Blood Marriage

Twelve: In Which Alice Reads

Tucked into the farthest corner of the gardens, concealed by the low-hanging branches of a willow tree, Alice poured over the books she'd taken from the library.

She'd only managed to grab two of them, one about Shadow Court history and the other about magical anomalies, but they proved to be at least interesting. The Shadow Court history was one volume out of a series, and she'd clearly managed to pick a volume somewhere in the middle rather than at the start or end. It was annoying, but it provided more information than she had. It would just mean another trip to the library later to check the rest of the volumes.

She'd learned a little about Shadow Fae magic, a little more about traditional bargaining tactics, but nothing that might give away exactly what was happening with Florian. Now that she knew he was in Shadow form the times she couldn't touch him, she just had to figure out where his body was.

Unfortunately, her best guess was that Xavier might be the only person who knew that.

Part of her wished that she hadn't given the journal to Willow, but it was possible that the language was so old that the glass wouldn't work on it, anyways.

"So what does this mean for Florian?" Missy asked, sniffing at the book.

"I've got a few ideas," Alice admitted, "but I gotta talk to someone who knows more about wigglin' outta magical trouble than me."

"What do you need?"

"I think, probably, we need to take a little vacation," Alice said, shutting the book. "I need Kaz for this. Maybe Granny, too."

"We already tried running. It didn't work out very well."

"That's why I'm just gonna ask him this time," Alice said firmly.

Missy hissed angrily, letting out a string of possum noises that certainly did not translate into any known language.

"It's... not the worst plan," Florian said.

Alice gasped, hand on her chest. "You have got to stop showin' up like that," she mumbled.

"Sorry," Florian said. "Hit a snag on my way here."

"A snag?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow as she stood from her spot under the tree. Florian extended a hand to help her up, and she took it on instinct. However, he was stronger then she thought, and she must have been lighter than he expected, because he hauled her up so quickly that she wound up standing almost flush against him, her hands on his chest.

Heat flared in her cheeks as her mouth dropped open. She thought about backing away, but then his hands were on her waist to help her keep her balance, and she found she didn't want to.

His humanoid form was... perfect. Wonderful. It calmed some kind of strange ache in her chest to be this close to him, and though he was certainly handsome, the serenity she felt in his presence had very little to do with how he looked. That must have been the snag, then— he shifted forms, and in the meantime had to make his way back from wherever his body had been.

"Are you okay?" Florian asked, checking her over. "I didn't mean to pull you up so roughly."

"I'm fine," Alice squeaked, almost unable to look at him. Her fingers gently traced over the quilted lines on his doublet as she drank in the feeling of standing so close to him, of smelling that familiar musk with the warm skin and warm personality that she adored.

Wait.

Doublet?

"Did... did you change clothes when you changed forms?" she stammered, suddenly looking down.