Chapter 16
“Good morning,” Sarah said as Charlie walked into the kitchen. “Coffee is in the pot.”
“Thank you. I didn’t wake you when I got in last night, did I?” Aiden had said Sarah wasn’t home but after the amount of noise Aiden had made her make, she wanted to make sure.
“Oh, no. I wasn’t home and you were flat out by the time I strolled in. End up a little wide for wear, did you?”
Charlie smirked and took a sip of her coffee. “Is everything okay? With you being out so late, I mean,” Charlie asked.
Sarah grabbed the freshly popped toast and smiled as she held out a slice for Charlie to take. “Everything is fine, don’t worry, honey. I just had some Faery things to do, that’s all. It kept me out a little late but then, it usually does. How was your night?”
“Average,” Aiden said.
Charlie gasped as her hand flew to her chest. “Do you always sneak up on people?” She said shooting him a look as he smirked in amusement.
“Yes, he does. My neighbours think he’s a psycho stalker or something, with the way he sneaks around.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow over the rim of her coffee mug and watched Aiden's face transform into a look of innocence that any cherub would be proud to own.
“My night was nothing to write home about,” she said.
Aiden's eyes widened slightly while the corners of his mouth twitched into a smile that set Charlie’s heart leaping for joy. She knew she was going to pay for that remark and after the previous night, she welcomed any punishment he would give her.
“What do you have on the cards for today?” Sarah asked over her shoulder.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind visiting Salisbury plain and seeing Stonehenge if you’re free. I heard the insane story about Merlin magically moving the stone circle,” Charlie replied, not taking her eyes away from Aiden.
There had always been something about the way he looked at her but right then, his eyes were burning with need.
What are you thinking about? She wondered as Sarah suggested Aiden should take her.
“Can’t you come, too?” Charlie asked. She wasn’t sure she could trust herself to be around Aiden and not beg for a repeat performance, especially if they were alone.
Her mind had spent days arguing with her heart, trying to convince each other that the other one was wrong. Her head told her he had been sent to kill her and he could be trying to lure her into some sort of trap, but her heart told her that she needed him like she needed food, water and air and she was beginning to agree with it. Each moment she was near him, it was becoming harder to stay away and each time their eyes met, she wanted to tell him how she felt.
“I'm sorry. I would love to but I can't, not during the day, anyway,” Sarah replied, drying her hands on a kitchen towel.
“Why would you be able to go at night but not during the day? That makes no sense,” Charlie said.
“Faery business, honey. The stones are the portal to the Bluestone Fays and my home. The portal is hidden until one of my kind gets near it so if I go during the day, anyone around me will see the portal and know where to find my people. I can’t risk that, especially not now.”
“Would Aiden not be risking that too, by taking me?”
“I shouldn’t think so, don’t worry. Aiden might be half of me but his aery wings haven’t sprouted yet, have they not, my little sugar plum.”
“Piss off. See what you’ve started now, Charlie? You’ve got the shunned bloody Faery princess taking the piss, now. Oh no, I know that look. Don’t you bloody think about it!”
Charlie couldn’t help it. She roared with laughter then quickly apologised. “Sorry Tooth Faery. I didn’t mean to laugh.”
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Charlie felt a wave of awe flow over her as she looked at the huge stones in front of her.
“I can’t believe people were supposed to have got these up here. After seeing them for myself, I’m completely backing the Merlin theory,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, I heard the one about the giants he supposedly got to do it,” Aiden said, reaching out to touch a stone.
Charlie yelped as Aiden fell back, at the same time as the guide shouted to not touch the stones. His face was filled with confusion as he stood and dusted himself off.
“What happened?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know. I reached out and the air felt thick, then I ended up flat on my back.”
Charlie smirked and grabbed hold of his hand. “Well, I best keep hold of this, just in case you decide to fall on your arse again and next time you fancy getting down and personal with the grass, I might just join you.”
There it was, the gleam in his eyes that sent her heart racing.
“Oh, really?”
“Yup,” Charlie nodded. “I know you said last night that you didn’t want me to regret it in the morning and I don’t. Not one bit. I like you, Aiden. There’s something about you that I can’t place but whenever I’m with you, I just melt.”
The silence that followed was deafening. She had expected him to say something, even if it was only to reject her, but he said nothing at all as they walked hand in hand around the giant stone circle.
“Well, I’ve said it now so it’s up to you where we go from here,” she said.
“I like you too,” he told her. “Have done since the moment I saw you, which is why I had to protect you.”
Charlie’s heart skipped a beat as she said her head on his arm as they walked. “So, does that mean your fucking me tonight?”
“Tonight? I’ll have fucked you twice before you get home.”
