May 2007
He gazed out the window and saw the ethereal effect of the moonlight turning the leaves of the great oaks to silver, but his thoughts were not on the trees or the moon. After tonight his life would be over, and the thought left him feeling betrayed He opened and closed his fists as he fought to control the anger that was building up inside of him, bubbling just below the surface. Everything he lived for was here and without any consideration for him or his needs, tomorrow it would all be stripped from him. A feeling of helplessness filled his heart because there was nothing he could to change what would happen in the morning. It should never have come to this, but like it or not he would be forced to leave .
At the age of twenty eight Jonathan towered above most other men, and his broad shoulders made him appear even taller than the six foot two inches that he was. His hair was a light, sandy brown color that fell around the top of his ears, dark brown eyes were framed with heavy lashes. Cheek bones that were too sharp and a jaw that was too square made his angular face interesting, but he couldn't be considered handsome. He always seemed in need of a shave because the dark stubble reappeared before the day was half through.
Jonathan had been brought here to the place of the Daoine Sidhe when he was a child, and this had been the only life he remembered. Once Phaedra had brought him here to live with the Sidhe, his life with them had been mostly carefree, filled with laughter, music, dancing and love making. But his captor was also capable of great cruelty. He had only been the target of her wrath once, when he had unwittingly offended her by sharing a conversation with Ieleane, who had become a rival of Phaedras' for a short time. She had cast him into the realm of the shape shifting Spriggin, who took pleasure in the torture and killing of humans. He was returned to the Sidhe only after Berlle, a particular male fairy who had seen Jonathan in the midst of the Spriggans, had reminded Phaedra that Jonathan was still with them. After she had rescued him, she had laughed at her own silly forgetfulness and walked away. Her laughter had always reminded him of wind chimes tinkling on a gentle breeze.
He realized that his life would never be the same, and while he felt sorrow at loosing this life with Phaedra, he also realized that he meant little more than nothing to her. After taking a deep breath of the sweet summer air, he turned back to bed and eased himself under the blanket, trying not to awaken her. Surprisingly enough he was quickly asleep and this time there were no dreams.
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Phaedra felt Jonathan slip in beside her and remembered when she had brought him here and shown him where he would live. With eyes like saucers he had gazed at his new home, and forgotten about the home he had shared with his family, a home where there was never enough food and a tiny shack that seemed to be perpetually cold. His sisters and brother faded from his memory, and by the end of that day he had forgotten everything that existed before she had brought him here. She had laughed at his shyness, and the look of adoration that was in his eyes whenever she called him to her. He had brought laughter to her as a child and she had never regretted bringing him here. She taught him to please her and he had become an accomplished and thoughtful lover who would bring her to fulfillment each time they had come together.
But he had been here too long already, becoming boring, and although she cared for him in her way she had made her decision. In the morning she would return him his real home, his real world, the world of the humans. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she remembered the squalor that that had been his world. Humans were so boring, so simple, and so ignorant, and while the humans and the Fae shared the same world, the Sidhe maintained a glamour that kept the worlds separate, and so they came and went without being seen. She would slip Jonathan through the glamour with her and leave him where she had found him, then she would find his replacement. It might be interesting to find one who was a free spirit, one who had a mind of his own. What would it be like to have one who might actually question her, or better still, one who might think he could leave her before she was willing to let him go? She wanted a man this time, not a child and she would live in his world not here. A smile lifted the corners of her mouth as she savored the excitement this idea brought to her.
She rolled over to look at Jonathan and wondered what would become of him once he was returned to them. His mother would be an old hag by now and his siblings would have all but forgotten him, having gone on with their lives once they realized he was not coming back. Time ran much faster in the world he had left, and the twenty five years he had spent here was equal to more than fifty human years. When the glamour was lifted he would find nothing familiar waiting for him.
She sighed as she ran her finger down his back, his eyelids fluttered and he turned to her and kissed her forehead. He looked at her and remembered the previous night when they had watched a meteor shower, and the stars had seemed to rain down above them. Her face had glowed in the starlight and she had seemed to be part of the stars fire, and he thought he could still feel the heat that had seemed to radiate through her skin. She was always beautiful, but even more so under the star's fire. He could still feel the chill of the wet grass against his back as they had lie watching the display, and then enjoying the most gentle love making he had ever experienced.
Jonathan kissed her lips very gently, and she kissed him in return. When he kissed her again, his tongue slid between her lips, exploring the roof of her mouth. His hand cupped her breast, his thumb rubbing against her nipple. His lips were on her neck, licking with the tip of his tongue, then moving to the hollow of her throat. After a moment his lips were at her breast, sucking at her nipple. The heat built between them as they continued to pleasure each other, and in a short time he was buried inside her. He didn't want to remove himself from the warmth of her body, but eventually he rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, knowing this would be the last time he made love to her. Before long she was asleep, but he stayed awake waiting for the skies to lighten as the morning came. During the night the anger he had felt earlier had turned to helplessness and eventually to sadness.
As morning sunlight streamed through the window, Phaedra left the bed and stretched like a cat, and as she did, her wings unfurled behind her. She dressed in her short green tunic and cinched the gold cord around her tiny waist. After slipping into her sandals, she wrapped the velvet laces around her ankles, then her calves and finally tied them just below her knees. She straightened the bracelet that wrapped twice around her forearm, and walked to the gilded mirror that hung on the wall across from the bed. Stopping in front of it, she looked at herself. Black tendrils of hair surrounded her face and cascaded down her back almost to her waist. Eyes that were black pools with no iris stared back at her. Her flawless skin was now flushed from their recent love making as were the tops of her slightly pointed ears. The reflection in the mirror showed Jonathan sitting in the bed watching her.
Smiling, she said to him, "Get dressed, Jonathan. We have a busy day ahead of us" She noticed a look of unease and what seemed like sadness in his eyes. Drawing an irritated breath, she said, "Stop moping this way. I doesn't become you." With that she led him out the door and into the bright sunlight and they walked silently toward the top a small hill. He felt a sudden shift in the air around him, and for a moment he felt unbalanced, but the feeling passed as quickly as it had come, and looking down the hill they were standing on he saw a town in the distance.
"Well, here we are," Phaedra told him with a smile. "Right back where you came from." She kissed his lips and stepped away from him, with that her wings seemed to move slightly in the breeze and she was gone.
He stood for a long time staring at the spot where she had stood, as if by watching long enough she might reappear, but he finally realized that she was gone and he was alone now. He had no future now that she was gone, and as he fell to his knees and wept, he heard the sound of chimes tinkling on the breeze.
