A Court of Water and Shadow

6

The next day I found myself walking alongside Milvec as we approached the Glittering Oak. One of his hands held mine and the other carried a basket full of "surprises" as he called it. Obviously I can smell that it's dinner, but I let him have a small win.

He opened his basket and laid down a quilt before sitting. I crossed my legs and sat next to him, waiting with a small smile as he unpacked our dinner—chicken sandwiches with strawberries and white wine.

"You look beautiful this evening Evelyn." Milvec spoke with a deep tone, causing the blush to appear on my face.

"And you look handsome as well." I giggled as I plopped a strawberry in my mouth.

Milvec is a kind and fun male, but I always feel so awkward and shy around him. Maybe it's because I like him. Maybe it's the crush I'm developing for him. It's just so frustrating to sit here and feel awkward around a male I'm trying to like.

We spoke about our day as we ate under the tree, and when the sun started to set, my mouth dropped at the sight above me. The tree did in fact glimmer. The green leaves shined off of the sun's dimming rays and the pink flowers glowed softly as they absorbed the light. Everything about it was so magical and outrageously beautiful. It all just took my breath away. "Wow." I gasped as I stared at the tree. My eyes felt glued to the image as the sun slowly fell past the horizon.

A breeze sent a strand of my white hair across my face, but Milvec carefully tucked it behind my pointed ear. I turned to him to see him smiling at me—admiration shining bright in his blue eyes. I gave him a wide smile as he leaned in to kiss me and this time I wasn't afraid of liking it. The kiss was gentle again, but I found myself falling more into his touch as his hand cupped my cheek. His tongue danced across my lower lip, so I opened my mouth for him to deepen the kiss.

It caused a frenzy of emotions to swirl inside of me, but I was lacking the most crucial one—lust. Milvec was nice though, so maybe it would come later.

I've felt lust before. I've even acted on it a few times, only to never see them again the next morning. I felt guilty sharing a bed with someone other than my future mate. Then, I felt ridiculous for caring about someone who wasn't even in my life yet.

Overall, I think it would be nice to give Milvec a chance. He's quite good-looking, kind, gentle, flirty, and he seems genuine.

But who would my mate be? Would he too, be kind and flirty? Would he take me to his favorite spot and show me the most beautiful secrets of Prythian? Would he kiss me gently to show me he cares and then rough to show me he loves? What emotions would he make me feel? Perhaps it isn't worth it to explore with Milvec if I don't even know what my mate would show me.

Perhaps it's unfair of me to think about someone who I don't even know yet while kissing Milvec.

This is wrong. I shouldn't be so in my head about it. Milvec's nice, but he's not what I want. Now the tricky part would be how to tell him.

Milvec pulled away and eventually we packed up the picnic and started walking to my house. What do I say to him? Should I be honest and tell him what I'm thinking? Should I lie and remain stuck in whatever we had going on? Should I just never walk into the market again and pretend nothing ever happened?

When my house was in sight, I breathed a mental sigh of relief to see Mor leaning against the side of my house, picking at her fingernails. When she looked up, a bright smile formed on her face. "Ah! Just the Fae I was looking for."

"Mor." I laughed as she pulled me into a tight hug. "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged with a smile and a quick glance to Milvec. "Oh you know, I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by. Hi, I'm Morrigan."