“Would you like toe in with me?” L asked as she tucked her cellphone into her bag.


    “Nay,” he said, shaking his head as he looked at the chimes beside the door. The thick iron bells nging in the slight breeze.


    “I’ll be quick then.”


    “Take you’re time, I’ll be waiting for you.” Bodach said as he leaned against the porch railing. Looking out over the yard, he let out a sigh as the door closed behind him.


    ***


    L stepped outside, the brown paper package clutched close to her chest. The redwood jewelry box wrapped up nice and safe. She nced around the porch for Bodach. He had chosen to stay outside, L could understand that. If she had been trapped for as long as he had in that box she wouldn’t want to be indoors more than she had to either.


    Debating with herself about nning a pic for the men, she wondered if they would like that? Maybe they could go for a hike on one of her favorite walking trails.


    Looking out onto the well-manicuredwn, she frowned. Bodach wasn’t there. L walked down the steps, looking around she wanted to kick herself. Where could he have gone?


    Things were so different from the time he hade from. She bit the inside of her cheek as she walked down the sidewalk. He couldn’t have gotten very far, could he? Maybe he had gotten bored and decided to head back to her apartment?


    Shifting the package in her arms, she reached into her bag to grab her cellphone, then stopped herself. Of course, he didn’t have one of those, so calling him would be useless.


    Shifting the package again, L moved down the sidewalk. Her eyes scanning across the yards of the surrounding houses. The further she got, the more worried she became when she remembered the park they had passed, Bodach was a child thief.


    Well, rescuer.


    Same difference. She picked up her pace, worrying her lower lip as she went. Hopefully, he would be there and she could get him back to her apartment and out of trouble in no time at all.


    ***


    L felt the anxiety ease up the closer that she got to the park. There off to the side, under a grouping of trees, was Bodach. A soft smile ying on his lips as he watched the children running around. Even with the sses blocking half of his face, L could see the way he was rxed with his arms held at his side. His back against the tree, the normal dark, seductive smirk gone.


    “You had me worried.” L huffed out as she moved to stand beside him, her eyes moving to the children ying tag.


    “Worried for me, that touches my heart. That you would worry for someone like I.”


    “Well, worried for what might happen.” L shifted from foot to foot.


    “These children are loved, they are safe.” His words were soft and L nced over at him.


    “Well, of course, everyone loves their children.”


    “Nay, not everyone. There are those who need my help to ce them with the fae that will help them flourish.” He said ncing away from the children, his eyes meeting L’s gaze.


    “That’s what you do? Take them so they have a better chance?” L asked, looking away from him, feeling her cheeks heat up.


    “Aye, it’s what I do.”


    She couldn’t help but think about her own childhood. It had been sad. At the same time filled with happiness, her grandmother had made it memorable teaching her to garden.


    The blistering sun beating down on her freckled shoulders as she and the older woman had their hands in the dirt. Enjoying the feel of the rich soil as they had nted flowers in her garden. It had been hard, but she was thankful that she had her to lean on.This content ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    “How about I take you back home and then I’ll go drop this off?” L asked, shifting the box in her hands. Bodach stepped forward, taking the box from her, his fingers grazing hers with that smirk back on his lips.


    “Ready to end our time together so soon?”


    “It’s not that,” L said with a pause as she thought about how to word her next sentence. “I just worry about you guys, the world has changed a lot.”


    ****


    Back at L’s apartment, things were not as they should be. The kitchen was cleaned, the dishes put away.


    “Are the two of you nning to seduce her?” Lu asked as he flopped onto the couch, putting his feet onto the coffee table.


    Puca looked over at him as he sipped his coffee. The lines around his eyes let Lu know that he was smirking behind his coffee cup.


    “If we are?” Merrow asked, brushing back his white blonde hair as he studied the book in his hands. Flipping back to the cover, he looked at the models with a sigh of boredom. “It says it’s about mer-folk, but he does not look like one of ours.”


    “I think it’s supposed to be the girl.” Puca said, his grin deepening. “She has a tail.”


    “That’s not what we look like either,” Merrow said with a frown.


    “I know, leannan. I’ve seen.”


    Merrow looked up, peeking over the book at Puca, “Yer teasing me.”


    “Aye.”


    Lu frowned as he watched the two men banter.


    How was he supposed to have a chance if they were already nning their courtship of their pretty host? He looked over to the strange dark mirror that sat across from him on a stand. Nodding to himself as he started toe up with a n.


    Standing up, he decided he would try to do something helpful. He picked up his nkets from the night before and began folding them when a log rectangle box fell from the couch. Leaning down, Lu picked up the item. Pressing on the small soft buttons and what he had believed to be a badly kept burnt mirror red to life. The strange sounds of people talking filled the room.


    “What magic is this?” Merrow asked, sitting his book down as he leaned forward to study the images on the screen of one man punching another.


    Lu pressed another button. The screen changed, this time to a sobbing woman. The three watched as a man took her into his arms.


    “Is this a scrying mirror?” Lu asked, captivated by the couple on the screen as the woman looked up at the man.


    ‘I’m sorry, my love.’


    ‘Sarah, I love you. We will find away.’


    Lu pressed the button. Something about that felt like he was intruding on a moment he shouldn’t have been.


    “Lu is controlling it.” Puca said, watching the two as he sat down his coffee cup, “I don’t feel any spiritsing from it.”


    “I’m not doing it.” Lu said, tossing the remote towards Puca.


    Puca easily caught the hard ck rectangle. Pressing another button, the fight from before appearing again and the men sat sucked into the action packed-drama.