An Embrace of Citrus & Snow (Fallen for a Fae #1)

Epilogue

Declan

Declan ought to have expected the glittery headband. It was, after all, Talia’s New Year’s Eve party, even if Bo and Everil were hosting it. Talia had strong feelings about headwear. Including, it turned out, little paper hats covered in glitter.

“Robin and I made them,” Talia informed him as she handed over the gold and blue encrusted headband. “He picked out the colors.”

Declan glanced past her to where Robin sat curled in the corner of Everil and Bo’s new couch. Gangly limbs and intense eyes that flicked between the television and the rest of the group.

Not much of a group, really. Not even a party, by fae standards. But, as most fae parties involved crowds of people treating Declan with scrupulous, insincere politeness, he’d take the human version.

Robin shot him a wary glance, giving Declan a better look at the jersey he wore. The colors of it plucked at his memories.

Bright lights and brighter shots. Declan’s little pooka friend grinning adoringly at a towering mortal who’d worn those same colors only an hour prior, while gliding over the ice with a hockey stick in hand.

Robin’s shirt even bore the same number. And name, it turned out. Barrai González visible when Robin turned to speak to his aunt. Even the script was familiar. Familiar, like the glitter on Declan’s fingertips.

Void and starshine, being in the human realm was making him nostalgic. Declan made a note to mention it to the mortal later in the evening. Declan knew better than to interrupt a fan, even if the jersey they wore didn’t match the teams on the screen.

(The goalie had that same surname on her uniform, though. Declan was certainly going to ask now. )

“If I’m still finding glitter on my clothes in a year, I will be cross,” Declan said to the impatiently waiting Talia as he set the headband in place. Talia beamed at him, glitter already sprinkled on her hoodie. “How are you enjoying the new home?”

“I have a laptop. Bo said he’ll help me set up something like his, too, if I want.” But already, Talia was turning, pushing up on her toes to locate her guardians. “He told his Dreamers I’m his foster kid. They call Everil his ‘girlfriend in Canada.’ But they’ve all been really nice, which makes sense, since I’m pretty sure they’re secretly awesome hackers who are working to overthrow the government.”

If ‘foster dad’ didn’t move to ‘dad’ within a year, Declan would eat his own glittery headpiece.

And there they were. The girlfriend from Canada and the foster father. Talia shot him a grin, then headed over to the couch where Robin was swearing at someone in terms Declan used to know.

Which left Declan by himself, creepily watching his best friend and the human he’d bonded.

He was a sluagh. Creepy was just what they were. It came with the deathsight and appearing half a step from a starving corpse with the glamours off.

There were reasons he never took the glamour fully down.

Everil had his on as well, though that was how they did things on this side of the veil. He watched Bo with unmasked adoration, leaning against a kitchen counter as the human talked enthusiastically about something Declan couldn’t hear. Bo had one hand wrapped around a bottle of wine, the other reaching for Everil’s.

‘ That sounds unlikely,’ Everil said. The words were lost to noise and distance, but Declan knew the shape of them on Everil’s mouth. He’d been on the receiving end of them more than once. Not the endearment afterward– sweet Bo– but that, too, had become more frequent of late.

Bo laughed and lifted Everil’s hand to his lips, brushing a kiss over his knuckles.

Declan went back to the living room.

The pair’s house was older, by human standards. Not one of those suburban monstrosities. Almost a cabin, tucked away in the woods near enough to Brookhaven for a day visit. There was a river abutting the property, Declan knew. A handful of graveyards, too, older than the surrounding town. He felt them, like a tug at his fingers. ‘Old woods,’ he remembered Bo saying when Declan came by the first time, grinning when Everil ducked his head .

A home, in truth. Laughter and warmth. Comfortable furniture. Spacious enough for family and a few more. Pictures and random bits of everyday life worn into the edges of it, keys in a ceramic bowl that appeared made by unschooled hands, shoes askew by the door.

It’d taken a human, brash and unpolished, rich with affection and fire alike, to bring it about. Everil seemed more at peace with his shortened life than he ever had with someone ‘proper’ and the promise of forever.

He smiled more. Voids, he smiled, period . He was so clearly happy. Declan wouldn’t have believed it possible.

Bo was good for the man. But then, Declan always had liked humans. They didn’t flinch from him the way fae did. They knew how to take the good in life without manipulating it, even if they didn’t always do so.

“I knew him,” Declan said when a commercial started. He sat on the edge of the couch, far from Robin. Sharp-eyed raptors weren’t his type. Declan was a sharp-eyed raptor. “Tommy. Years ago. Is that his daughter?”

There were certainly more excruciating ways to end your life. Four centuries of warmth. An adoring partner who didn’t mind what you were.

He pushed the thought away for later.

Now was the time for ensuring this bond of Everil’s would never begrudge him their friendship. Chatting with the hockey-loving little brother was hardly a chore.

Yes. That thought would be for later.

Thank you for reading An Embrace of Citrus & Snow .