Love’s Eternal Fire

Chapter 7: Lies Begin

Kesiray's POV

Gwena and I were enjoying teaching her class. There wasn't much I could do since I was an earth fairy and didn't have control over water, but it was fun to watch the kid's faces light up when I made flowers grow out of thin air. These fairies didn't have their powers yet, so we taught them how to use them and prepare them for when the time came. It was important for them to understand how to get their emotions under control now so that controlling their powers would become easier. The queen thought it was better to start their schooling early, even if they couldn't use their powers. Gwena had a large water ring hovering over the lake. She had just changed it from a large floating bunny, and I was shooting flowers that landed on the surface and floated away. That was when I saw an irritated-looking Thazel stalking towards me. Gwena caught my eye and followed my gaze, rolling her eyes at the incoming frustration. Gwena and I were best friends because she shared my similar view on the world and how keeping our tribe apart from others wasn't helping us.

"Kesiray, did you forget you were supposed to meet me to finish planning Genevive's party?" she barked, stopping and putting her hands on her hips.

"Class, that's it for today," Gwena told them. Tomorrow, we're going to work on rain production." I waited while all the students got up and cleared the area. I quickly noticed everyone keeping their eyes down and away from Thazel. People were scared of her, and I didn't blame them. She had a reputation for yelling first and then asking questions later.

"I'm Sorry, Thazel. I was helping Gwena and completely lost track of the time," I told her.

"Now we've missed an entire day of planning, and now we're way behind," she complained.

"Hi Thazel, nice to see you," Gwena commented, slightly sarcastically.

"Hi," Thazel told her shortly. Thazel never bothered making silly things like friends when her goal was to be the leader of our time.

"Why didn't you ask Indi to help you?" I asked her. "He's your mate and should be involved in his daughter's birthday planning."

"He was busy helping Mom and Dad try and figure out why the phoenix people attacked us yesterday," she huffed.

"Okay, well, I'm busy tomorrow, but I can help you the day after," I told her.

"Busy," she questioned, narrowing her green eyes. "Busy doing what?"

"Her and I planned to spend the day together. She's been a big help with my class, and I wanted her help with my upcoming lesson plan," Gwena lied. In true best friend fashion, she would lie for me until she was blue in the face.

"Oh, okay, fine, but we have to get back on track after that, or this party is going to be a disaster," Thazel replied.

"I'll meet you at your house first thing in the morning," I said. Thazel nodded and stalked away in her usual way; I'm not sure she knew how to walk calmly. Gwena watched her walk away until she was sure she was out of earshot.

"Okay, you owe me an explanation for that amazing lie I just came up with," she said.

"Not here," I whispered, knowing even the trees around here had eyes. She took my hand and led me to her tiny cottage on the other side of the pond.

"Spill," she commanded the second the door had clicked shut.

"You remember me telling you about Solaris?" I asked, sitting down on her couch while she followed.

"Yeah, the phoenix you used to play with when we were kids," she said, sitting beside me.

"Well, yesterday, during the attack, I saw him again. He was in the woods when I was helping Vivielle. She didn't see him, and another phoenix came, and I flew away, but I met him back at our old hideout later," I told her, watching the expression on her face change as she tried to hold in her excitement. Gwena was practically bouncing up and down next to me; lips pressed tightly together so she didn't interrupt me. "And it turns out we're mates."

"Holy he**?!" she exclaimed, losing the silent battle."Is he hot?"

"Well, yeah," I laughed. "He's gorgeous, and he told me he loved me."

"Sh*t, seriously?" Gwena said, eyes more enormous than the pond outside.

"He said he loved me since the first time he saw me," I recounted.

“Wow, what did you say to that?” She asked.

“Nothing; I told him I had to go,” I said.

“But you love him,” Gwena told me. It wasn’t an ask; it was something she had determined long ago. “I remember how sad you were when you couldn’t see him anymore.”

“I know. I do love him, and he wants us to be together. I want that too, but we would either need to lie to everyone or leave our homes,” I explained.

“You always talked about going away alone,” Gwena reminded me.

“Yeah, for a trip or some time alone, but not forever,” I told her.

“Look, do you love Solaris?” she asked.

“Yes,” I breathed without even thinking.

“Do you want to be his mate?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Then that’s your answer. You know your family will never let you be with him if they know what’s happening,” she said.

“Maybe I can talk to my parents, get them to see he's not a monster,” I suggested.

“Oh yeah, that’ll work,” Gwena replied sarcastically.

“Would you do it?” I asked her if she would give up everything she knew for her mate. “Would you leave your family behind for your mate?”

“If my family treated me like yours, he** yeah, I would! Ray, they kept you locked away for years because you wanted to befriend someone who wasn’t a fairy. It’s time you let yourself be happy,” Gwena told me.

“I’m seeing him tomorrow,” I told her with a smile.

“Of course you are,” she laughed. “If you want my advice, wear your sundress with the lilacs on it. That one makes your boobs look amazing.”

“What do you think’s going to happen,” I laughed.

“I don’t know, but it’s better to be over-prepared than under,” Gwena said.

“Alright,” I told her, getting to my feet. “I’ve gotta head home; I’m supposed to make dinner for everyone tonight. The future rulers are coming over.”

“Oh well, all hail the next earth fairy leaders,” Gwena saluted. I didn’t fly home; I took my time walking through the lands, greeting people as I passed. My mind was mainly on Solaris, his blue hazel eyes scorched into my memory, the lingering feeling of his lips on mine.

The evening flew by with my family. I tried to stay as present as possible, but my thoughts wandered to Solaris, wondering what our life would be like if we left together. Hugging my nieces tightly, I told them how much I loved them. Indi walked past, glaring his golden eyes at me. He and I had never gotten along with how pompous he was. My parents loved him because, just like Thazel, he followed the rules and lived to make his parents proud. Indi was a light fairy, the son of the light fairy leaders, so he was perfect in my parent's eyes. He and I had such glaringly different personalities that friction had always existed. Part of it, I think, was that he knew about me and Solaris when we were kids.

Laying in bed, I rolled over and looked at the sundress draped over the chair in my room. As Gwena had suggested, I pulled out the sweetheart-neckline lilac dress for tomorrow's meeting with Solaris. How would we get to know one another when we could only see each other for a few stolen moments here and there? Turning onto my back, I looked up at the wooden ceiling. I felt excited about what tomorrow was going to bring but also nervous.

Solaris and I had so much to catch up on; we got along well as children, but we were completely different people now. Would we still have the same connection, even with the mate bond? I didn't just want it to be the mate bond holding us together, I wanted us to have things in common and a mutual respect. Had he ever killed a fairy in any of the fights? If he had, how was I going to handle that? I knew it had to be done, but we had lost many good people in all our battles; some were my friends. There were so many questions I needed to ask, and he probably had a lot for me. Even if there were a lot of unknowns for tomorrow, I knew that the butterflies in my stomach were because I was happy to have my friend back after all these years.