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AFTER MY MASTERY OVER feeding myself using magic, Loretta had stomped off somewhere in the castle. I wanted to laugh at her temper tantrum and the fact that she had forgotten to take me back to Lithius. I play with the magic she had taught me, making harder and harder demands on myself, even going so far as to use a knife to cut a piece of bread and then butter it. After that one, I had to rest awhile before doing anything else.
With a full tummy and bored with magic practice, I decide to go exploring. I know that the one set of stairs goes down to where Lithius is kept. I could go up those stairs, or I could try one of the two doors in the room. I decide on the doors. The door to the right of the stairs opens into a small hallway. I peek into the first room and wrinkle my nose, laundry. The other three rooms are small bedrooms, the last room is a little longer than the dining room and looks to be a common room with a kitchen and eating area, as well as lounge area. That hallway is boring.
I go back to the dining room and walk towards the other door as it bursts open. “Puck?”
“Lin?” He swoops in and picks me up in a bear hug, swinging me around and in a circle before gently setting me down. He gently touches my face, one hand on either cheek. “It really is you!”
He leans down and gently kisses me, tentatively exploring and tasting my mouth. When he finally releases me and leans back, my fingers touch my lips in wonder.
“The past few days have gone from the best dream to the worst reality. But I realized some things. The most important is that I love you,” he says.
I smile up at him and take his hand in mine. “I love you, too,” I whisper. “So much has happened and I don’t want to have to say it all three times. Let’s not tell our stories until we’re all together.”
“I agree. Do you know where the others are?”
I shake my head, “No. I can tell you that they’re not down the stairs. That’s where I was kept.”
“So, either up the stairs or down the hallway I came from, right?”
“Yes, I checked that door,” I point to the one behind me. “It looks like servants’ quarters maybe.”
“Before we go search, we need a plan to deal with Loretta.”
I smile and take a small whip of air and slap his butt gently with it. He yelps, and I giggle. “I got us covered to some extent. I’m not as practiced or as strong as her, but I tricked her into teaching me some of her magic.”
“That’s awesome. Was it hard to learn?”
“No, not really. I was given the advice that love is the strongest magic there is. If you use that as the base for what you are working with, then your magic will be strong. It might have helped that she forced me to feed myself with the use of magic and when that wasn’t enough incentive, she would whip me every time I failed. I don’t think she expected me to succeed or be as strong as I was.”
“That’s great. Let’s go save our family,” Puck says.
I stop and look at him. I had been thinking of them as my family, but hearing it out loud made me teary. “Family?”
He gives me a questioning look. “Yes, family. We might not be the traditional Fairy House, or even the traditional fairy family. But if I know the other two guys, then I can say you’re going to be stuck with three possessive males doting on you.”
I run and jump, wrapping my legs around him, forgetting about my size in my joy, and we go crashing to the floor. I don’t think either of us feel the punishing blow as I rain kisses down on his face.
When he can finally stop laughing long enough to speak, he grabs my face and pulls me away. “I take it you like the idea?”
I nod my head vigorously.
“How about we wait till after we’re home to celebrate our family?”
“Fine.” I pout at him, and then brighten with an idea. “Can I at least hold your hand?”
He pushes me off him and stands, then offers me his hand. “Of course.”