Trusting him, Ophelia nodded. Her lids were heavy, and with a yawn, she slid into a deep sleep.
…
Sometime later, she jolted awake to the scent of something deliciously redolent in the air. The boy was not in the cottage, and Ophelia had a blanket over her body. Now she was warm and toasty. Pushing it off, she stood, swaying slightly. Hurrying to the door, she opened it and paused. The boy was in a clearing, something was spitted on a stick, and he was turning it over the fire. Whatever it was smelled wonderful, and her belly grumbled. She went over and sat on a log before him. “What is it?”
“A rabbit.”
“You killed it?”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
Oh! She didn’t know what to say to that. “Were you afraid?”
“Of killing the rabbit?”
“Yes.”
“No.” He seemed to think about this. “Why would I be afraid?”
“Killing is bad and seems frightening.”
He smiled, and she thought him a very pretty boy, even with all the dirt and grime on his face. “Not when it is to fill our bellies.”
The boy jumped to his feet, ran back inside, and returned with the thin blanket. He wrapped it over her shoulders and then handed her a cup of water. Ophelia stared at the dented cup, never having seen a thing like this in her life. How utterly unusual. She took the cup and downed the water greedily. “Thank you—I was so very thirsty.”
Mortifyingly, her belly rumbled.
“And hungry, too,” he said with another broad smile. “That is why I hunted while ye were sleeping.”
Ophelia smiled and tugged the blanket around her body, watching the rabbit turn over the fire and anticipating when she could eat it, thinking what a strange little boy he was. He knew how to light a fire, he was not afraid to kill rabbits, he could cook them, too, and he was only twelve.
How utterly extraordinary.
…
She was like a fairy in the stories his da had told him. Niall had never seen a little lady so beautiful.
Her skin was pale and soft, her eyes a deep golden brown, her cheeks dimpled when she smiled, and her hair black like raven feathers. It hung limply over her shoulders and down her back to her hips in a riot of curls. The mass of hair seemed too heavy for her body, but she tilted her head with elegance and smiled at him.
“What is your name?”
He cleared his throat. “Niall.”
Her cupid mouth shaped his name. “Niall sounds perfectly lovely and special.”
Something warm shifted inside him. “My grandmother named me. What is your name?”
Her little nose wrinkled. “It isn’t anything special. It is Ophelia.”
Niall frowned, not liking that she thought something about her was ordinary. Fairies were never ordinary. “We could make it special. Though Ophelia sounds beautiful to me.”
Her golden-brown eyes glowed. “Special how?”
He thought for a minute. “I could call you…Fifi,” Niall murmured, reaching out to tenderly brush a wisp of hair behind her ear, mildly surprised he was being so familiar with her.
Her eyes lit up with pleasure. “Fifi! I love it!”
Fifi it is, then.
Niall ensured she ate, and while she slept that night, he rested comfortably on the sofa, wondering how he would keep her protected or see her home to her family. He had no notion of where they were, and he had a cut under his foot that hurt like the devil. His ma, pa, and two younger sisters would be awfully worried. His ma’s scream when he jumped into the water still lingered in his mind, the fright and pain in the sound haunting him.
Niall had to get back to his family soon, but he also had to protect Fifi.
“I’ll find a way to take you home,” he whispered in the silence of the cottage, dropping his head back onto the cushions of the sofa and closing his eyes.
…
The very next day, he took Fifi to a river so she could bathe with the rough bar of soap he’d found in the cabin. At first, she had colored violently and refused, but when he promised to turn his back and keep watch, so no one approached, Fifi waded to the shallow area and did her best. It had stunned him when she revealed that she did not bathe herself at home, and the entire experience had been oddly thrilling.
Niall walked as far as he could in one direction, hoping to see someone who could help them. There were no other houses, nor did he see the main house the cottage might belong to. One day turned into two, then into three, and now it was day five, and they were still together.
Niall was getting worried. His ma and da and his sisters must be worried. Fifi’s parents must be just as anxious. And the bottom of his foot hurt more and more with each passing day.
They had just eaten roasted quail, and she yawned contentedly. Dusk arrived, painting the sky in vivid shades of amber. “I do not wish to return inside,” she said a bit worriedly, scanning the forest.
“We do not have to.”
She beamed. “Truly?”
“We can stay a few minutes longer.”
Her richly colored eyes gleamed with delight, and she nodded happily. The chill evening air cut through her dirty gown, making her shiver. Niall removed his threadbare jacket and placed it over her small shoulders.
She wrinkled her tiny nose. “Your jacket smells weird.”
He flushed as shame filled him. He did not wash as often as she did—perhaps once a week, sometimes longer in between. Niall bet at her home she washed daily and with rose-scented soap. His ma and da said there were people out there in the world who could afford such luxuries.
Something hot and burning curdled in his belly. “I will go for the blanket,” he mumbled.
Her hands reached out and twined with his. “It also smells like you.”
“Stink?”
Her eyes widened. “No. Like oakmoss. Like the woods we played in today.”
Niall did not know what that scent was, but he liked how it sounded. She was also not pushing his jacket off her body but holding it close. Thankfully, it hung below her knees, protecting her from the elements. The cold bit at his bones, but he inhaled steadily, bearing it for as long as she needed to remain outside. The grass waved idly in the light wind, and against the pale night sky, the trees etched themselves in sharp silhouette.
“I have never been outside like this before,” she whispered. “It is very dark…and beautiful. It’s all perfectly wonderful, even though it is a little frightening. Imagine the creatures in the woods staring at us now!”
“Don’t worry. I will protect you.”