Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Being frustrated wasn’t helping either of them. Becka knew that. First of all, she was bored to death, and secondly, she didn’t have anything to do. Yes, her head told her they were the same thing, but they weren’t. Being bored meant that her mind was inactive—to her at least and not having anything to do, even if it wasn’t something that totally occupied her mind, was making her think about things that she didn’t need to be pondering about, such as the very fact that she married a complete stranger without any thought of what they’d do with their life together. Like now, she told herself. No thought.

Should it matter that they were mates? She didn’t think so. While she’d enjoyed her working life, not going out on dates and so forth, she at least had her job. Now, thanks to people finding out that she was married, she didn’t have one. No one wanted to take on a married woman because of how hard the work was for a woman if she were to get pregnant. Why, she asked herself. How did that make one iota of difference than before? Stupid people. She’d lost three jobs just this morning, and it was making her pissy with everyone around her.

When she realized that she was ruining the flowers in the little garden that she’d been sitting in, Becka put her hands on her lap and counted to ten. That didn’t have the desired effect, so she counted two more times to ten before getting up and stomping away. She was leaning against the tree sobbing when a faerie found her.

She’d been told several times that she was to get one. Why? No one had an answer other than she should have one to keep her safe. She’d not found the need to have one flittering about her, so she had done nothing to have one hanging around her. Becka knew that wasn’t fair of her. They needed a job, too. And this was the funniest thing. She’d never seen any of them flittering.

But now that she was bored…pissed off, she was making everything out to be a hardship on her. When she turned on the little person again, she knew she wasn’t being fair. She asked him what he wanted. The little creature flew back from her so quickly that she was sure that it was terrified of her. That hurt her soul that she’d made such a little—it had been like she’d yelled at a baby, and it was puckering its lips, ready to cry.

“My lady?” She asked him what he wanted, then pointed out that her name was Becka. “Yes…Becka. I have come to see if there is anything that I can help you with. I have asked the others to take care of the garden for you.”

“Why?” The little man said that it had been torn up. “Yes. So? I did it. Maybe that’s the way that I want it to be? Messy.” She was being unfair. Unreasonable, too, but she didn’t care right now. Or she did care and wasn’t ready to let it go. Her heart and head were having a bad day, she told herself. “I’m not even sorry about it. Not one bit. So you tell him to leave it alone.”

Why? She couldn’t imagine why she’d say anything like that to anyone. And the garden was a mess. So bad that she was sure that none of the little plants could be saved. That hurt her, too. Knowing that she’d needless killed them because she was…well, she supposed she was a lot lonely. And bored.

Instead of arguing with her, he just disappeared. He might well have flown away; she’d been pointing to the garden and wasn’t looking at it when it was just gone. Just as she was going to throw a full-out temper tantrum, someone appeared in his place. A very beautifully dressed woman who seemed to sparkle. Actually, it did sparkle, but Becka lifted her chin and asked her what she wanted. It occurred to her that she was being rude, but she just didn’t have the heart to be nice. Or how to be nice to someone that could pop in and out of situations like—she asked it what it wanted.

“I’m not sure that we’ve been introduced. If we have, then you’d know better than to take that tone, any tone with me. My name is Allison. I’m the queen of faeries. While I don’t know you all that well, I want you to know that I won’t tolerate you treating my kind the way you have just now. What is your problem? You have to have one because there is no way from what I know of you that you’d treat a small creature the way that you have just now.” Becka tried to control her anger, but all she did was stand there with tears filling her eyes and stare at the woman. “I see. So, something is bothering you, and you just took it out on the little people. You broke his heart just so you know that. And for what reason? I demand answers, not tears.”

“I don’t know.” Dropping to her knees, Becka let all the anger, hurt, and pain that had been building up inside of her form into tears and allowed them to just flow down her cheeks, much like the words did that she had no control over. Saying everything that was wrong with her, the loneliness, anger, boredom, and anything else that seemed to have taken its toll on her out on the woman that was in front of her. When she had cried for about thirty minutes, repeating over and over how everything was against her, she laid down on the soft grass and closed her eyes.

“If you wish to kill me off, go on and do it. I don’t even care anymore.” The shadow of the woman rolled over her, but she didn’t look at her. Becka was too busy feeling sorry for herself right now to care about what had happened to her. “This sitting around waiting for someone to knock me around is making me insane. Either do it or leave me the hell alone. I’m about as useless as it comes around here.”

“Are you finished feeling sorry for yourself?” She didn’t move, said not a word either. “Get up. I hate when someone bows down before me and I hate it even worse when someone is being pitiful. Get up, please, so that we can have a conversation.”

