Destined

don’t think that’s what David saw in her.”

“So she’s better on the inside, too?” Chelsea muttered.

Now she’s being deliberately knot-headed. “No, listen, I just want you to understand what makes Yuki so wrong. In Avalon, everyone has the same kind of symmetry Laurel and I have. We do have a range of… beauty, I guess, but there’s nothing special about Laurel’s appearance. She even has a friend at the Academy who is practically her mirror image. If David somehow met Katya, or some faerie more beautiful than her, do you think he’d stop loving Laurel?”

“I gotta say, you’re really bad at this,” Chelsea grumbled.

“Sorry.” Tamani grimaced. “I didn’t mean to imply that he would never stop—”

Chelsea interrupted him with a small, pitiable sound. “It’s OK, I know what you’re trying to say. Really, the last thing you need to be doing is trying to convince people that Laurel’s nothing special. I don’t believe it; you don’t believe it. And considering the fact that you stealing her away is my only hope for any chance with David in the future, I hope you never do.”

“No, that’s not it at all.” He paused, thinking. “Laurel was gone for a long time, Chelsea. And even though she always had my love, I’ve looked at other girls in the past.” He couldn’t help but feel a little silly, making the confession. “There was one really beautiful faerie who I… danced with a couple times, at festivals. I haven’t seen her in years, but I have to tell you, since being able to really be with Laurel — to get to know her all over again — I haven’t thought of that faerie once. Seriously,” he added with a grin when Chelsea raised her eyebrows. “I barely remembered her enough to bring her up. I love Laurel, so she becomes the most beautiful faerie in the world to me, and no one else can compare.”

“Yes, I think we’ve established that Laurel is awesome,” Chelsea drawled. “I think so too. That’s kind of the problem.”

“No, I… Forget Laurel for a minute. Just listen to what I’m saying. I don’t know if David will ever love you. But if he does, if he really does, it won’t matter how pretty or exciting someone else might be. If he really loves you, you can’t possibly lose. Because he won’t see anyone as even remotely comparable to you.”

Chelsea looked up at him with her big grey eyes — eyes that begged for his words to be true. “Would you forget about Laurel, if you fell in love with me?”

Tamani sighed. “Sure, if it were possible for me to love anyone but her. I don’t think it is, though.”

“How does she resist you?” Chelsea asked, but her smile was back.

Tamani shrugged. “I wish I knew. How does David resist you?”

She laughed, for real this time, dissipating the tension that had filled the small kitchen.

“I wish you success with him,” Tamani said, serious now.

“How altruistic of you,” Chelsea replied, rolling her eyes.

“No, really,” Tamani said, laying a hand on her arm and leaving it there until she looked up at him. “My own hopes aside, I know what it feels like to pine for someone. I know the pain it can bring.” He paused before whispering, “I wish us both success.” As they walked out of the kitchen together, he offered her a grin. “And the fact that the one depends on the other, well, chalk it up to a happy accident.”

Chapter 4

Though Laurel’s eyes were open when her alarm rang, its shrill buzz still made her jump as it cut through the early morning half light. December 22. Normally this was a day she would spend helping her parents in their stores, or putting up last-minute decorations, listening to Christmas music, maybe making some holiday treats. She suspected this year wouldn’t be nearly so festive.

The sky was still murky as Laurel opened her closet and reached for one of her faerie-made shirts — it seemed fitting today, when she was truly fulfilling her role as an agent of Avalon. As she slipped the pink peasant top over her head, it felt more like armour than simple, gauzy fabric.

Just outside the front door, Laurel was met by a green-clothed sentry she didn’t recognise — there were just so many of them now! — looking very much like he wanted to stop her. “Sun’s coming up,” Laurel said, without waiting to hear what he had to say. “And I’m going to Tamani’s. You can check up on me in about five minutes. Now move.”

To her surprise, he did.

She glanced at the house as she was backing down the driveway, eyes lighting on her parents” darkened window. She still hadn’t told them what was going on, but that couldn’t last much longer. “It’s almost over,” she said, hoping she was right.

After a short drive Laurel knocked on the apartment door and waited for someone to let her in, bracing herself for the possibility of Shar answering. Not that it mattered; Shar was here somewhere, and she would have to face him eventually. But later was better than now and Laurel was relieved when Tamani’s face appeared behind the door.

“Everything go OK?” Laurel asked as she ducked in, keeping her voice low.

“If by OK you mean uneventful, then yes,” Tamani replied, looking down at her with a warmth in his eyes that she hadn’t seen since they captured Yuki. She wondered what Tamani and Chelsea had talked about and if there was any way to request they talk about it more often.

“I guess that’s OK,” Laurel replied, dropping her backpack on the floor. But she knew they were all hoping something would happen. It had now been almost eight hours since they’d first captured Yuki. It felt too long — and Klea did not have a reputation for tardiness.

Chelsea was sitting in a chair near Tamani, looking tired — still in her rumpled dress — but sporting a smile. Tamani had lost his bow tie, shoes, and jacket — though because of Yuki, not his gloves — and his shirt was unbuttoned halfway down his chest. The two of them looked like they had been at an all-night party rather than sentry duty.

The sound of running water reached her ears and Laurel realised Shar must be taking a shower. Six months ago such mundane, human-like behaviour from the captain might have made her smile. Instead, every moment she spent eyeing the door to Tamani’s room ratcheted up the tension in her neck and shoulders. How could she face him again, knowing what he had done to her mother?

“I’ll stay with you when he comes out,” Tamani said, his breath tickling her ear. She hadn’t even noticed he’d stepped so close.

Laurel shook her head. “You need sleep too.”

“I dozed here and there. Trust me,” he said, his fingers soft on her shoulders, “I’m fine.”

“OK,” Laurel whispered, feeling inordinately better that he would be with her.

They both turned as Shar emerged from the bedroom, his hair still damp. He paused when he saw Laurel but met her gaze evenly before she lost her nerve and looked down at the floor.

“Anything happen in the past five minutes?” Shar asked, placing his hands on his hips as he stepped into the front room of the apartment.

“Not a thing,” Tamani said, mirroring Shar’s posture. Laurel suppressed a smile at how reflexively — and likely unconsciously — Tamani emulated his mentor.

Shar turned and looked at Yuki with a strangely neutral expression. Laurel wasn’t sure how to read him at all. At times he seemed practically emotionless. She knew there was more to him than that — Tamani had told her stories, stories that made the both of them laugh to tears. But the faerie now observing his prisoner — so focused, so unaffected — made her question how anyone could get close to him.

“How much longer do we wait?” Tamani asked. “I’m starting to wonder if we were right the first time; that Yuki is nothing more than a distraction and Klea is letting her sit while she does… whatever it is she’s planning to do.”

“Unless Klea’s plans threaten the gate, or Laurel, they are of no concern to us. We have Laurel under constant guard, and to truly threaten the gate, Klea needs her,” Shar said, pointing — almost accusingly — at Yuki. “So until she comes to retrieve Yuki, we can assume the gate is safe. As safe as it ever is,” he amended. “Our place is here, doing just what we’re doing now.”