She nodded. “Yes.”
Her mother wasn’t problematic because of her magical power level, though it was substantial. She was problematic because of all the fae, Titania—and Oberon—were the best-known and most beloved by mundanes. And if I’d learned anything from Arne and Dag, it was that magicals with mundane buy-in were forces to be reckoned with.
“We need to tell the elves,” I said.
Ellie placed both her hands on my chest. “This is why I didn’t say anything right away.”
I wasn’t blaming her for not telling me the moment we met. “I don’t talk about my father unless I’m asked,” I said.
She looked away again. “Yes, you do. You told me about him, and your past, when we had our one date. You make sure there’s no secrets. You’re a good man.”
The night I made her dinner. “You told me about where your cottage has been.” And that she was fae-born. She’d given me the information she felt comfortable giving. No harm in that.
“I’m sorry.” She wiped at her eye. “It’s just that…” She sniffed. “I landed in elf territory. What if they’d figured out they had Titania’s daughter in their midst? Even with the concealments, their magic is strong. If you knew, you wouldn’t have done what you’re doing now. Being good. My mother’s presence eclipses everything. And if there’s a threat…”
A threat would have spurred the cottage to move again. “We’ll be careful,” I said. “I’ll mediate if I have to. Arne and Dag won’t hurt you once they know. They’re good with outsiders.”
“I think they know.” Ellie chuckled. “At first, I thought your Queen was a Heimdall aspect and that she somehow heard me chewing my toast or humming in the yard through the concealments. Then I realized what was happening.”
Arne and Dag knew about Ellie? “Dag hasn’t taken an aspect name.” Most elves with her power level owned up to their god aspect. Most of the ones who didn’t were women, though.
Ellie leaned closer. “That’s because there’s not supposed to be more than one All-Parent per enclave. Such concentrations of power tend to lead to a disruption in elven hierarchies. Sort of like when that playwright decided to openly name a character after my mother.” She flared her fingers. “Boom! A cataclysmic shift in power.”
Dagrun Tyrsdottir was an All-Parent? “Dag’s another aspect of Odin?”
Ellie nodded. “She wields more power than the King.”
“We have two Odin aspects in Alfheim?” We have two Thor elves. Magnus wasn’t our only Freyr elf, either, though the other Freyrsson was less powerful and thus able to control his effects on mundanes. We also had our own Bragi, and a Saga, both of whom taught at the high school. And I’d long wondered if Sif the Golden was in fact an aspect of Sif, and if Benta was an aspect of Freya.
But two Odins? “And here I thought Dag was probably a Friggsdottir.”
Ellie reached for her socks. “That’s Sif the Golden.”
“You know all this?” She knew more about the elves than I did, and I’d lived with them for two centuries. I reached for my own clothes.
“I know the god aspects of all the elves I’ve photographed.” She grinned and kissed my cheek. “I know yours, too.”
I stopped half bent over the edge of the cushion as I reached for my pants. “What?” I was mundane. I didn’t have an aspect. The jotunn thing was a joke.
The next kiss landed on my hip, since I’d leaned away. “You’re my own personal Baldur,” she purred.
I blinked.
She pouted. “You cannot take a compliment, can you, Mister Serious?”
Ellie, still naked except for one thigh-high sock, batted her eyelashes like she didn’t want us to get dressed.
Had she just sprung a trap? Because I was caught. I’d been caught down at the lakeside, that first day. I followed my dear dog and we both crawled right into that box because we knew a damned good thing when we saw it. How many fires had Ellie jumped into for us? How much damage had she taken? I’d found a good person. A good soul.
Ellie tangled her arms around my head. Her soft breasts pressed against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her bare back and stroked her shoulders with my sun-warmed palms.
She kissed me deeply. “I love your lack of poker face.”
I hadn’t told her how I felt. I had, but not since I passed through the concealment enchantments. Not since I acknowledged that I was all-in.
Why did I keep waffling like I didn’t know what all-in meant? Like my lungs suddenly thought I was drowning on dry land? Because I’d fought for this. I followed Chihiro’s directions and I took notes and I did everything I could to remember Ellie. I trudged through a blizzard on the off chance an odd elf had actually given me good advice. All because I was in love.
“We will get this sorted,” I said. “And stabilized.”
“Hmmm…” She kissed me again. “Make me happy first.”
Yes, this was what I’d fought for. This was what I’d wanted even before I left my father on that ice floe. A partner who wanted me—all of me—no matter how I lumbered through this world.
Ellie giggled when I flipped her onto the cushion. “We’re going to need to go back to my place, you know.” I nibbled on her neck, which elicited a sigh. “My perfect, time-stealing fae princess.”
This was what Arne meant when he said you can’t fight that. One can’t fight the arms of a fae who freely gave her attentions. And no matter the rollercoasters, or waves, or whatever, I’d be a fool if I tried.
Chapter 6
The winter slapped us in the face the moment we stepped outside. Low flat gray clouds, the kind that don’t break up so much as stop being when they run out of snow, still drifted over Alfheim. Not a lot of new flakes fell. The wind, though, had picked up again and continued howling as
