Page 8 of On a Pale Horse
He laughed at himself. Doubtful.
He entered his own room and stripped off his jacket and shoes before approaching the mirror. There was only one lady he needed to focus on at the moment. He slipped through the mirror into a glade of apple trees. The scents of moss and mist hit him before the tang of the uncanny. Avalon was another faerie realm. One technically within his purview if he wanted to fight Morganna on the semantics.
He didn’t.
It took seconds for a tall blonde woman dressed in jeans and a gray t-shirt to appear before him. Her hair was twisted on top of her head in a messy bun, she wore no shoes, and her toes dug into the earth with every step. “Can I help you?”
He scanned her up and down. Frozen for a second at the sight of her. “Vivienne. I don’t think I’ve seen your face for a hundred years.”
She shrugged and plucked an apple off a nearby tree. “So, what of it?”
He shook his head and held his hands up to show he meant to malice. If Vivienne came to him today, he had a better chance of getting what he wanted. “No, I’m happy you’re happy. I love Morganna’s fierceness, but you have a pretty innocence about you that is nice too.”
“Nice?”
Okay, this wasn’t going as planned. Gwyn cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “I came to ask a favor.”
“Like what?” She took a bite of the apple and met his eyes in a way he recognized in a dominant woman. If Bianca hadn’t completely claimed his heart, he might have seen where that look could take them.
Well, as long as she stayed Vivienne … her other faces were more terrifying to behold, and he didn’t want to be on the other end of their wrath.
“I wish to retrieve some water from the well.”
She eyed him again and this time wariness floated in their depths. “Why?”
“You may have heard I found a bride. One worthy of me.”
She snorted. “I hear you nabbed yourself a Horseman.”
“It’s true. Her family needs some help. I’m inclined to give it.”
She chewed more of her apple and took a slow spin on her bare feet in the ankle-deep grass. “What will you do for me in return?”
He took a deep breath. Nothing worse than giving out favors. “I’ll owe you; I suppose.”
She cocked her head. “Come now, Gwyn, do it right. I know your tricks and find I’m okay with the King of the Old Fae owing me a favor.”
He bowed low. “I, Gwyn, King of the Fae, will owe the Three-Fold Goddess of Avalon one favor in exchange for a draft of water from the Seeing Well.”
He hadn’t even fully stood up before a flask hit him in the chest. He’d barely caught it before he looked up to thank her, but she’d disappeared.
With a quick glance around, he knew he’d need to find a different way out of there. Doubtful he’d find a mirror hanging on one of these apple trees, he wandered for a while until the soft wash of a wave against rocks drew him to a small beach. The sky here hung low with fat murky gray clouds. A crumbling castle sat on the coastline off in the distance.
Avalon always felt a little … wrong to him… Like it had stepped outside of time and he wasn’t sure if it wanted to be put back in its place.
Either way, it was for Morganna to deal with. Gwyn stepped into the waves and disappeared back to his own faerie home. She sat where he’d left her. Except now, her stacks of books were towering enough she could hide behind them.
He sat the flask on the table near a stack of books with a flourish. “For you, My Queen.”
She snorted and leaned back to see him from around the tomes. “That was fast. And don’t think I don’t know you’re only so quick to help because you anticipate the rewards. What did you have to do to get it?”
“I’ll owe a favor to an old friend. She won’t ask for anything too grievous I hope… No that’s a lie. I hope you ask for something truly diabolical. Might make for some fun.”
She smiled and motioned for him to sink to her level. “Come here. You deserve a reward. I know how much you hate giving out favors.”
He dropped to his knees next to her chair, and she pulled him in by the collar of his shirt for a kiss.
When she sat back again, he said. “Although, now I’m considering offering favors more often.”
