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  "Keep him safe," Alex answered. "For as long as we have to."

  Oscar's head bobbled back to look at him, his tears beginning to dry as he decided whether he ought to believe this assurance. Alex felt like he was staring into a blurred mirror. How had this kid kept it together? How had he stayed happy when the person whose love he should have been able to take for granted kept telling him he was unlovable?

  "You're a good kid," Alex said. "I know you are."

  Oscar gnawed his lip and nodded unsurely. Alex prayed he wasn't going to cry again. Alex was the youngest in his family. Child care really wasn't in his box of tricks.

  "Do you like kittens?" he asked, inspiration—or possibly desperation—striking out of the blue. "Because one of my good friends has a kitten, and I bet he'd love to meet you."

  "His good friend also has a kitchen," Bryan added wryly, "and a guest room with an empty bed."

  Alex and Bryan exchanged rueful looks. No matter what else was going on, they knew Zoe would help them. She was much too tenderhearted to turn a boy like Oscar away.

  Magnus drank a pint of orange juice, ate three Pop Tarts, then took a rather gruesome shower, during which he pulled out the remaining arrows. Zoe sat on the toilet lid while he did this, incapable of helping except to wince and make sure he didn't slip or faint. The swiftness of his recovery amazed her. By the end of the shower he was no longer bleeding, and could walk—albeit slowly—under his own power. Despite him seeming to be out of danger, she knew she wouldn't relax until she had him out of his home and into hers.

  Magnus didn't protest her nesting impulse, just handed her the keys to his 4x4 and let her drive.

  Once she had him at her place, she settled him on the overstuffed saddle leather couch in her living room, covering him with one of the quilts her Nana Sonia had stitched. He smiled through her fussing, his eyes sleepy but fond, his big, smooth muscles looking relaxed.

  Seeing a nap was about to happen, and not wanting to miss out, Corky scrambled up the quilt to join him.

  "I'd sleep better with my head in your lap," Magnus pointed out, his hand swallowing the kitten as he petted it.

  "Oh, would you?" Zoe said, but she didn't mind scooting onto the couch under him.

  He had his shirt unbuttoned and, though none of his wounds still bled, he was all over bruises, as if his body were a steak someone had been trying to tenderize. Zoe traced the edges of his wounds with her fingertips, aghast at the thought of what she'd almost lost. If they'd arrived a minute later… if she'd let Bryan convince her to return to the car…

  An unexpected moan had Zoe pulling back her hand.

  "Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

  "You didn't." Amused lines fanned around his eyes. "It's just, if you keep touching me like that, I'm going to have more aches than I already do." He lifted his hips in explanation, drawing her eyes to the not-so-subtle hump forming under the quilt.

  "Oh," she said. Heat lapped through her in a torrid wave. "I would have thought you'd be too…"

  He pressed her hand to a spot just beneath his ribs, keeping it in place with his. "Fairies like a lot of sex, Zoe, Need it, if it comes to that. We have a saying that if a fairy on his deathbed can't get it up, you know he's truly passed."

  "But I thought—" She wasn't sure what she thought, because her head wasn't really working. Lucidly, Magnus understood.

  "Zoe, had it been possible, I would have happily, gratefully, delightedly spent every urge I had on you. You are the only woman I want in my bed."

  "So when you only had sex once a month—"

  "I was holding back."

  "Because of me. Because you didn't want to hurt me by having sex as often as you normally would."

  "Yes," he said solemnly.

  Zoe fought not to squirm beneath him. Her sex was pulsing inappropriately, hot and wet and ready for action.

  "How often?" she burst out.

  Magnus laughed and circled her wrist with stroking fingers. "Oh, half a dozen times a day would be sufficient. More for young fairies."

  "Haifa dozen!" Her jaw had fallen. "But that's—no wonder you always went all night when you finally took someone!"

  Magnus's eyes were hot green fire. "I'd go all week if it were possible to make love the way I want with you." He winced and shifted, and Zoe realized this conversation hadn't helped his condition.

  "Let me," she said, reaching under the quilt for the well-strained fastening of his jeans. Undoing it, she lowered the zipper carefully and reached in. The minute she had his hot, smooth thickness wrapped in her palm, she forgot she'd been intending to relax him.

