Page 42 of Demure
Sierra removed her jacket and set her messenger bag on the table by the door as his words sank in. “What do you mean you had a feeling?”
“That’s just it. I can’t explain it. My magic isn’t future-telling or anything. But in the pit of my stomach, I felt I should spend anight at home. Of course, I was home all day and eventually came to find you…but this is very unlike me.”
Silence fell over them as Sierra pondered what he said for a moment. “You know, this is going to sound crazy, but just hear me out.” Sierra sat on the couch, Aodhan sinking into the seat next to her.
“So, you believe humans are differently evolved Fae, right?”
Aodhan confirms with a nod.
“As humans, we have this thing called intuition. It’s where something bothers you, or maybe you feel you should do something, but you don’t have any rational reason to do that thing you feel you should do. We don’t have magic, so this is one of the few unexplainable things about our nature that somehow works to protect us.
“Most humans brush off their intuition because it isn’t always right. But sometimes it is, and especially as women, we often have to rely on that intuition to protect us—when we are meeting men for dates, for example. Because we have nothing else. As a result, women tend to be more in tune with their intuition than men. But men often think we are crazy when we mention it.”
Aodhan remained silent, his gaze resting on his hands in his lap.
Feeling self-conscious, Sierra asked, “Am I making sense?”
Aodhan swallowed. “Yes. Too much, actually.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re saying all humans have this feeling, right, though it is stronger in women because they use it more often?”
“Yes, well, most anyway. I’m sure there is someone somewhere who will say they don’t.” Sierra rolled her eyes, thinking of all the idiots who live on the internet these days just to harass or bother other people.
Aodhan glanced at Sierra, his green eyes boring into hers before continuing. “So, if I have suddenly developed this intuition, it would mean I am gaining a common human trait.Remember how I said I believed the Fae were losing their magic because they were intermixing with humans more?”
Sierra nodded, setting her hands on Aodhan’s, sensing whatever was rolling over in his mind was upsetting him.
“Well, what you just said would mean that maybe it isn’t the intermarrying that is thinning the magic. It would mean that we are simply evolving as humans did. Just more slowly, for some reason. Or maybe we are even evolving differently. Or I suppose something else could be at play, but either way, what I think to be occurring isn’t really occurring.”
Sierra didn’t know what to say. For all her years studying medicine, this wasn’t something she had an answer to, but she did have one thing to suggest. “Maybe you aren’t evolving to humans, but rather developing an intuition because you can no longer rely on your magic to protect you. It could be a sort of… backward evolutionary advantage?”
Aodhan didn’t answer, removing one of his hands from underneath Sierra’s to rub his face.
After a few moments of quiet, he finally turned to face her. “I really wanted to spend tonight with you, but Braan said my father would try to contact me again later. So, I should go. But I will see you for our date tomorrow, right?”
Sierra smiled slightly, but it didn’t meet her eyes. “I understand, you should go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Aodhan nodded, grabbing her chin, and pressing his lips to hers so firmly it took Sierra’s breath away. “I’ll text you, okay? I’ll let you know how the contact goes.”
“Okay. And either way, I’ll see you tomorrow after work.”
A smile overtook Aodhan’s face, his eyes becoming even brighter than before. “Yes, and I’ve got special plans for us. Until tomorrow.”
Sierra opened her mouth to ask what they were, but before she could, Aodhan disappeared from sight, apparently shifting back to Braan’s.
With a sigh, Sierra made herself comfy on the couch andgrabbed the remote. But before she could dig through the visual sludge on Netflix to find something good, her phone vibrated from where it was tucked in her messenger bag.
Thinking it was Aodhan, she jumped up to grab it, only to see her mother’s name on the screen. Her shoulders dropping in disappointment, Sierra pressed the green answer button and held the phone to her ear.
“Hola, mamá.Como estas?”
“Oh, now you want to talk to me? It would be nice if myhijawould call me from time to time, but nooo, she’s too busy in the big city?—”
“Mamá, we live in Dallas.” Sierra cut off her mom’s dramatic speech, hoping it was the end of it, but of course, her mom was not to be dissuaded from her petition for attention.
“—and it’s so far, we can’t even visit. Why, I’ll be an old maid when you return.” A sniffle came through the other end of the line, but Sierra knew it was likely fake.
