Faery Kissed by Lacey Weatherford

the canyon wall, leaning her against it. She clung to me
with a fierceness I’d never known from anyone before, and I knew in
that moment she really did know what love was, and she was in love
with me.
    “ You’ll never realize how
much your words mean to me,” she said when we broke apart. “I will
never forget them.”
    But I did know. She’d shown me, and I hoped
that someday—for both our sakes—I’d be able to give her even
more.
    She laced her fingers in mine, pulling me
after her. “Come on! I want to share everything I can with
you.”
    I laughed, and we raced to where the walkway
split into two, dividing toward each side of the canyon.
    “ Which way do we go?” I
asked.
    “ You decided.” She smiled
at me in excitement.
    “ Left, let’s go
left.”
    “ Done.”
    We slowed when the walkway narrowed, leading
up to the first set of steps. I peered curiously over the edge to
the layers of city that were both beneath and above us in the
canyon walls. I noticed something I had missed before. Slim, stone,
footbridges spanned the lower part of the canyon, nearer to the
water, accessing both sides of the walls. It was clear there was no
way this civilization used anything like horses or carriages—there
would be no way for them to maneuver around. There were, however,
long, thin boats tethered down in the water near multiple
docks.
    Eirian watched me with avid interest before
leaning to look over the edge. “It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
    “ Yes,” I agreed. “Why are
there so many boats?”
    “ They’re used to get around
the city. The canyon travels farther than the eye can see, and what
you can’t tell from here, is that there are other crevices that
branch off of this one. The city is huge. It would take several
days to explore every part of it.”
    “ Does it all look like
this? Or are there different classes of living?”
    “ The whole city proudly
boasts the same fine architecture. We are creators of things of
beauty. There are also tunnels chiseled through the rock, and more
dwellings in there too, just as lovely as you see out
here.”
    My mind couldn’t even fathom this. “It seems
like that would be depressing—living without fresh air and
light.”
    “ There are holes put in
strategic places which help everything to stay well-ventilated, and
faery light is used to keep things bright.”
    “ Faery light?”
    She gestured to some of the glass orbs
housing the bluish light. “Nothing a little magic can’t fix.”
    There was so much I didn’t know about her
and her people. I couldn’t believe I was part of this place now. It
would be my home too. It seemed overwhelming.
    “ What do you want to see
first?” she asked with a smile.
    “ I have no idea where to
even start. How about our home?”
    “ Our home?” She looked
surprised.
    “ Yes.” I pulled her to me.
“I like to see where I’ll be living—where I will spend my time
ravishing my attractive wife.”
    “ Oh,” she whispered with a
blush. “That would be down there then.” She pointed to the
castle.
    “ You seem hesitant. Is
something wrong?”
    She smiled nervously. “I’ve just never
thought of it as our home.”
    “ Well, now you can. Let’s
go there, and you can show me anything else you desire along the
way. Whatever we don’t see tonight, you can show me tomorrow, and
the next day, and the next
day . . . .”
    “ And the next day,” she
added with a grin. “I just thought you’d want to see things
tonight, while there were less people around. That way you won’t
have to keep up pretenses.”
    I glanced around realizing for the first
time that there were not people milling about. I hadn’t noticed in
my initial awe.
    “ Is it normal for the city
to be so empty at night?” It seemed almost eerie to me in a place
of this magnitude.
    “ On the outer walls, yes,
most people tend to stay to the interior portions at night, though
occasionally you may see a couple of lovers strolling out this