  "Oh, God," Magnus said, his hips surging up at her. "Oh, God, I think I have to put Corky back on the floor."

  It was all she could do not to gasp at the size of him, and he grew more aroused with every pulse. Alex wasn't this long, nor Bryan this thick. Helpless to stop herself, she eased him fully out and stroked him from balls to tip, marveling at his steely vitality. His veins were so swollen they resisted pressure almost as well the rest of him.

  "Zoe," he said, a moan of praise and relief. "Every morning, I wake up like this, hard and aching from knowing I'll be seeing you. It makes me happy just to be with you, just to look forward to your company."

  "Me, too," she murmured, adoring the abandoned way his body rolled. "I've been in love with you a long time."

  He stilled at her words, making her realize what she'd admitted. She believed he loved her back, but he'd never said it in so many words. Before she could grow embarrassed, he put his hand over hers. His eyes were very serious.

  "You don't know how happy I am to hear that, but this isn't going to be easy just because the truth is in the open now. The terms of my magical visa haven't changed. If I want to stay here, the ritual demands that a woman and I come together as if we were going to procreate. It demands that I spill my pleasure inside of you. Then I have to return the heart I've won." He offered her a crooked smile. "That's the part that trips me up with you. I don't think I could bear for you to be merely fond of me."

  He'd mentioned this before, but only now did understanding dawn. "That's why none of the others hate you. Because you don't keep their hearts."

  He nodded, the worry in his expression telling a tale she had no trouble deciphering. He thought she'd give him up if she had to share.

  She watched the throbbing flesh she held, only her thumb moving on his shaft. He was bruised here, too, though he hadn't stopped her from caressing him. A drop of fluid beaded from his slit, crystal on his lust-flushed skin. She knew he'd taken pleasure from those other women; knew he had to like them at least a bit, or they'd never have fallen for him. Despite this knowledge, her decision came without effort.

  "I want you to stay," she said. "I've never felt so connected to anyone, so safe and right and able to be myself. I can learn to live with the other women, if I know it's me you love most."

  When she looked at him, his eyes gleamed with emotion. "Oh, love, I'm not sure Jean live with hurting you."

  Zoe bit her lip, then blurted out the truth. "Last night I slept with Alex and Bryan."

  Magnus seemed strangely unsurprised by her confession, his smile so understanding, it made her heart wrench even worse with guilt.

  Then he dropped his bombshell.

  "I know," he said. "I was there."

  * * *

  Chapter Nineteen

  Zoe opened the door to Alex's knock, she had the flushed and frazzled look of a woman who'd been arguing, crying, and being kissed—not necessarily in that order. Alex told himself it wasn't childish to hope the arguing had come last.

  Whether it had or not, Zoe wasn't ready for visitors.

  "Hello," Oscar said shyly from his perch on Alex's hip. "I'm Oscar. We're here to see Corky."

  That earned him a smile and Alex an inquiring look.

  "Our client had to leave Oscar in our care for a while."

  "Mommy wanted me to hang around their necks," Oscar said h
elpfully.

  "I see," said Zoe, and Alex could tell she did. She laid her hand on Oscar's dark-blond hair. "You must be the boy who makes paper fly. You're in luck, as it happens. Corky is home and always happy to have a new playmate."

  Alex set the five-year-old down so he could run after her into the living room, his yellow shoes pattering across the terra cotta floors. Oscar jerked to a halt when he found Magnus sitting up on Zoe's saddle leather couch. The man looked awfully healthy wrapped in her quilt—a little pale, but not like a guy who'd been bleeding to death an hour ago. The kitten was stretched beside him like a tiny sphinx, his ears alert and interested.

  Oddly enough, Magnus seemed to fascinate Oscar more.

  "Hey," said the boy in a tone of discovery.

  "Hey," Magnus said back.

  Oscar took a few steps closer and pointed. "You have the same shoes as me."

  Magnus looked down at them and smiled. "So I do."

  Goose bumps climbed Alex's arms, a reaction he was beginning to tire of. Something was going on here, something more than Magnus being a natural with kids. Alex and Bryan had paused at the end of the front hallway. Alex put his hand on Bryan's arm before he could step farther and interrupt.