She did get up, but she didn’t bother with wiping the dirt off her clothing. Lifting her chin up again, it was pushed down by the other woman when she started sprinkling something on her. It felt like rain, but in a few seconds, she realized that she was cleaned up and someplace different. Looking around, she asked her what right she had to take her away from her home.

“I have whatever rights I want. Now, hush up and have a cup of tea with me. I’ve been where you are before.” The woman started asking for things like tea and crumpets. If asked, Becka would have thought that was a made-up name. “It’s not made up. They’re as real as scones. Now, have a seat there. Oh. You need to have something else on. Something tea having like. And yes, I just made that up.”

Becka found herself in a very springy dress. It was covered in daisies and roses, little pink ones. When she put her hand to her hair, and feeling now for the ponytail that she was forever pulling it up in, she found that it was up in a do and had flowers in it too. She told the woman that it was too much. After agreeing, her hair was let down, and she sat in one of the three chairs around the table. She had no idea why but Becka did feel better dressed up the way that she was.

“My sister is going to join us for tea. If you can keep your temper at bay, she might stay long enough to talk to you. However, you being especially rude today might have everyone backing off.” Becka felt her face heat up and told her that she was sorry. “As I said, I’ve been there before. Bored out of your ever-loving mind and no one to complain about it to. At least no one to listen anyway. Yes, I think everyone has. Tell me what it is that has you at odds with yourself.”

“I can’t work anymore.” Allison told her that wasn’t it. “It is too it. Why is everyone trying to—” Cocking a pretty brow at her, Becka asked her what was wrong then. “If you know so much, then you tell me why I feel like I’m…at odds all the time.”

“You need sex. Actually, I would have suggested that first off, but you seemed to want to pick a fight with me. Anyone, I guess. Poor Andrew is still at the castle sobbing about how he’d disappointed you. They never think that it’s anyone but themselves that is at fault. Just so you know, I don’t fight fairly. I have a powerful amount of magic, and I’m not afraid to use it on you. No, it’s sex. You and Brad need to get yourself’s laid, and that’ll take care of the two of you in being rude to everyone.” She said that Brad wasn’t being rude. “Not to you, no. But his friends are avoiding him because he seems to want to get the snot knocked out of him for no other reason than because he’s bored, too. I would have thought that it would have occurred to you that you needed to be laid, but I’ve done a little walk through your head, and there is no point in your life that you ever used sex to relax. Why is that?” Embarrassed again, she didn’t have an answer. “I know the reason. It’s because you’ve been the best mother in the world to that young man of yours, and nothing else mattered but keeping him safe. I don’t know if you know this or not, but he’s a growing man and can and will be able to care for himself if you were to ask him to. Send him over here if you wish. He, unlike you, gets along with everyone around him.”

“I’m sorry.” Allison sipped her tea and told her that was a start. “Are you going to pick at me too?”

“No. I might well slap you around if you don’t tone it down. You’re lucky that it’s me that got to talk to you and not my sister. Who is meaner than I am when you mess with her faeries.” After the other woman showed up, her name was Sarah, she found out, the two of them spoke about the things that were going on around their realm. Becka found herself watching the faeries and other creatures as they worked around the room. She spoke to them too off and on, giving them suggestions about the work they were doing. For whatever reason, Becka found herself relaxing in a way that she’d never been able to do before.

Waking up, she was surprised to find herself in bed with Brad. He was still lying there with his eyes closed, but she wasn’t sure if he was sleeping. Sliding out of the bed, careful not to move him around too much, she made her way to the window seat and watched the animals in the yard as they played around.

The place was bright with sunlight and colors. Not just colors a person would find in a crayon box but brilliant colors that defied description. To say that things were red and pink would have been an understatement. She found herself smiling as she mentally made up names for the colors that were surrounding her.

Sighting a dragon, Becka thought that it wasn’t real. When he summoned her to come to him, she moved out of the door and to where the big animal was lying in the grass. Like the colors, the size of the creature was more than she could have said. Giving herself only the head of him to compare herself to, she sat down next to him.

The faeries were all over his body and flew away as one when she sat down next to him. For whatever reason, she wasn’t afraid of the large animal. Not even when it yawned when she sat down. His teeth, she noticed, were bigger than she was tall and wider than she was at standing up. Christ. After a few minutes, not only did the faeries return, but they also brought her a large glass of juice that she enjoyed immensely.

