Elsie looked at the man standing before her.
I love him.
I love him so much I could just beat him up. The idiot.
“Elsie.” Hildreth kissed her again.
I love the feel of his lips on mine.
I love the feel of his breath.
The touch of his hands.
The color of his eyes.
His warped sense of humor.
I love his voice saying my name.
He broke off and held her face in between his hands. “Elsie.” He smiled. “Master Initskay was right. I am light.”
One more gentle kiss.
He looked into her eyes. “And so are you.”
I am going to love being his wife.
***
Isellta heard Jay coming. He tried to pull himself together.
He wiped away his tears.
He held his head a little higher.
His mouth twitched into an uncertain smile.
“Hey, kid. You okay?”
He tried to smile with a little more conviction.
I hate you. I HATE YOU! I’ve always hated you. I’ve ALWAYS hated you.
His shoulders hunched.
You disgusting whore!
He bit down on his lower lip to keep it from trembling.
“Hey.” Jay pulled up a chair next to him and sat. “Let me guess. Robin?”
Isellta nodded.
“You poor kid.. Your first time in love and it turns out all wrong.”
Isellta cleared his throat. “The worst of it is: I don’t understand. None of the lines meet. None of them match. It’s all haphazard. The lines aren’t lines at all. They’re just…dots. Dots that you can’t do anything with. They sit there in random places and there’s no sense to them. There’s no way to connect them. There’s no pattern that I can see or understand.”
Maelin came over and wrapped her arms around Jay’s neck.
Jay looked up at her and smiled. He rubbed his hand up her arm.
Isellta sniffled. “It doesn’t make sense why he’d lead me on like that and then say such mean things to me. Why would he act like that? It doesn’t make sense.”
He twisted his fingers. “But maybe it does. He always was mean to me. He always yelled at me. He always made me feel like I was three cents short. But I thought things had changed. I thought that I mattered to him. I thought…” He whimpered. “I thought he saw me as something good. As someone…someone worth loving. But I guess I’m not. I’m just another fey to him. I’m just…Jay, why does it hurt? When will it stop? I want it to stop. I want…” He broke down into tears.
Maelin released Jay and walked over to the other side of Isellta.”Can I touch you?”
Isellta nodded.
She laid her hand on his shoulder.
He closed his eyes and relaxed. The deeper hurt didn’t leave him. It clung to his heart with all of its might. But the desire to sob about it faded away, leaving him with a sense of calm if not straight-out peace.
“Feel better?”
He opened his eyes and nodded.
Jay gave her a quietly admiring look.
She kept her hand on Isellta’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. If I were a full peace dragon, I’d be able to calm you just by standing next to you. I’d be able to ease the pain altogether.”
“It’s okay.” said Isellta. “What you did is enough. Thank you.”
She smiled at him and his wings involuntarily flapped. “And you’re wrong, Isellta Mal Hoven. You are worth loving.”
“But Robin doesn’t see me that way.”
Jay startled as if a ghost had pinched him. “Isellta. Does Robin have a cell phone?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him use one.”
“Oh.”
Maelin returned to her lover. “I know you’re worried about leaving Isellta alone. So, let me go find his Robin.”
Jay shook his head. “Maybe we can call Information and ask them for it. Isellta. What’s Robin’s last name?”
The fey hunched his body up as if he were trying to disappear. “I don’t know.” he said softly.
“Jay. Let me go find him.”
Jay shook his head again.
“Jay.”
“No.”
She frowned. “I will come back.”
Jay looked away from her.
“You know I will. I would never leave my Jay without a real good-bye. And I will say good-bye.”
He glanced at her. “You promise?”
She stroked his face.
He caught her hand and pressed it to his lips.
“I’ll promise you every day.”
“I want you to promise me every day.”
“Jay. You know I can’t. Not yet.”
Isellta watched them debate the issue. A strange feeling of isolation took him over. They looked only at each other. Spoke directly to each other about matters that no longer involved him.
It made him feel like he was no longer there.
So, of course, he took advantage of the situation and watched their every move.
She touched him, stroked him, as she tried to coax him into submission.
How long can he hold up against her? She is fey and peace dragon. She has the supreme advantage over his human mind.
If she wanted to take advantage of him.
Jay kept looking away from her, avoiding direct eye contact. But every touch from her made him weaken.
Isellta could see him weaken. It started with a subtle twitch of his mouth and it moved on from there. A loosening of his tightened shoulders. A relaxing of his posture. A smile. A turn of his head.
Until, at last, he held his arms out to her.
She dove into them, nearly knocking him off his chair.
He laughed and hugged her.
I want that.
I want it so much.
Robin.
I want you to love me like that.
If you can love me like that.
ambroseandelsie 