They didn’t know each other well, so she understood it, but there was more to Robin, so much more than what initially met the eye.
The air between them shivered, practically crackled with heat and longing. She, out of a desperate desire for companionship, to not be shoved back into that lamp ever again, and he… because, well… she honestly couldn’t say.
But she recognized a longing in him all the same. Robin seemed like a man at odds with himself. It wasn’t Nixie’s place to question the whims of her masters, in fact, she’d never been curious about any of them.
But she was about him.
She grabbed his wrist, forcing his seeking thumb to stop. Each breath felt dragged into her lungs, scraping her from the inside out. She had to bite down on her lip hard to keep from whimpering at the volatility that flowed between them. She was an oil-slicked wick; he was the spark. If they ever met, if they ever crossed that line, they would combust.
“We should go,” she whispered in a broken voice.
He blinked, and the spell broke. Releasing her quickly, Robin nodded.
“Aye. We should,” he said in a voice as hoarse and broken sounding as hers.
Blowing out a puff of breath, Nixie focused on breathing in not his scent of pine and man, but on the sweetness of grass that surrounded them. “Would you like me to take us all back to Sherwood?”
The whites of eyes stood out in startling, bold relief against his electric blue irises. “Not if it will cost me another wish. I’ve precious few left. No, we walk.” He forked two fingers through his hair, making bits of it stand up on edge.
He felt this too. This weird chemistry between them.
She grunted, mostly because she didn’t trust herself to speak just yet.
Taking a deep, fortifying breath, Nixie followed beside him. Her thoughts a chaotic mess. Why had he not asked her what she’d done to the men?
Did he trust her?
Did he simply not care?
What was this strange, tugging connection she felt to him? She knew he felt something, but did he feel it with the intensity of longing she did?
Would each day make it grow stronger, deeper?
Was this even real? Or a side effect of her isolation? She’d never connected to another soul, be it on Kingdom or Earth, so swiftly, so viscerally.
It wasn’t that she loved him. She most certainly didn’t. They didn’t know one another, and yet, she was aware of him.
Of his scent of pine. Of the way he moved. How his eyes were constantly in motion, shifting around the landscape, studying anything and everything around them.
How he would study her with the same type of intensity.
What did it mean?
What did any of this mean?
Then she thought of her parents. Of their story. They’d met as ghosts, with one foot in the grave. It’d only been their fascination with each other that’d caused them to stay among the living.
Mom had told her once that the bond had been instant and all consuming. But it’d been Dad who’d told her the rest of the story. That on Kingdom when two souls destined to be together finally met up, that it was like the rest of the world ceased to exist—that no vow of matrimony or exchanging of rings could supersede the potent and intoxicating magic of true love.
But her parents had never spoken of flight, of feeling like they’d not only been lifted into the clouds, but a piece of their souls merged.
Nixie clutched a fist to her breast, staring at Robin from the corner of her eye. Was that what this was? Was Robin her destined match? That would be impossible, though, because every story known about Robin always spoke of Marian with it.
She was definitely not Marian, not to mention the fact that she’d loved once before.
Eric. She’d felt passion for him. Desire.
Hadn’t she?
She frowned.
As if aware of her inner turmoil, Robin turned to her and her heart skipped a violent beat in her chest. All her life she’d dreamed of her Prince Charming, in love with the idea of her own fairytale someday getting played out.
Was this man, this Brad Pitt clone, the one?
Clearing his throat, Robin jerked his gaze away. “We’re doddering. Pick up your pace,” he grunted, and without waiting to hear her reply, took off at a fast trot.
Deliberately, Nix focused on anything else but Robin. Wondering if now that she was out of the lamp if she could find a spare moment to visit her family. Wondering if she should change her clothes, her hair, find a new scent other than honeysuckle to wear…anything, anything at all that had nothing to do with Robin Hood.
They didn’t talk much for the remainder of that day. Only long enough to find food when needed, occasionally Robin would look over his shoulder to make sure she still followed him, but that was about it.