“I know.” She kept her expression unreadable, hating that she already had to act so much like a faery instead of the girl she’d wished she could be with him, but she was what she was. “She’d use it too. If you see her, just get away.”

“You’re . . . what sort of fight school do you belong to? Someone as tiny as you—” He stopped mid-sentence and gave her an intense look. “You’re a little scary, Rika.”

She turned her face away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have . . . And we shouldn’t . . . I didn’t see any other way. You were in danger.”

He put a hand on her cheek, tentatively. When she looked at him, he whispered, “I didn’t say scary was a bad thing.”

“Oh.” She didn’t move any closer to him, even though there were very few things she could imagine wanting more than being closer to him. This is a mistake. She was frozen, unable to either close the distance or retreat.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment.

And then he lowered his hand and stepped back a little. “So show me around your home?”

As they walked farther into the cave, Jayce didn’t ask about the oddity of living here. Instead, he took her hand in his. In his other hand, he held a lantern she’d given him. Silently, they wandered through the labyrinth of tunnels. He trusted her to lead him, and she marveled silently at the gift of his trust.

Tentatively, she led him to an immense room. Pipe organ stalactites and cascading veils hung like precious art. Smaller passageways led from the room, and several more camping lanterns sat on the ground beside their feet. She lit one, bringing a bit more light to the immense cavern. Above them in the shadows, the faint shape of some of the colony of bats that nest in the caves stirred, but didn’t flee. They had become used to her over time.

“I’ve never brought anyone in here. They’re my company.” She gestured at the bats and then laughed self-consciously, realizing that she sounded nervous and more than a little peculiar.

Jayce didn’t laugh. Instead, he whispered, “They’re beautiful. The whole place is—” He stopped and looked intently at the far wall, at the mural she wanted to share with him. He lifted his lantern higher as he walked toward it. “Amazing.”

Rika couldn’t move. She stayed frozen in the center of the cavern, feeling extra vulnerable and trapped despite the vast cavern. She’d seen his art so often, but she hadn’t shared her art with more than a handful of people in her life.