Blissa found herself at the crystal pond once again to meet Edmund. She couldn’t stop herself, even though she knew she should stay away. She’d run into Maurelle before she left the castle, and she’d actually lied to her cousin about where she was going. She felt a twinge of guilt, but she knew Maurelle wouldn’t understand.
Blissa pushed away her thoughts of Maurelle and focused on Edmund. He was nothing like the humans she’d imagined. He was so much more. They’d met every afternoon for the past month, and they’d shared bits and pieces of their lives. Not all, but enough to know they were alike. Both of Edmund’s parents were dead, his mother in childbirth, and his father in a war. He’d been raised by his aunt, who was bold and fierce and taught him well. Blissa’s mother had died when she was a babe, having taken ill with a case of cricketpox. Blissa had the warmth of her father, though he had many tasks as ruler, and they’d both felt they had to fend for themselves a bit when they were young.
Edmund had told her of the world of men, while she’d told him a bit about the fairy realm and a lot about nature. He seemed intrigued by the fairy sense of unity with nature. He was eager to learn and kind and attentive, and she so enjoyed that.
He was handsome and funny and he had the most gorgeous eyes, a dazzling amber that she found entrancing. And that was the problem. He was too handsome, too attractive, and too kind. Everything about him spoke to her heart, but she couldn’t be with him. He was a man. He wasn’t a fairy, and her father’s decree had forbidden it. Even if he was considering changing his mind, he hadn’t.
Edmund tugged on her hand as he led her away from the pond, into the kingdom of men. It wasn’t forbidden for fairies to go here. They just didn’t unless their fairy duties required it. Yet, Edmund had told her there was a beautiful patch of flowers not far from here.
She enjoyed the way his hand nestled around hers as he led her through the vines that flanked the crystal pond’s entryway and out into a forest. They walked through woods a bit and then to a clearing. He talked of how much he loved the fresh air, how much he enjoyed being outside when he was younger. “I think I would be a woodsman if I could,” he said.
“A woodsman?” Blissa asked. “What does a woodsman do?”
“Oh, they make their fortune on the woods. They find trees and cut them for lumber.”
Blissa recoiled at that. “How many trees do they chop down?”
Edmund startled at her, and then smiled. “They replant the trees, you know,” he said. “They take trees to help build houses for people to live in and sometimes for firewood, but they still plant new ones, too. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anyone as distressed by it as you, though.”
Blissa looked around at the many trees. She’d briefly thought a woodsman would be like a wood fairy, a person tasked with taking care of the trees in the forest, and it had sounded like a brilliant calling for him. But the prospect of cutting away trees for lumber seemed a bit cruel to the trees. However, all things had cycles. “I suppose woodsman mainly cut the older, dead trees, the ones that need be cleared away.”
Edmund paused a moment before responding, and said, “I’m not entirely sure. I hadn’t learned enough about it, since I can’t be a woodsman.”
“And why can’t you, if you so desire it?”
“I am bound to my family’s, er, business, I suppose you would call it. I have obligations that preclude me from sleeping under the stars every night and waking up to the glorious glow of the morning sun in the east.”
That was a wonderful life, one of sunshine and fresh air. As a fairy, she had some of it, but, she too, had “family obligations,” as Edmund had called it. She would rule, and she would spend less time in the heart of nature than she would like. Though she was an emotion fairy, so she always enjoyed the company of others, and that tempered any losses or perceived losses of some other joy.
She was about to ask Edmund what his family business was when he pulled her through a copse of trees and into a clearing that was filled with the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. They were in perfect bloom and a delicate yellow in color. While she’d seen many a flower in the fairy realm, she’d never seen ones like these, so breathtaking, so soft and supple, so glorious and regal.
“Are they roses?” she asked Edmund as she delicately stepped toward one and caressed its silky petal.
“Yes,” he replied. “This area is known as the Secret Briar, and the roses manage to grow here even though no one tends to them. They have fuller petals and tiny thorns, and my aunt once told me that if you gave a briar rose to a woman you loved, she would always be yours.”
At this, Edmund bent down, plucked a rose from the ground and held it out to Blissa. She looked at his soft amber eyes, at the clear message he was offering with the flower. She wanted more than anything to reach out and take the bloom from his hand. Instead she stepped back. “Edmund, I’m a fairy,” she said.
“I know,” he said, his hand still extending the flower. “You are the fairy I am in love with. I love you, Blissa. Surely you know. I should have said it sooner, but I can contain myself no more. I am hopelessly in love with you.”
She swallowed. She was in love with him, too, but she couldn’t be. She couldn’t do this. “Fairies can’t be with humans.”
He looked at the flower in his hand, but didn’t release it. He stepped forward so he stood in front of her, only an inch or two separating them. He leaned in and planted his lips on hers, and it was electric and fiery, everything she’d wanted in the touch of another. It sent thrills through her body as he wrapped his arms around her, removing the minute gap between them. And even though she knew this wasn’t what she should be doing, she couldn’t help herself. He was everything she wanted, and his broad shoulders and sculpted chest made him the perfect fit for her.
She reveled in the joy of him for moments too long, and finally managed to pull herself away. “Edmund, we can’t,” she said shaking her head “It’s forbidden.”
“Why?”
“A human king, an evil king, mated with a fairy and he attacked us.”
Edmund grimaced and staggered backwards. “Attacked you?” he asked, his eyes widening. “You personally, not just fairies in general?”
Blissa nodded. She could feel the waves of shock and angst coming from him. It was personal and overwhelming. She moved closer to him, took his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“The king,” he whispered, shaking his head, looking bitter. “The king who attacked you, the one who made it wrong for us ... I have to tell you something about him. Something I probably should have told you in the beginning, only I hadn’t wanted you to hold against me.”
She shook her head. He was being silly. “I told you, I don’t judge all men by the acts of one.”
“But he was more than just a man to me. He was ... he was my father.”