“You are new to this area. The mate of young Brad.” She said that she was but didn’t know how young he was. “Nay, he’d not tell you. But I am older than the young man is. By a great deal, as it turns out. Not that it matters. I do believe that you’re the most beautiful woman that I’ve seen around here. Excluding, of course, my own mate.”

“I guess she’s around here someplace too?” He told her that she was, heartbrokenly, no longer alive. Humans had taken her life long ago. “I’m so sorry, sir. The only family that I have left is Toby, my nephew. He’s only just turned sixteen years old.”

“What about Bradley? Is he not your mate and family, too? Even the kiss that you now belong to is your family. Or so I’ve been told. You aren’t alone, ever, my dear. Remember that, if you please.” She didn’t know how to answer that, so she didn’t. “Feeling a bit out of sorts about that, I heard. Or is it something else that has you here?”

“I don’t know why I’m here. I guess I could ask, but I’ve been enjoying seeing things that I’ve never known were real before that I didn’t want to be sent home. Do you suppose that I was sent here because, as you pointed out, I’m being out of sorts?” He laughed, the ground rumbling under his big body. “I would think that if you were to do that all the time, the ground would give up the trees and just have them lying about. How long have you lived here, sir?”

“My name is Adam. And I have lived here since I had no more use in the other land. Humans no longer believe in one such as myself, and that makes my magic hard to keep up with me. Without it, I can no longer fly to darken the sky. No one to ride upon my back either. The saddle that was there has long since rotted away. Nothing, it seems to me, stays as long as one wishes, but now I have a new friend in you. But here, it is like I’ve been given a renewal in life, and I find that I am enjoying my final days here more than I thought that I might.” He sounded so sad about that Becka decided to hug him. Once she was seated, he pointed out that she had a small wound on her hand. “You must allow me to close that wound for you, my dear. Otherwise, you might well bleed out. A small cut from one such as myself could cause you great harm no matter the size of it. Come, let me heal it for you so that I will not worry.”

She put her hand out and laughed when he licked her entire body with his massive tongue. The wound did seal, but Becka was soaking wet as well. Laughing, she shared what had happened with Brad when he came to join them. While Brad and Adam reminisced about old times, she leaned back against the large dragon and watched all the faeries and brownies she was told they were called as they brought flowers and other greens to the big creature. And he, in turn, would politely put out his tongue when they’d gathered enough and eat the things like they were ambrosia to him. Becka thought that it was to him. She’d found scents that she’d never encountered before and figured that it would taste that way, too.

Wondering at what he said about it being his final days, hoping that he only meant in the other realm, Becka knew that she’d come to spend time with him as much as she could. She surely hoped that he’d welcome her back. Becka thought that Toby would enjoy just sitting around talking to him as much as she did.

“Becka?” She looked up when her name was said. It was Allison. “You seem relaxed now. Good. I have some things that I’d like to show you. If you don’t mind.”

They were walking away from Brad and Adam when she realized that they were going away from the castle as well. Asking Allison where they were going, she told her that it was a surprise. Not that she cared all the much for surprises, Becka reframed from saying anything that might get her into hot water again. She was happy to see that she was being smiled at rather than treated like she was a bad person. But she did think about the sex that Allison had been talking about.

Sex wasn’t anything that she made a big deal about even before she’d taken Toby under her arms. There were plenty of men around, most of them not knowing about her having the little boy who would have taken her out and had sex with her. But that would have been all that it was. Just sex and nothing romantic. She found that she really wanted romance. Being wooed, too. Smiling to herself, she did have to wonder what Brad would think about what was on her mind. Then Allison spoke, bringing her out of thoughts.

“You do know that Brad spent a great deal of time here when he was healing? It had been long ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.” Becka said that she’d not realized that he’d been hurt. “Oh, that’s right. Sometimes, I forget that the two of you haven’t known each other all that long. To be honest with you, Becka, you two act and hang around one another like a very well-established couple. Decades and decades of loving one another along with being as happy—I would think that you’ll get there eventually after having a wild night of sex, I guess. I would have thought had I known differently that you have been together for decades instead of just weeks. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that we’re all surprised that you don’t seem to want to be together.”

“I don’t know him.” Allison said that she understood that now. “So you’ve been busting my chops over being angry because you forgot that we’ve not been together? That doesn’t seem all that fair of you.”

“You’re right. It hasn’t been. And I’m sorry for that.” She said that her sister had busted her chops about her being nosy, too. “I haven’t been in the best of moods. I’ll agree with that. And you were right to point it out to me. I don’t know any of you all that well, so I’m not entirely sure how to make myself be a part of the group. Not yet, anyway.”

