodline. Gabel had been employed by Lamose for a number of decades and was a talented masseuse for those with wings. Though he lacked wings himself he seemed to intuitively know where the stiff muscles lay and avoided painful miscalculations in the sensitive areas.

Twillow entered the room known as the crystal chamber which was in essence a giant geode that they turned into a massage room. The walls were pure green crystals and reflected magic power back into anyone who entered, thus feeding magic users like sunlight on a plant. Twillow laid down, wings up, on the prepared mossy table that was as soft as puppy fur and unwrapped her robe from her body.

Gabel professionally went for his wraps which were a special plant leaf that soothed the wings and brought out their natural glisten. He began wrapping Twillow’s wings with the huge warmed leaves until Twillow looked more like a tree than a winged fae. When he finished, he coated his hands in lotus oils and began the massage from temple to toes. He hummed pleasantly with his tenor voice and Twillow nearly fell asleep. Every muscle felt jellied and warm by the time he finished. Then after a half hour, he removed the leaf wraps.

“And how do we feel now?” he asked, tossing the used leaves aside.

“Mm. Replenished. Thank you, Gabel.”

He nodded, “Always a pleasure, Miss Twillow.”

“Mrs. actually.” She corrected for the first time as she put her robe back on.

“Oh! My apologies. I hadn’t heard the news.”

Twillow smiled, thanked him again, and returned to where she had left her mother. Gelilah was just finishing a foot bath and massage as well. When she saw her daughter, she gestured to the workers that she was finished. They dried her feet and she stood up.

“How was your wrap and massage?” Gelilah asked.

“Very nice…like usual. Shall we depart?”

Her tall mother nodded and they made their way to the exit door. Silence was heavy between them, making the short walk to the door feel like an uncomfortable journey.

“Twillow…” Gelilah began, “I concede that I was rude and… I apologize.”

“You need to apologize to Kendrick fore-mostly…not me.” Twillow insisted as she opened the door and took to the air.

Gelilah frowned, composed, and flew beside her, “I will. If only to mend this hatred you have for me.”

Twillow gave her a genuine look, “I don’t hate you, Mother. I never have.”

“Then why are you doing this, Twillow?” Gelilah’s voice sounded like it lost energy.

“If you think I’ve fallen in love with Kendrick and made Life Water with him out of spite for you then you don’t understand this at all.” Twillow replied with stern resolve.

Her mother’s voice became earnest as they flew, “Twillow. I love you. You’re the only daughter I have and I only want what’s best for you. You must understand that?”

“And how is bending to your will always what’s “best” for me?” Twillow snapped back, unable to keep it contained. “This is my life, Mother. I love you. Truly, I do. But I will make my own decisions about who I will love.”

“But you were banished, Twillow! That is a horribly traumatic thing being deprived of your magic, your home, and your family. How do you know this whole relationship you’ve formed was nothing more than coping with that situation?”

“Coping? You think I fell in love with Kendrick because I couldn’t deal with being banished?”

Gelilah gestured, “I’m just concerned that you’ve acted brashly in your absence.”

Twillow shook her head with a frustrated sigh. She didn’t say anything for a time as they continued their flight.

“Mother, I want you to apologize to Kendrick. And I want you to make an honest effort to get to know him before you make such an assumption.” She stated seriously.

…

Later that day…

After the fiasco in the bathroom, Kendrick sequestered himself in Twillow’s room until she returned. He wasn’t even his normal size and he was stirring up chaos! That was certainly not his intent. More than half of the Birchwood employees probably thought he was some sick pervert or something. He sighed.

It felt like an eternity before Twillow finally returned, landing with powerful wing beats on the balcony. Kendrick rose from the bed to greet her as she entered.

“Twillow!”

She hugged him and gave him a kiss, “Hello, Sweethearts. Did you have fun exploring?”

He grimaced, “Uh…not exactly.”

“What happened?” she asked pulling away.

“I just wanted a hot bath, I swear!”

She stared at him quizzically until he told her exactly what happened. For a moment she looked mortified but couldn’t restrain a giggle.

“Oh dear. Poor Petal.”

“Petal?”

“That’s sounds like Petal and her twin brother Epi. They’re my mother’s personal fairy attendants.” She explained. “Petal is very sweet but Epi is very dedicated to my mother. Almost zealously loyal.”

