Sex, Lies & Magic

Twenty-Six

Later, after we all ate pizza together in the break room and turned the subject to lighter topics, Craven took me home. All the way up the stairs he kept his thoughts to himself, though he held my hand the entire time, until we stopped outside of our apartments.

Something heavy and unspoken lingered on the air, like anticipation or tension but ten times heavier. Neither of us made a move for our doors. We stood in the middle of the hall holding hands, delighting in the little sparks between us and the closeness I'd been so afraid of since I'd accepted him back into my life.

Drawing a shaky breath I gathered every last bit of courage I possessed and I spoke the words I should have said a week before at least.

"Can I spend the night with you?"

My question won me his hands cupping my jaw as he gently urged me toward him for a kiss. His mouth voraciously devoured mine, though his hands remained cradling my jaw. The tender touch betrayed the hot ardor of the kiss as I wrapped my hands around his waist, pulling him closer to me.

When he finally broke the kiss I was completely breathless. With a smirk he placed a quick peck on the tip of my nose then on the center of my forehead before releasing me and stepping away. Wordlessly he led me back into his apartment, the lock and chain unfastening with the aid of his magic.

"Let's have dessert," he purred once we were inside. I took my jacket off and set it over one of the stools as he opened the fridge and took out a small carton of blueberries. With the memory of my time in Faerie fresh I could tell that they were fermented just by looking at them, each berry was extraordinarily shiny like someone polished them. Then there was the color, bright and vibrantly royal purple

Instead of taking them to the table he walked into the living room and set them down on the coffee table. A trail of magic broke from him and chased along each of the candles littered throughout the room, they sprung to life one by one until their warm light illuminated the small room.

At the threshold between kitchen and living room I hesitated for a moment before letting out the softest of breaths and walking to the couch.

"Dana and Doran make a cute couple," I broke the silence, watching Craven carefully as he took a few of the berries in his hand.

"Unfortunately for your friend, Doran is fickle. Unless he's changed vastly in the last thousand years he won't stay very long, even by human standards." He popped a fruit in his mouth.

"So you mean he's a completely different person?" I smirked and he pursed his lips repressing a smile as he looked away.

"I supposed I earned that."

"You know the last time I had these..." I sighed and took three from the plastic container. "I was in the pools under The Greening with you." I giggled and shook my head.

"Let me guess, I tried entirely too hard to convince you to have sex with me in the pools?" He laughed a little and sucked another berry into his mouth.

"Yes, and you were unsuccessful. It's so odd, you were you but you weren't you."

"Hmm." He stood. "Would you like to take a little trip?"

"Where?"

"To the pools."

"Aren't they frozen over?"

"Don't we have magic?" He raised a brow. "It'll be like a hot spring."

I tilted my head from side to side. "If you lead me through I'll go."