Chapter 162 Fae-vampire crown

Chapter 162 Fae-vampire crown

Caelan’s POV

The music began. Three shapeshifters stepped onto the open platform in front of us. They looked human at first, dressed in simple clothes, their hair tied back. One of them stepped forward and bowed thrn the performance began.

The first transformation happened so quickly that Nyx gasped. The woman became a white fox. One moment she was standing there, the next there was a fox where she had been. It raced across the platform, leapt over another performer and changed in midair. Wings opened from its body before it landed and suddenly a large white bird flew above us.

Nyx’s mouth fell open. “Oh.” She said it so softly that I smiled.

The bird circled once beneath the branches before descending. Halfway down, its shape shifted again. Feathers became fur, wings became arms and the woman landed on her feet without stumbling. Nyx clapped, her eyes were shining.

“That was incredible,” she said, turning toward me with so much excitement that she forgot for a moment that I had been watching her instead of the performance. “Did you see that?”

“I saw.”

“No, but did you see the change? It was so smooth.”

“I saw.”

She shook her head and turned back toward the performers. “I want to do that.”

“You would probably choose something impractical.”

She glanced at me with mock offense. “I would choose something beautiful.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“I could be a butterfly.”

“You would complain about the wings.”

“I would not.”

“You complained about Rydstrom’s wingspan when he became a hawk.”

“That was different. He was showing off.”

“I was not showing off,” Rydstrom said from across the table, his attention still on the performance.

Nyx laughed. “You absolutely were.”

“I was demonstrating.”

“You flew past us three times.”

“That was part of the demonstration.”

She turned back toward me with a grin. “See? He admits it.”

I shook my head. I had no defence against the two of them when they were like this.

The performers changed again. A man became a great black wolf then a stag then something that looked like a creature from an old nightmare, tall and silver with long limbs before becoming human again. The audience applauded every transformation but I found myself watching Nyx more often than the stage.

She leaned forward whenever something surprised her. She laughed when a performer deliberately changed into something ridiculous. Once, she grabbed my sleeve without thinking when a creature suddenly appeared above the audience and her fingers remained around my arm for several seconds before she realized what she was doing.

I did not move. I wanted her hand there. That realization was becoming more common than I would have liked to admit. A server eventually approached our table carrying a tray.

“For the fae queen,” she said, setting down a plate in front of Nyx.

Nyx blinked fighting back a smile. “What is that?”

“Fae sweets. Fresh from the moon gardens.”

Nyx immediately picked one up. I watched her bite into it. Her eyes widened.

“Oh, this is good.”

The server smiled. “There is more if you wish.”

“Yes.”

The answer came so quickly that Rydstrom laughed into his drink. Nyx ignored him and reached for another piece. Then the server returned carrying something wrapped in dark green cloth.

“This was prepared for you as well.”

Nyx frowned slightly as the cloth was opened. Inside was a crown. I had seen crowns made for queens. I had worn them myself at ceremonies.  I watched goldsmiths spend months on pieces meant to represent kingdoms and bloodlines.

This was different. The crown was made from thin dark metal that curved around the head like branches witj deep green leaves woven through the sides. Small red stones rested between them so dark they looked almost black until the light caught them. Then they became crimson.

It looked like blood caught among living leaves. Nyx went completely still. The server lifted it carefully.

“We thought the colours would suit you.”

Nyx touched one of the green leaves with the tip of her finger. Her expression changed slowly, surprise giving way to something softer.

“It’s beautiful.”

I watched her. The crown was made for a fae queen but the colours were mine too. Green for her. Red for me. Life and blood twisted together into something that looked strangely natural. The thought struck me harder than it should have. The server glanced at me.

“We thought the red would honour Your Majesty as well.”

Nyx turned toward me and for a second neither of us spoke. Then she smiled. Not the teasing smile she used when she was trying to get a reaction from me. Not the small private smile she gave when she was pleased with something.

She looked at the crown again, then back at me. “Do you like it?”

I reached toward her and took the crown from the server. “I do.”

She lowered her head slightly. I placed it carefully over her hair, adjusting the branches until they rested comfortably around her head. One of the red stones caught the light beside her temple.

“There,” I said quietly.

She lifted her head.

“How do I look?”

I looked at her for longer than I meant to. Beautiful did not seem sufficient. She looked like something that belonged between worlds. Something alive and dangerous and soft at the same time. The green leaves disappeared into her hair and the red stones looked almost like drops of blood against her skin.

“My queen,” I answrred and her cheeks warmed. I felt something tighten in my chest. It was ridiculous how much I wanted to keep that expression there.

Nyx touched the crown carefully, feeling the leaves beneath her fingers. “I think this is my favourite place so far.”

I smiled. “I thought the lake was your favourite.”

“It was.”

“The restaurant in Kyoto?”

“Also excellent.”

“The demon market?”

“Very good.”

“So this is fourth.”

She laughed and shook her head. “You are keeping score?”

“I might be.”

She leaned closer across the table. “You know what my favourite part is?”

I waited. She reached over and took my hand beneath the table, threading her fingers through mine.

“You came with me.”

The words were simple. They still went straight through me. I closed my fingers around hers. I looked at her sitting there with my hand in hers and my coat still around her shoulders, the crown made of green leaves and blood resting on her head.

For three hundred years I believed love was something that could be survived. I was wrong. This was worse than anything.

This was wanting someone so deeply that their happiness become a physical thing inside my chest. Her laughter affected my heartbeat. Her excitement made me want to find another place, another city, another impossible thing she had never seen and put it directly in front of her. I wanted to give her the world.

I simply wanted to be there when she discovered it. Nyx squeezed my hand.

“Caelan?”

I blinked and realized she had been speaking to me. “What?”

She smiled, the crown sitting slightly crooked now because she had been touching it too much. “I asked if we can come back here.”

I looked at the performers then at Rydstrom, who had very deliberately turned his attention elsewhere.

“Yes,” I said.

Her smile widened. “Good.”

She turned back toward the stage still holding my hand beneath the table. I kept my fingers around hers. Oh I had no intention of letting go.