Kendrick frowned, uncomfortably, “I promise I didn’t mean to do that. I just wanted a hot bath.”

Twillow giggled again at his expense and then said, “I’ve been wanting to tell you, Mother has invited you to a brunch tomorrow.”

“Brunch?”

“A breakfast-luncheon.”

“I know what a brunch is…but WHY would she want to have brunch with me?” Kendrick was suspicious.

“Well…you two have never really had a civil conversation and this might be a good opportunity to get to know one another.”

Kendrick made a face, “I… don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“She hates me. She’ll probably throw me off of the mansion roof this time.” Kendrick stated grimly.

Twillow shook her head, “She’s not going to kill you.”

“Oh, she doesn’t have to kill me. Just maim me.”

“I promise my mother is not going to hurt nor kill you.” Twillow assured with confidence, “I made it very clear to her that I would not allow her to treat you like she did when you first came here.”

“Are you going to be there?”

“No. I think it would be better if you two interact without me in the mix.”

Kendrick still didn’t look relieved, “I doubt a brunch is going to make her like me.”

“Please, Kendrick?” Twillow touched his cheek and neck.

“[Sigh] Very well. If it will make you happy.” He conceded, touching her hand.

She nodded. Very slowly he leaned into her and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into the space of her neck and shoulder. He habitually drew in her scent, smelling an aromatic floral overtone and…

His eyes opened. He smelled something he didn’t like.

Kendrick lifted his head a bit and smelled Twillow’s shoulder directly. Though she knew her mate’s behavior of scenting, this seemed more pointed. She turned her head and his eyes met hers, looking suspicious.

“Who is that?”

“Who is who?” Twillow blinked.

He smelled her again and his amber eyes narrowed, “There’s a male scent on you that’s not mine.” His voice sounded slightly growled.

Twillow was confused for a moment until she remembered, “Well, I got a massage at the spa from Gabel.”

Kendrick straightened himself, jealousy creeping into his voice, “Who’s Gabel?”

“He’s my masseuse. He’s always been my masseuse.” She lifted a delicate silvery blue eyebrow at his change in demeanor, “Are you jealous?”

He huffed as if insulted by the insinuation, but the bitter tasting emotion he had only felt once when they first came to the Parliel Realm was resurfacing. The mere thought of another man touching his mate sent his blood roaring through him, yearning to destroy any who would dare. Smelling a different male scent on her awakened his defensive side.

Finally, he nodded, not looking at her.

“Do you not trust me?” Twillow questioned.

Kendrick stared at her, nodded then shook his head as if not sure how to respond, “I trust you, my light…it’s THEM I don’t trust.”

She touched his muscular arm, “You don’t have to worry. I love you. No one else.”

His large hand took hers gently. Then without much warning he draped her arm behind his neck and swooped her up in a cradle carry.

“Kendrick? What?” she yelped.

But he didn’t answer as he marched for the door, opened it, and headed down the hall. Twillow wasn’t sure what he was doing. She hadn’t seen this side of him before, but his expression said he was on a mission. Finally, he arrived at the hot water baths and gently kicked open the door. This time he scoured the place for anyone else but found no one there.

“The baths?” Twillow asked. “But I just was at the spa!”

Kendrick kicked off his boots near the wall and then looked into her eyes, an intensity burning in them.

“I don’t like smelling another male on you.” He stated firmly.

He took her mouth with his, fingers plowing through her silvery blue hair. She gave a muffled yelp, surprised by his sudden ardor.

When he pulled out of the kiss he breathed huskily, “The only male scent I want on you is mine.”

A pleasant shiver flickered Twillow’s wings. Kendrick set her down and began stripping for the bath. He took her hand, stepped down the pool’s steps into the water, and guided her down into the water after him. Twillow’s wings popped up away from the water instinctually but it did no good when Kendrick took her hands as he was sitting down in the hot water and pulled her to his bare, broad chest. She felt her wings go leathery as they were soaked.

“Perhaps I’m grateful I didn’t get this hot bath earlier. I would much rather share it with you.” He stated deeply.

“Kendrick…”

He kissed her again, silencing any words of protest.