Page 73 of Playing Dirty
"Alright, then." I tuck an arm behind my head. "Teach me, coach."
"Okay, simple one." She sits up a little. "You breathe in for four counts, hold for four, then out for four. That's it. Simple, right?"
"Aye. I think even I can manage that."
"Good. So you'd better actually try it." She points a finger at me, mock-stern.
"I promise I will, Ace." I catch her hand and press a kiss to her fingers.
She stays there in my arms, both of us looking at each other, something so comfortable and easy about it, just taking in all the little things in her face. The freckle by her jaw, the way her lip curves, how her nose scrunches when she smiles. I think I could spend a lifetime studying them and not get bored of it.
She trails light circles over my chest with her fingers. "You know, someone mentioned the faerie folk to me today. Is that a real thing? Like, do people actually believe in them?"
I smile up at the shadows on the ceiling. "And where'd you pick that up, now?"
"When I grabbed dinner on my own tonight." Her eyes go bright. "There was this sweet older woman ahead of me, and she dropped a handful of coins, so I helped her pick them up, and we got to chatting. She gave me the whole rundown. She seemed so sincere, but now I'm wondering if she was just messing with me."
I smile at the image of Margot being her usual sweet self and making friends with an older woman the second she was alone.
"Aye," I say, tracing a slow line up the warm skin of her back. "There's no shortage of legends about the Aos Sí. The faerie folk. They still wander these parts, or so the stories go."
"The ays..." She has a careful run at it. "Ees shee?"
"There you are. Practically a local."
She watches me in the shadows, her eyes wide and bright with curiosity. "But do peopleactuallybelieve in them? In this day and age?"
"A bit of both, I reckon. Most don’t and laugh it off, but I've met a fair few who very much do." I shrug against the pillow, pulling her a fraction closer. "My grandfather believed, no question about it."
"Really?" Her eyes widen.
“Aye. He used to tell us about a light he saw drifting out over the bog one night, blue-white, no lantern behind it and no house for miles. A ghost light, he called it, and swore blind it followed him halfway home. Scared me half to death as a boy." I huff a laugh. "Ask my mam, though, and she'll tell you it's all fairytales and what in God's name are you on about. She's no time for faerie rings or any of it."
"What exactlyisa faerie circle?" she asks, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"A ring of mushrooms, usually, or maybe just a wee circle of darker grass sitting out on its own in an empty field. Meant to be the spot where the good people dance at night. If you happen across one, you goaroundit. You don't ever, for any reason, walk through the middle."
"Hmm, fascinating." She stares out at nothing for a second, then turns back to me with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "So. Doyoubelieve?"
I let out a low chuckle. "No. But I... I prefer to err on the side of caution."
"You err on the side of caution?" She smiles.
"Aye. Meaning if I find myself at the edge of a faerie circle, I'm not crossing it. I'm not taking a chance on the off chance they're actually watching."
"Ha! I knew it! You're superstitious!" She lets out a delighted laugh and I can't help but join her.
"Aye, you've caught me," I say, pulling her closer against my side. "Superstitious as they come.”
"So what happens if you step into one?" she asks, sitting back up and resting her chin on her hand, watching me intently.
"Well, if you're foolish enough to walk through the middle, whichyouknow better than to do now," I look at her pointedly, "then you’d be taken. Swept off with the good people, away under the hill. As the stories go, a single night dancing down there is a hundred years up here. You come back to find the whole world's moved on without you, everyone you knew long in the ground."
"Sounds dark and terribly sad." She shivers. "I'll do my best to avoid them, just in case. Though if I do go missing into a mushroom ring, you'd better come after me."
I smile at her, brushing a stray dark hair from her forehead. "Aye, Ace. I'd come after you."
She smiles and leans down to kiss me, and I kiss her back, slow and deep, one hand sliding into her hair to hold her there. Her mouth is warm and soft against mine, and she melts into it, her weight settling over my chest.
