Vadde awoke to a beautiful, beautiful day. Colors were brighter. The birds’ songs were more uplifting. And the gentle snore against her chest, accompanied by the drool was by far the best thing she’d ever felt.

Within all these glorious aspects of the day, she couldn’t help but feel like she’d…forgotten something very important. Something…very important.

Try as she might, nothing came to her, so she instead focused on Wyrn’s hard member pressed against her leg. He was barely hanging from the bed, most of his body on hers for support. Every second of every minute he got heavier and heavier, but she would rather nothing else. He slept erect. Was that common for men, or just Wyrn, she wondered.

It was so strange seeing him sleep. When she leaned away, he curled onto his side, and she did the same. Now was her chance and she took it—she brushed his hair aside. The new haircut wasn’t one she liked at first—it was tradition for some sort of ceremony—but now it was even easier to see his stern face.

In her eyes, he glowed.

She took a peck and smiled when he swatted at his nose. So, she bit his cheek next and he reacted like a cat, scratching at the air.

But it was when she ran her hand down his bare hip and between his legs that he crouched up. His lips puckered and she turned to give him her back. What she wanted was to mount his lap, but he looked too tired for that.

He moved on his own when their positioning was set. His eyes were closed but today he was familiar enough with her body to meet his mark and enter her with ease.

She gripped his hand, and he gnawed her shoulder, letting her know he was awake.

“Isn’t it a crime what you’ve just done?” he teased.

She bit his fingertips, pleading, “Then punish me.”

Forehead pressed against her back, he said nothing at all beyond some gentle shouts he struggled to contain.

How could hearing someone take pleasure in her be equally as pleasing? When he tried to reach for her breasts, she slapped his right hand.

“Not after you’ve complained about them so.”

Breathing heavy by her ear, he begged, “Please.”

It came with him running his hands up her torso until he took hold without her guidance. Once he teased her until each thrust came with a muffled cry on her part, he ran his hands down her body and held her waist, taking her with more vigor.

This seemed so unlike him.

She was concerned until he said, “I wish to see your face.”

Despite his words, he didn’t want to part with her either, so she was forced to turn, positioned along his lap.

He was a quiet lover, stifling his need with several kisses. “I don’t want you to leave,” he said.

The words came with hurt, but she was the one truly wrecked. “I never want to leave you,” she admitted.

“My back—”

“I do not care. Stop talking nonsense.”

“But last night,” he said, slowly though he continued to gently slide in and out of her. “You said you were unsure.”

Had she?

She couldn’t recall.

“No. Of course not.” That nagging feeling came again, and she blinked to return the bright colors of the room to normal in her eyes.

That was when she saw the first little person fluttering above. It was naked, its skin color red. And it was a female. A blue one flew to join the first and they held hands.

“Are they doing it again?” the blue one asked.

“Yes,” his girlfriend answered, “and they look so lovely. Will you take me like that?”

“What? Now? Wouldn’t it be more fun to watch them?”

They shared a kiss but paused and regarded Vadde in confusion.

The red creature, the girl, asked, hands stroking the blue member of her companion. “Is she looking at us?”

“Nonsense. She cannot see us. Stop trying to break your promise.”

She let out a laugh then fluttered lower and took the blue’s manhood deep into her mouth.

Vadde let out a cry of surprise.

Wyrn was barely holding on. “Are you near spent?”

She was, but because of what she witnessed from their two observers or him, she was unsure.

“Do you see this?” Vadde asked.

Wyrn looked back then up then settled his eyes on her again. Instead of answering, he raised her right arm in order to reach her right nipple which he sucked with vigor.

The blue thing…perhaps it was a pixie—they weren’t taller than a carrot—held his lover’s head, stroking her face as she continued to suck him with gusto.

It was the strangest thing because his cries sounded with Wyrn’s as the man shot his seed into Vadde, again and again, groaning all the while, so, too, did the blue pixie while holding the red one’s head in place.

Once he was finished, the red fluttered up to meet him and they shared a kiss while petting. It was when he slipped his fingers between the red one’s legs that they vanished from view.

Vadde scanned for them but saw nothing. She could no longer hear the birds either.

A thought came and she asked, “Husband?”

Wyrn laughed at the title, still making idle thrusts as his arousal died down.

“Yes, wife?”

Vadde felt whole. “Say that again,” she demanded.

Two blue eyes fluttered open as Wyrn kissed her and repeated, “Yes, wife?”

“You…don’t regret picking me for a wife, do you? I’m not very good…at anything.”

His once radiant smile faded little by little.

In one motion, he slipped from her and hurried for his trousers. “You’re having doubts.”

“What?” Vadde sat up, utterly confused. “What? What do you mean?”

But he gave no answer as he dressed. He had his boots in his hands when he reached the door.

After a long minute, his body stopped heaving up and down and he said, “I’ve told you that humans can’t leave once we’ve consummated. But if you want to, I can find a way.”

“Told me?” She stared at him, confused. “Told me what? When? And what—?” The door slammed and he was gone but she finished asking, “What do you mean by humans?”

