Forever Fae (Forever Fae #1)(25)

I holler out, “Wait!”

She turns around and looks at me with love and respect in her eyes.

“How do we save the kingdoms and what are we trying to save them from?”

Elvena waves me off.

“Go to Calista. The answers will come to you in time. I have no doubt that you both will figure it out. In the meantime, go easy on her about Merrick. She didn’t plan on him falling in love with her. Her heart belongs to you, it always has. No matter what happens with Merrick, you need to trust her.” She begins to back away. “That is all I can say for now. I have planned to speak to her in the morning. I trust you will make sure she gets to her room safely?”

I bid her farewell, and bow my head.

“Yes, Prophetess, she will return safely.”

Elvena was there one minute and then she vanished into the shadows. I have only a few short minutes to make it to the lake. I head toward the path and make my way to the big willow tree by the lake. I get to the tree on time, but there’s no sign of Calista yet. I knew I would beat her here because she was still in her room when I made it to the path. I slide my armor off and find a nice, soft spot of grass under the tree. I decide to lie under the canopy of the tree and clear my thoughts while I wait for Calista. I was so mad earlier and I need to calm down before she gets here, but I don’t see it happening. I don’t see the kelpies out and about so, hopefully, they won’t try to come out and eat me. Calista seems very fond of them so I would hate to have to kill them to protect myself. How am I going to deal with her and Merrick? I wish this anger would go away, but thinking about him with his hands on her makes me want to kill him. He’s obviously not going to let her go without a fight. If it’s a fight he wants, it’s a fight he’s going to get.





Chapter 13


Calista


I am a few minutes late, but I can see him lying on the ground under the willow tree. My heart starts the erratic beating again and my palms begin to sweat. Why am I so nervous? I stop where I’m at to gain my composure. I have never been this crazy over a guy before. Please let this be real. He looks over and sees me heading his way. He gets up and opens a place through the leaves so I can walk through.

I say a little nervously, “Thank you and I’m sorry I am late. I got held up a bit.” I fiddle with my hands when I am nervous. It is a rare occasion that I get nervous, but something in his eyes has me wary.

He gives a small laugh and shakes his head.

“Yeah, I know how busy you were, Princess. In fact, I saw through your window how busy you were.” I stare at him wide-eyed and I’m frozen solid where I stand.

So that’s why he looks the way he does. This is not what I need right now. I ruin Merrick’s heart and now I am going to ruin Ryder’s heart. Why didn’t I just stay in my room? Oh yeah, I know why, because I just met a stranger who happens to be a prince. He may be the one destined to be with me and I am already falling in love with him even though it could only be partly because of the prophecy. I also want to know what he saw in his vision and what he thinks about it.

His tone has me a little defensive because if he saw the truth of what happened between me and Merrick he wouldn’t be acting like this.

“What exactly did you see?” I ask.

He looks at me, tension rolling off him in waves.

“I saw enough. I saw so much that I almost crashed through your window to kick your guardian’s ass. If it wasn’t for Elvena, I might have caused some serious damage.” This is not going good at all. At the mention of Elvena, I need to hear about that first.

“Wait, Elvena was here? What did she say?” I ask incredulous. I wonder why Elvena was outside with Ryder. I also want to change the subject from Merrick.

He takes a deep breath and looks at the ground. He seems to be trying to calm himself.

“She watched us tonight at the ceremony. Your father told her of our vision and she had secretly been watching us together. She stopped me from coming into your room after I saw Merrick kissing you. I don’t understand why I feel this strongly about him touching you, but I didn’t like it.” He pauses and looks up at me. “Elvena took my hand, did some weird mojo stuff and watched the vision through my mind. She had some pretty interesting things to tell me after that.”

I close my eyes and turn away from him. My face is probably beet red from embarrassment. Elvena saw the vision of me and another man almost getting it on in the meadow. I wonder what interesting things she had to say. How am I going to face her in the morning? I stare at the lake to keep my eyes averted from his. I don’t want him to see how he affects me.

With my back still turned to him, I ask “What was your vision about? Do you think we saw the same things?”

He walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. “Yes, we did see the same things. The vision was of me and you, Calista.”

I know deep down his vision was of us, but things were different between us in the vision. I don’t know what is going to happen to make it that way. I turn around so I’m resting up against his chest with his arms folded around me. It’s nice to be able to feel his hard muscles and the tightness of his chest. I know my skin probably burns him as he touches me, but he doesn’t seem affected by it, just like the coldness of his doesn’t bother me.

“What does the vision mean? If it’s me and you in it, where are we and why does the land feel different?” I whisper against his chest.