  "Can you make things move without touching them?" Oscar was asking his new friend.

  "If I concentrate. But my specialty is spells and wishes."

  "What kind of wishes?"

  "Good wishes. I'm strictly a white fairy."

  Oscar snickered. "You're too big to be a fairy."

  "Fairies come in different sizes. Some aren't any smaller than you."

  Bryan's hand took a sudden death grip on Alex's. "He can't be saying what I think he is."

  But Alex was pretty sure he was. He watched as Magnus lifted Oscar onto the couch. The kitten immediately bounced across Magnus's lap to sniff at the boy.

  "Where are your wings?" Oscar asked, giggling as the kitten tickled him with his whiskers.

  Rather than answer, Magnus turned to Alex and Bryan. "Why is this boy with you?"

  "His mother thinks he's not her son," Bryan said simply.

  Magnus hummed. "That doesn't happen often."

  Alex couldn't stand it anymore. He left the entry hall and stepped onto the rug. "You think Oscar is a fairy, too."

  Magnus put his arm around Oscar's shoulders. "Not just a fairy: a changeling."

  Despite all he'd seen, Bryan still managed to be amazed. "You mean Mrs. Pruitt was right? Somebody did steal her son?"

  "Your people stole her son," Alex said pointedly. He was angrier than he could account for, rage flooding his veins in a hot, dark tide. Magnus tilted his head at him.

  "It isn't stealing when the parties agree."

  "Mrs. Pruitt didn't agree."

  "Not consciously," Magnus conceded without rancor. "The contract would have been negotiated in her dreams."

  "Why would any woman agree to give up her child?"

  Magnus's eyes seemed to burn straight into Alex's soul. Alex's chest was tight, his breath coming so fast you'd have thought the other man's stare posed a fatal threat.

  "A woman might agree," Magnus said, "if that was the only way to save her baby's life. What medicine can't heal, magic often can."

  "Oscar's heart murmur!" Bryan cried. "The doctors thought he was going to die."

  Magnus nodded, his eyes remaining on Alex. "Fairies like to help in such situations. They find humans interesting to raise."

  Oscar's head had been turning back and forth like a tennis fan's. "Is that why you have my shoes? Because we're both fairies?"

  Magnus ruffled his hair. "Most likely. No matter how far apart they live, fairies share a special bond. They can sense each other, even if they don't know what the feeling means."

  "So I really don't belong to my mommy?"

  "You do," Magnus said. "She just… temporarily forgot she promised to love you."

  Oscar didn't seem content with this answer, and Alex knew how he felt. "This isn't going to satisfy our client, assuming we could get her to believe it. Lizanne Pruitt wants her real son back."

  For some reason, Magnus burst out laughing. He stopped when Oscar gaped at him.

  "Forgive me. I was amused because her son isn't what she expects anymore. Perhaps—" He rubbed the annoyingly heroic blade of his jaw. "Perhaps if she met her son, as he is now, it would reconcile her to raising the boy she has. She'd have to be sworn to secrecy, of course, but I believe I could concoct a strong enough spell to enforce that."

  "Great," Alex said. "Set it up."

  Again Magnus smiled. "It's not that simple. Changelings have the power to travel back and forth to Fairy, but only one member of the pair can be in any realm at once. Oscar is too young to go by himself. He'll need an adult fairy to escort him."

  Alex folded his arms.

  "It can't be me," Magnus said, reading his body language flawlessly. "Oh, I could take Oscar in, but my travel pass only runs one way. Oscar needs someone who can get him there and out again. Oscar needs a grown-up changeling."

  "Well, where are we going to find a—" Bryan cut off his own protest. "Oh," he said, looking at Alex in a whole new way. "Boy, would that explain a few things!"

  "No," said Alex, his heart filling up his throat. "I'm not."

  "Come on," Magnus coaxed. "Weren't you a sick infant, too? Wasn't there some childhood illness that made your mother fear she'd lose you?"

  "You did buy the shoes," Bryan said, "even if you threw them out as soon as you could."

  Alex gritted his teeth harder. "I don't do psychic stuff. I don't move objects without touching them."