She gathered the sheets to her, hugging her knees close as she asked herself, “Aren’t we all humans?”

“Amazing,” the little voice said as the blue pixie leaned close, “she’s forgotten. She’s honestly forgotten?”

“Really? But how?” his companion squinted at Vadde then said to her lover. “Is she cursed?”

“She’s cursed!” The blue pixie laughed hard and flew back as if falling into water. “She’s cursed! She can’t hear what they are because she’s cursed! This is perfect. Absolutely perfect. She’s got no idea what they are! She must see it to remember!”

The girl pixie didn’t laugh but she regarded Vadde with a smile. “I wonder what she’ll say once she finds out.” She sat midair, wings fluttering frantically, as she considered it. “That poor man. And he loves her so.”

“He is truly troubling.” The blue pixie scoffed. “I trust no creature I cannot identify. I hope she figures out what he is at least because that would be an interesting find.” He tugged at his lover’s red hair, ordering, “Come. I want to take you once more before the sun has fully risen.”

After they were gone, Vadde sat atop her bed. The room was spinning, the world was spinning. What had she just seen? She wasn’t sure. Perhaps she was losing her mind. But there was one constant…Wyrn. His seed still dripping from between her legs wasn’t her imagining.

She’d had him—they’d had each other, and now he was out there in a panic.

That wasn’t acceptable.

She used the basin and water, the only things to survive her tirade the night before, and wiped her body down. After cleaning what she could of the tiny room, she dressed and fixed her hair.

Yesterday, she’d entered this room differently. She’d felt lost. Rejected. Foolish. And she’d been a maiden.

Today, now, she was leaving it a woman. A happy woman. One that could bask in that happiness if only she’d hold her tongue and choose her words with better care.

How could she? How could she have discussed anything involving their separation, especially with how reluctant he’d been?

Whatever he was—they were, it had frightened her. That much she knew. Perhaps that was why she’d forgotten. Her mind was protecting her from doing something incredibly foolish—chasing him away.

Today was the first time her fear of losing Wyrn’s favor didn’t accompany the fear of falling into Orm’s clutches.

She was sorry—sorry that she’d made a mess of it all.

He’d been so shy and sweet. And that hadn’t compared to how he’d felt inside her, when he entered, when he stilled, body pressed against hers, or when he bucked.

For a long while, she stared at her front door, wondering if that was similar to how it felt for him, too. But the physical wasn’t all she received. If this was the sensation Orm had been seeking out with her, she could almost understand the blight of lust.

She didn’t have to steal it or force it, however, Wyrn had given that all to her as a gift. So why was she jeopardizing that?

He wasn’t human. She let out a held breath at that confirmation. But she didn’t fear him, and he wasn’t trying to trap her.

Not once. Never had he. He’d never trapped her. But she didn’t know what she was getting into. What sort of creature were they—was he?

Thoughts raced, collided, and vanished in a flash until she came to one truth.

She didn’t care.

Her father was human. That hadn’t stopped him from giving her away. And Orm was more than likely human. That hadn’t stopped him from choking her and stuffing his hand down her bosom.

So, what was the advantage of any of them being human?

That, she couldn’t say.

But she’d been safe and cared for and even now, he hadn’t hidden what he was when she asked.

And now….

A thought came into her head and she grabbed her shoes and rushed out. She collided into a body coming towards her.

Wyrn recoiled, apologizing. “If you don’t want to stay, I understand. I shouldn't have left as I did—”

She kissed him to shut him up.

He didn’t respond at first but the moment he held her waist and kissed her back, she felt at peace.

His arms coiled around her and she took a chance and wrapped her arms around his neck this time.

At first, he tensed, but didn’t otherwise say anything.

This was Vadde’s first time touching his back. It was rock hard.

She wasn’t sure she could ask but when she leaned away, he was good enough to explain, “I have the same iron on me. But…mine’s a shield. To…to accommodate me.”

Calming at first, she stroked his cheeks then admitted, “I don’t want to leave. Not ever but I do need to understand you and your people better. Could you tell me again what you are? I want to be sure I don’t make a mistake.”

His brows furrowed but he answered.

She heard nothing. The look of satisfaction on his face was why she smiled. “How lovely.”

Wyrn scoffed. “That’s not usually what people say when they find out.”

Her pulse raced so she kissed his lips, slipped back into the house then out again, holding a piece of parchment. She only had the one piece.

“Could you write it?”

At this, he was suspicious, but he scrawled the charcoal stick against it as she requested.

He waited for her to look but she only watched him with affection.

“What are you waiting for?”

She took him in, from his kind expression to his guarded posture. In this moment, she felt whole.

“Can we have breakfast together privately? Our—our first day as an official couple?”

The idea had his smile growing. “Leave it to me.”

In no time, he was gone. She waited until he entered the main house before she rushed back inside and opened the paper.

Something was written. But not a word, an entire sentence, Can you love a…?

The word came in a blur.

“What…in…the world?”

Disbelieving, she tried to cover one letter, nothing. She could see nothing. The first part of his message was clear as ever, but the rest.

It was gone.

“I am cursed,” she marveled.