“Well, no…”

“Hmph.”

“Why do you always have to be right?” I grumbled.

My mother smirked. “It’s a mother’s reward for enduring all those late-night diaper changes.”

I laughed at that.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Ellie?” Evander’s voice sounded muffled through the door.

Mother raised one pointed eyebrow at me.

“You can come in,” I called out.

He opened the door, and though I had an apology ready upon my lips, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter instead. “What are you wearing?”

“Oh, this?” He peered down at the full suit of armor that covered his body. It might not have been so humorous, except the armor was old and metallic and reminiscent of the armor humans used to wear into battle before the fae took over Alondria and magic entered the world, which rendered such cumbersome items useless. It clanked as he walked toward me, and his face almost looked smushed underneath his helmet. He turned to look at my mother then turned the slightest shade of pink. “My lady.” He bowed, and the armor groaned. “You must be Ellie’s mother. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Your Highness,” she said, her voice icy with suspicion. I wondered if Evander could tell it was a show, that she really didn’t hate him. What would he think if I told him that moments ago my mother had taken his side? Not that I could ever allow him to know that such conversations took place at all.

“I won’t stay long. I just…if you’re feeling well…” He gestured to the door and cleared his throat. Another guard walked in, carrying a full suit of empty armor in his arms. “I thought we could go for a walk.”

“In that?”

“Peck told me you’re all healed up now.”

I stared at him, amazed that he thought my injury was the sole reason I found this request strange.

“Well, if you want her to try it on, I suggest you hurry on out of here and shut the door behind you,” my mother said, shooting daggers with her eyes toward Evander.

“Of course,” he said, signaling his guard to leave the armor on my bed, at which point the guard fumbled with it awkwardly as he tried not to damage any of the sheets or drag them off the bed.

They left and shut the door behind them, and it took a fist to my mouth to stifle a giggle.

Less than half an hour and a few bouts of bickering later, my mother had the suit of armor securely fastened on me. It was much too large. Evander must have struggled to find one small enough and settled for one I at least wouldn’t topple over in. I wondered what small adolescent boy this suit had been fashioned for originally, and I shuddered.

“Your prince is an odd one,” my mother said, looking me over in the suit of armor.

“He’s not my prince.”

She shrugged. “Has anyone told him that?”

I toddled over to the door, the gaps between the suit plates that allowed for any bit of movement pinching my skin as I moved. When I reached it, I knocked, and Evander opened it.

He unleashed a mischievous grin I had gotten used to not seeing on his face, and my heart swelled a bit.

“You ready?”

“I—” But my mother had already pushed me out the door.

CHAPTER 37

ELLIE

It took double the time to traverse to the art district in the cumbersome suits of armor than it had when Evander had been pushing me in the wheelchair. The suits allowed for only the most rigid of movements. Not exactly ideal equipment for trekking down a hill.

More than once, I stepped on a rock I hadn’t been able to see because of the visor on my helmet obstructing my vision, and Evander had to lunge forward to catch me before I toppled over and rolled down the hill.

At one point, I considered doing it on purpose, thinking at least it would be quicker and I probably wouldn’t get hurt considering the obscene amount of metal that surrounded me.

By the time we made it to level ground, I was huffing with exhaustion and cursing the design of these suits that made it so difficult to keel over and catch my breath.

“Listen,” I said, heaving as we passed the guards at the walls and reached the edge of the art district. “I’m sorry for what I said the other day.” I paused, wondering if that was too vague of an apology to be worthwhile. On the other hand, I doubted Evander wanted to hear me repeat it. “It was uncalled for and insensitive. I know you were just trying to do something nice for me, and it was wrong of me to lash out.”

“So the scorned lady is capable of apologizing after all,” Evander said, shooting me an arrogant grin. So we were back to that persona. Great.

But then he came to a halt and turned to face me, all evidence of his smugness dissipating. “I’m sorry too. I’m not entitled to you liking my gifts. Especially when those gifts involve crushing your dreams.” He scrunched his brow in a wince. “Be my friend again?”

Friend. The word had my stomach squirming, and I couldn’t decide whether it was with butterflies or bile. My tongue seemed to shrivel up, my response with it, so I just swallowed and nodded.

“Why are you bringing me out here in these suits to begin with?” I almost asked him if eternity really had made him that bored, but then I thought better of it. Perhaps I should keep my snide remarks to a minimum for now.

“Because I’m tired of us not talking,” he said casually. How in Alondria he had gotten it into his mind that traipsing around in armored suits would get us talking again, I had no idea.

Now that I considered it, we had exchanged more words in the past half hour than we had since the last time we visited town.

“So we’re just to walk about the art district looking like ancient knights?”

He shrugged, which made the metal plates of his shoulder pads clank. “I figure if anyone won’t think it odd, it would be the artists.”

As I glanced around in embarrassment, I realized he was probably right about that. Most of the artists paid us no attention, and I remembered that it was common for traveling performers to spend most of their time in the city in the artists’ quarter. We probably just looked like a couple of traveling pre-faeistic reenactors.

When we rounded the corner and found ourselves back at the cottage that Evander had renovated into my glass shop, I froze.

“What are we doing here?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I just felt like picking a fight and reliving the moment when you helped me realize what a miscreant I am.” He extended an armored hand and nodded his head toward the door. Which ended up looking more like a twitch, given the lack of mobility afforded by his helmet. “Just give me a chance, will you?”

I sighed and took his hand, our metal gauntlets scraping as I did.

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting. Maybe that Evander had removed the host of glass objects that made me feel so inadequate. Like someone else had taken my dream and run with it, equipped with a thousand times more talent than I could have ever hoped to accomplish in my limited mortal lifespan.

But when we walked in, nothing had been touched. Nothing had been rearranged. Nothing had moved.