“You must get over that. Anyway, here you go.” She looked at the smallish house and saw that while it was tiny compared to the castle, she thought it was bigger than the house that they were living in with the humans. Becka wasn’t sure how to call it anything else. “He designed this place while he was here recuperating, as I said before, and the faeries had the most wonderful time making sure that it was just how he thought it should be. He was hurt badly and wasn’t thought to survive during one of the times that he was fighting for the castle of Murry. He and the others, Hamish and all his friends, weren’t all that old when they…well, not too old compared to how old they are now. But they defended the castle and won the day by fighting as a team. A concept that wasn’t thought of as working long ago. Most of the time, back then, there was no teamwork and that is why a great many of the great families castles were left to ruin. This house, a mini castle you can call it, is a replica of the one in which Brad was injured. He fell from one of the turrets in what would have been his death if not for the dragons of the time. Brad was…I believe you might know this already, a great man and a good friend to all that came to him. Just as you have done for the faeries today. I knew that you’d be perfect for the job. Anyway, the dragon that day, Adam’s mate, as it turned out, was happy to have him with her when she perished. So was Adam. He took her dying wish to the other dragon so that he’d not give up his life but tell the stories of their kind to others like himself.”

“I’ll have to have him tell me the story. But what did you mean about a job? I didn’t do anything to the faeries here. Nor would I. They’re special and—I guess I did guide them a little when they seemed at odds as to… I didn’t do anything bad, did I?” She walked around the larger than it looked mini castle and was amazed at the sheer size of it. Becka would swear that it got bigger as she walked around it, and Allison told her that she was correct. “Why is that? And I’m still hoping for an answer on what I did for the faeries. I don’t want to cause any of them any trouble. Ever.”

“It…via magic knows that you are the mate to its owner. If you were to step inside, you’d notice things that you wouldn’t have if you’d been in before, knowing that you were his mate. The rooms—I guess through their own magic, I would say they’re trying to impress you. What do you think? Have they done so? And no, my child, you did nothing wrong with guiding the faeries. You did myself and my sister a great service by guiding them, as you called it.” She smiled at Allison and said that she was very impressed. Then she thanked her for not being upset with her. “If you would like to go inside, I’m sure that it will, by one of the faeries that live inside, tell you everything that you would want to know. More than likely a bit more exaggerated than Brad would tell you.” They both laughed.

She didn’t go inside but did walk around the realm with Allison, telling her about all the things that, because of Brad, were now thriving in this world. Allison told her how he’d been helpful in the waterways that now kept water flowing to the orchard. The large lake that had been resized in order to accommodate the large ships that brought supplies from other worlds. Becka asked how many other worlds there were, fascinated by that.

“Oh my. Let me think a moment. Millions. For every kind of creature there is a realm that their queen lives in. For this one, there are two of us that share this realm because it is so much larger than any of the other realms that are around. This one is the only one too that shares an opening with the one that you’re in. Not that they couldn’t go between yours and theirs, but it is frowned upon a little. Just because of the difference in theirs and your cultures. You see, my child, my sister, and I were born twins, Sarah older than me. From the first time we started working, we knew that we worked better together rather than apart. That being so, it was also better for us, being a richer realm for us to be able to help out the other places that we visit with the supplies that we get from the human world.”

Having as much fun as she’d ever had, Becka asked questions about things that she’d found, and Allison seemed to be proud of her doing so. As they were headed back to the castle, Allison’s castle, she saw that Brad was still talking to Adam, and the two of them seemed to be having a grand time.

“He will have had Brad tell the stories over and over again about his mate. I’m sure that Brad has a good many of them, too, as he’d spent a lot of time with her. She fondly called Brad her human child. He and Adam’s mate were very good friends indeed. It’s good for him. Adam needs someone to remind him that he had made a promise not to perish so long as there were creatures asking about the dragons.”

~*~

Brad hadn’t had dinner in the castle in a good long time. He forgot, because of the time that he’d been gone, how much he had enjoyed it. He’d often said to anyone who would listen that he’d stay here for the rest of his days if he could. Feeling that even more than before, he wished that he and Becka were able to just never go to the human realm ever again.

If not for the house that they had only just picked out, he would have begged to live here. However, with a new family, he knew that he’d have to ask them what they wanted to do. He’d seen Becka around and knew that she was happy here, but would she want to live here forever? Brad would need to speak to her and Toby about visiting more often.

Not that he didn’t love the people who were his friends in the other realm, but to him, this place was so much more relaxing than the one where he’d been born to. Also, he felt as if he could say what was on his mind when he had an opinion. Not to mention the magical beasts and creatures that he so loved to talk to every day.

