Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 2

shot the man a meaningful look. "You'd better explain, Tam. I'll see you boys soon."
    Tammas nodded, met Aeron's gaze for another second, and then beckoned for him to follow into the man-dwelling.
    ****
    "I am so sorry."
    Aeron rolled his eyes. He wished he'd begun counting the first time Tammas had said that; it could be like a kind of game, by now.
    Tammas was quiet for a moment, his back to Aeron as he stirred a foul-smelling stew over the fire. The variety of herbs and half-magical concoctions cluttering the place helped to mask the odor, so long as Aeron kept his feelers curled. Eventually, Tammas said, "You— you speak our language very well."
    "I do not." Aeron stared hard at his back. Tammas wasn't much bigger than he was; the cloak-garment had hidden his true, trim form. He covered almost every inch of his skin with bulky fabrics, and Aeron wondered how he could stand it.
    Another moment of silence before Tammas turned again. "The stew will be done soon. It just needs a moment to finish thickening. You must be hungry."
    Aeron stuck out his chin. "No."
    "I'm so... Shit." Tammas raked both hands through his hair, avoiding Aeron's gaze. "Aeron— did I say it right?"
    "You said it right when you called me, too."
    "I didn't mean to call you."
    Impossible. Aeron distinctly remembered the pull of the magic. It had been strong enough to make him disregard the rules, even, and—
    Well, he liked disregarding the rules. But the point was that it had obviously been a summoning ritual, and that he had called Aeron's name . Aeron was about to ask how he even knew it.
    But Tammas spoke again, in that halting way he had. "I— I didn't know what that spell was. My mother left it for me when she died. She said once I got a hold on my own magic, I could... Oh, it doesn't matter."
    Aeron's wings twitched in annoyance. "You must be very bad at magic, not to know it was a summoning ritual."
    "I knew." Tammas looked up, dark eyes flashing with something new for just a moment before his shoulders slumped again. "I just thought it would summon, um, berries."
    Aeron didn't know if he wanted to fly away, scream, start a fight, or simply lie down and cry. Come now and finish what we started . Since when did berries finish what anyone had started? Unless—
    "Aeronberries," Tammas went on, as if he wouldn't know. "They're— they're almost impossible to come by. Sometimes my mother used spells to get what she needed from your world to finish a recipe. I didn't— didn't think I was strong enough to bring a whole person here."
    "You did more than bring me," Aeron said, hands clenching into fists at his side, wings quivering again.
    Tammas' gaze flicked to them, then back to his face, then to the wings again. "I did?"
    "Well, I cannot know that it was you ," Aeron had to admit. He folded his wings up tight, just to spite the man. "But something bound us."
    Tammas pulled at his hair and chewed at his lower lip.
    "Why?" Aeron insisted.
    "I didn't..." Tammas took a deep breath, filling his chest so it swelled beneath the soft-looking white material. Then he raised his gaze once more. "I'll find a way to undo it. To send you home."
    "Find a way to get your voice out of my head, first. Idiot ." He still didn't know it in the mortal tongue, so he spoke the last word in his own.
    "What?"
    "Your voice. In my head. For years. Decades. At least if you make it stop, this will not be a waste." Just a disappointment. But then, that's more my style, I suppose .
    Tammas had a far-off look in his eyes, but they were much, much darker than any Aeron had ever seen and difficult to read. Tammas stuttered, "I— I will. I'll find a way. Kamala is helping me look; I only just told her why this afternoon. She— she was so angry with me for leaving you outside."
    Aeron collapsed onto a long wooden bench near a battered table. "I thought I might like her."
    "I'm sorry. I just— your magic smells so strong." Tammas' gaze was on the wings again as Aeron adjusted them to hang behind the bench and curled his feelers tighter. The smell was vaguely nauseating, though he couldn't place it. Tammas watched until his wings were settled, then went on, "And it's so— it's overwhelming, up close. And you're so..."
    "So...?"
    Tammas sighed and turned back to the stew. "I'm sorry."
    "If I say I believe you, will you stop saying that?"
    Tammas looked over his shoulder, and Aeron was shocked to find a smile on his lips. It was sincere and warm, and for a moment, all the