Her sharp, pointed ears stood out in bold relief thanks to the way she’d styled her hair. Her chestnut tresses were tied back in a knot and threaded through with an abundance of baby’s-breath.
The fairy looked stunning. Hard to remember the matronly woman she’d once been when Nixie had first known her.
Very aware of her nakedness, Nix imagined a new outfit for her. One she might have worn on Earth. Low-rider jeans and a butterfly-print peasant top. It wasn’t that she couldn’t wear a dress or jeans and a top on the outside, she could, if she could ever afford to buy one.
But she had no money to call her own, so genie garb it was.
She could never take the magic of the lamp out of here. While inside the lamp she could dress and live as she liked. She could gorge on food for millennia and feel fine, but only so long as she remained inside.
The moment she left the lamp, it was like none of it existed. She always wore the same outfit in the outside world. Any hunger she’d abated inside would vanish in an instant, making her ravenous for real food.
So much power at the tip of her finger, and yet none of it was ever for her.
Walking over to Danika, she sat down beside the fairy, staring at the hedgerow of brilliant red English roses before them.
“Did you see what happened back there?” Nixie asked low.
“Nay, I did not.” Danika gave her a grim smile. “But I spelled the lamp just a wee bit, so that when you entered I’d know it. And how are you really, lass? Now that the men aren’t about?”
Nixie didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or moan, so she did none of it. She simply shrugged.
“You do not look very happy at all, dear.”
Sighing, she finally looked at Danika. “Dani, why are you here? Not that I mind. Because I don’t, but you’re not my fairy godmother. You’ve no need to be here. And seeing you, sometimes”—she swallowed hard, choking back the sudden heat that’d rushed up her throat—“sometimes it makes it hurt.”
The fairy didn’t ask her to clarify. Her pretty blue eyes turned soft and kind. “Then I swear to ye, this will be my last visit, but I felt that perhaps there were things you needed to speak about. Things you might not be able to say to a master. I ken I’m not your mother, lassie, but I could be a good friend if you’d let me.”
The tears did slip down then. Danika didn’t blink or try to placate her into stopping, either; she let Nixie get it out, which helped.
Finally, with a teary sigh, she knuckled her eyes dry. “I don’t know what’s going on with me. I’m so confused. I mean, I’ve never really cared for any of my masters, but Robin’s got my head and my heart in chaos. I barely know him, but I crave him. I miss my family, so much sometimes it almost feels like I can’t breathe. I’m just one big, giant mess of emotions right now.”
Danika rocked for a few moments, just staring out at the garden. “Unfortunately, my dear, I can’t help you with your family. But I think perhaps I can explain what’s going on with Robin.”
She sighed. “I’m all ears.”
“Well, let’s just say, hypothetically speaking, of course”—she winked—“that a fairy godmother simply can’t help being a fairy godmother. Even when the rules say she ‘shouldn’t.’” She finger-quoted.
Nixie frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Rocking lazily, Dani stared up at the blue sky. “Going off the understanding that everything I’m about to tell you is merely a possibility and that I am in no way admitting to any willful wrongdoing, because we all know how rigid genies rules are and to break them is verboten—” She winked and gave Nixie a broad smile.
Danika had never been known for following rules.
“Dani, what have you done?”
Twin brows rose. “What? Done? Pft.” She flicked a wrist. “Have ye heard nothing, child? I’ve done nothing. I’m simply giving you a for instance, that’s all.” She fluffed her dragonfly wings.
“Okay.” Nixie decided to play along. “What has ‘possibly’ happened?”
“Well…” The fairy twirled on her with a mischievous twinkle. “Say that there’s a tree imbued with powers of a fairy who was once a seer. Say.” She wrinkled her nose. “And that this tree was once a fairy’s very best friend. And just to take it one tiny bit farther, let’s just say an ingenious, beautiful fairy figured out how to hear her friend’s voice again, thanks to the guidance of a mate who knows and sees all.”
Nixie knew all about Miriam the Shunned and the tree she’d been turned into once the power of the Black had infected her. Miriam had been Danika’s truest friend, and had—as rumor had it—once given Danika the names of fated mates, to include her own parents.
“Dani?” Nixie cocked her head, starting to get a bad feeling about this.
The fairy’s wings began to vibrate, as if with excitement.