  "Not all changelings' powers develop," Magnus said. "Human parents don't give them the training they need for that."

  "Your uncle did say you had unopened gifts," Zoe added, joining the chorus. "And it would explain why you—" She glanced sideways at Oscar, conscious of his innocent ears. "Magnus says younger fairies have especially strong needs."

  "My mother loves me!" Alex blurted out.

  "Of course she does," Magnus said, his eyes more sympathetic than they had any right to be, considering how Alex felt about him. "That's how the switch is supposed to work. Like an adoption. Trust me, the woman who raised your mother's biological son loves him just as much as yours loves you."

  Magnus said this like he knew, like he'd actually met the other him. Alex shook his head, but the denial wasn't working the way it should.

  "You're fey," Magnus said. "And if you perform this service for Oscar, you'll have an almost unheard of chance to investigate your heritage. Most changelings never figure out who they are."

  Zoe had moved behind the couch, her hands on Magnus's shoulders. She squeezed them now to get his attention. "Won't this be dangerous?"

  "Normally, yes. In this instance, however, Alex's biological mother is one of the few people in Fairy who can protect them from my mother. She's my aunt: Titania's sister."

  "You know her?" To the relief of Alex's bruised temper, Zoe looked appalled by this. "You knew who Alex was, and you didn't say?"

  "This isn't a secret you blurt out for no good reason."

  "But surely he had a right to know!"

  "No," Alex interrupted, his anger fading unexpectedly. "I wouldn't have wanted to know before. I hardly want to now."

  He looked at Oscar, who slid off the couch and came hesitantly toward him as he crouched down. Reluctant as he was to admit it, he did feel a bond with the boy, and a sense of responsibility. Maybe Alex would be happier if he stopped wishing he could be normal. Maybe he needed to face who he was. Steadying Oscar by the shoulders, he met his serious young eyes.

  "What do you say?" he asked the boy. "Should we go to Fairy and see what it's like? Should we let your mother meet her real son?"

  Oscar wiggled his jaw in thought. "I don't think she's going to be happy until she does."

  "Then we'll do it," Alex said, his heart abruptly racing like a rabbit's. "Assuming Mr. Magnus can teach us how."

 
; There wasn't any point in putting off the journey another day. That would only give Magnus's mother time to regroup. Bryan handled calling Mrs. Pruitt, while Magnus grabbed a few supplies. Then they all drove to Fairy Falls.

  Because Oscar and Alex had no experience with meditation, Magnus made them a pair of amulets to help focus their intentions. The little drawstring bags contained some crystals for protection, a lock of Magnus's hair to push them into Fairy, and—since it had already proven powerful—a lock of Zoe's hair to draw them back. Operating on the assumption that the Will-Be knew what it was doing, Magnus loaned Alex his yellow high-tops, and put a stay-put spell on both his and Oscar's shoes.

  Alex pulled a face as he tied the laces beside the falls, but he'd need the extra traction to cross the slippery rocks.

  "She looks worried for him," Zoe said, nodding at Oscar's mother. Mrs. Pruitt was biting her thumbnail and pacing across the grass. "I'm not sure how much Bryan explained, but she turned her car around the minute he phoned her cell. Maybe she's having second thoughts about abandoning her son."

  Magnus glanced at her doubtfully. Maybe she was having second thoughts, but they weren't strong enough to stop the exchange. Truth be told, Zoe's fears concerned him more. She was hooked into the forces that arranged this world more than most, and, consequently, her faith or lack thereof affected the outcome.

  "Alex's opposite will know he's coming," Magnus said, hoping to assuage her anxiety. "He'll have known the moment Alex made up his mind. I'm sure he's informed his mother. She'll be waiting on the other side when Alex and Oscar cross."

  Zoe nodded and bit her lip, watching Alex with worried eyes.

  Magnus stroked the bend of her arm to bring her gaze back to him. "It's important that you believe they'll return safely. Like when you call your angels. You know they're coming to help you, and you know you're worthy."

  "You're right." She squeezed his fingers. "Your aunt is going to look out for them, and they're going to come back fine."

  "You want a crystal to calm you?" he offered.

  Zoe shook her head and smiled. "Your hand is touchstone enough for me."