Forever Fae (Forever Fae #1)(31)

“I plan to ask King Oberon for his permission to marry Calista,” I blurt out.

Elvena asks, “So you finally figured out the role you play in the prophecy?”

“I am not doing this because of the prophecy. I am doing it because I love her,” I say whole-heartedly.

She smiles and by the look on her face I would say she was testing me to see what I would say. It looks like I passed. Prophecy or no prophecy, I still love Calista and want to be with her more than anything. We just need to figure out where we belong now.

“Good answer, child. On that note, I will take my leave. I need to speak to Calista before she goes to training.”

She turns to leave but I stop her before she reaches the door.

“Do you mind telling me where Calista and Merrick train?” I really hope she tells me so I don’t have to go sneaking around.

She shakes her head and wags her finger at me.

“Don’t you dare tell the princess I told you. She will be so mad at me if she finds out.” She pauses and it looks like she’s not going to tell me, but then she lets out a deep breath and continues.

“They train about a half mile past the lake. I’m sure you remember where the lake is?” She turns her head and snickers. I just smile at her and shake my head. She sure does love to joke.

I laugh and say, “Yes, of course I remember where the lake is and thank you for telling me.”

As Elvena is leaving, Kalen walks through the door. He looks at me and does a double take.

“Do I have the right room?” He says looking back and forth from Elvena to me.

He gives me a knowing smirk, then looks at Elvena and asks, “I am looking for my brother, have you seen him? He’s tall with long, spiky brown hair and pale skin.”

His chest is bouncing up and down with the laughter I know is waiting to come out. He is being such a smartass. I flip him off with my finger and the laughter finally bursts out of him. He laughs so loud he’ll probably wake everyone in the palace. Elvena waves goodbye and walks out the door. She will be headed to Calista’s room.

Kalen walks over to inspect my newly changed body.

“Ryder, why do you look like that?” He asks as he points up and down my body. “Did you go to the mortal realm and lay in a tanning bed?”

Kalen loves to joke around, but I shake my head no at his ridiculous question.

“Tanning beds do not work on us. Remember when Sorcha tried that last year?”

“Yeah, that was funny,” Kalen says as he laughs.

My younger sister, Sorcha, went to the mortal realm and discovered tanning beds. She looked like a lobster for a week and then her skin went right back to being pale. We heal very quickly, but for some reason the tanning bed really messed up her skin during that time. She never did it again.

I sit down at the table where Elvena left my breakfast. Kalen joins me and steals a piece of apple bread from my plate.

While chewing his bread, Kalen opens his mouth to speak and sprays crumbs on arm when he asks, “Seriously, Ryder, what happened?”

I stare at him with an exasperated look while wiping the crumbs off my arm. He seems oblivious to his atrocious manners.

“Apparently, Calista and I are bound to help save the kingdoms and this is just the beginning,” I say.

I take a break from talking to eat the rest of my apple bread before my brother steals it all. I had spent all night watching Calista instead of eating at the ceremony. I didn’t realize how hungry I had gotten. I look up at my brother and he’s staring at me dumbfounded. I guess it’s a shock to see me like this and it must be dawning on him that this is actually a serious situation.

I wave my hands in front of his face to get his attention and say, “Calista has changed, too. It wasn’t just me, and what’s weird is this.” I reach over to touch his hand and he gasps with surprise.

“Oh, wow. This is some crazy shit. Where do you go from here?” He exclaims.

I rub my hands through my hair and down my face. I look at him in all seriousness.

“I don’t know, but I plan to ask Calista to marry me.”

He whistles, clearly astonished that I would take this step.

“Wow, Ryder, you have it bad and you haven’t even slept with her yet.” He creases his eyebrow. “Or have you?”

“No, we haven’t slept together yet, but we probably would have if we weren’t distracted by our bodies doing this.” I hold up my hands to clarify what I mean.

“I’m in love with her, Kalen, and it kills me that I have to leave today because she’ll be alone with her guardian,” I say, worried.

“She is always going to be alone with her guardian. That is just something you are going to have to get used to and get over,” he says.

“He pushed her to kiss him last night and he wouldn’t let her go. I saw it through her window last night.” Kalen gives me an exasperated look.

“And before you say anything, I was not snooping. I happened to be walking by and saw the whole thing. I was so angry I started a blizzard out there where I was standing. Elvena stopped me before I was able to charge through Calista’s window and beat the shit out of him.”

Kalen says in a worried tone, “I am glad she did. Can you imagine the uproar that would have caused if you attacked a Summer Court fae in their own court?”