“Why is that?” He asked Becka what she meant after she hugged him in greeting when he found her on the castle lawns. “I don’t know if you realize this or not, but when you’re thinking hard, as you were just now, I can feel your emotions as well as hear your thoughts. I don’t have to try and read your mind, but I can hear your thoughts like they’re my own. So why would you live here full-time? Not that I’m thinking that’s a bad idea, I love it here. And think too that you have the right idea about where we should live. Do you think that it’s a possibility? It’s all new to me and not you. Why would this place be better to live than anywhere else?”

“That is the reason right there. It’s always new to me. Every time I come here, I see something that I’ve never seen before. A pretty flower. A vine growing up one of the large trees that wasn’t there the last time. Or if it was, it was smaller than before or didn’t have any blooms on it as it did now. It really does seem to change from day to day around here.” She told him how much she enjoyed the way things just went on without notice to her or anyone else. “That’s a good point. Yes, I can see that. The lands don’t try to show off what it’s up to at any given time. It just continues to do its job regardless of who might be able to see it working. I like that. Thanks. I’ve never been able to put it into words like that before.” He kissed her on the forehead, thinking that she smelled of the land here, not in a bad way but like the flowers and air. It was the most refreshing thing he’d smelled, Brad realized.

“If not for Toby, I think that I could live here too. I’d want to have a place for him to live here and in the human world if that was possible. He said that he loves it here but would miss the nonmagical aspect of the human world. Then he pointed out how there is more than likely more magic over there than here. I might well have believed him, but I’ve spent the day walking around and talking with the other creatures here that aren’t in the other world. Adam has become a good friend of mine, and I think I could get used to being around him a great deal.” Brad thought that Toby had it right about both realms. “I heard that you recuperated here for a time. Was it bad?”

“Not until I regained consciousness. I spent a year or so asleep, or something like a deep sleep so that the faeries could heal me. I had lost my arm as well as my left eye. I can use and see out of my missing eye but sometimes, when the weather is humid in the human world, I ache with it. The same with my left leg. I didn’t lose it, but it was close for a time. They made sure that I was whole and able to get around after I woke up.” She told him how sorry she was. “I am as well. At the time, I had no idea why they had bothered to save me. I was, even back then, an immortal, and I wondered why they took the time and energy to make sure that I was whole. I’m glad they did now, with you being a part of my life now. But I would have been just as happy to have been left to die back then. I have actually thought that a great deal after I was healed. More so before I met you. Being an immortal didn’t mean that I would die eventually if I wished it, but it did mean that I wouldn’t be healed with my parts being reattached. I’m so glad for that now.”

“You were with Adam’s mate when she passed, I heard.” They talked about the battles that he’d been in. Brad even removed his shirt to show Becka some of the scars he had while doing battles for other realms. He told her that he and Adam’s mate were the best of friends, even with her being a dragon and him only a human who was gifted with magic. He smiled then. “I’d like to see the other realms. Just to see their differences. Allison told me that there are a great many of them, but only this one is the one that you can access Earth by. So exciting to know that, don’t you think?”

“Oh yes. Many differences. There is one realm, one that I don’t visit all that often that is solely water. It’s for the water creatures, of course, and once I leave there, I have to recuperate for several days before I can go back to the human world. It’s been pointed out that I have to literally drown to be there. As you can imagine, it’s a very scary place to be. Like here they have dragons, ones under the water that no one has ever seen before. The place protects them as much as they’re protected here.” She laughed, then stopped when a group of brownies flew by them, seemingly in a hurry.

When he joined her, he and Becka shared a good joke about all the other realms that he’d been to. Even going so far as to make up stories just for her entertainment. Christ, he loved this woman. It was then that it occurred to him that he’d never told her that. So he decided it was well past the time that he did.

“Becka, I love you dearly. I don’t know that I have ever loved anything or anyone as much as I do you.” She put her forehead onto his and told him that she loved him as well. “I’m so glad. I think that we have put off sleeping together long enough. How about you and I stay here tonight? I’ll let Hamish and the others know where we are and have us some fun.”

“If by fun, you mean sex, then I’ve been told several times today that I need to get laid. I am all for that.” He asked her who had said that to her. “Allison. Several times, as a matter of fact. She told me it would make me less cranky.”

Brad laughed. And he laughed more. He continued to laugh at her every time he looked at her pink cheeks and thought of her being embarrassed. The trouble was, he thought, was that Hamish and Lander had told him the same thing. Hamish was much nicer and more polite about it, but he loved them all the same. Lander was to the point about it, and he had felt himself being embarrassed as well.