Free A Lonely Magic by Sarah Wynde Page B

couldn’t tell whether Kaio was mocking her or not. She thought he was, but she couldn’t protest because Gaelith and Luke were both agreeing, voices relieved, that he was exactly right and that was exactly what should be done.
    Aliens.
    Damn them.
    They were so very, very nice.

An Arrival

    “And today’s excuse?”
    Fen frowned at Luke in mock-disapproval. “Excuses are for losers.”
    He grinned at her. “Come on, Fen.” He held out a hand, wiggling his fingers enticingly. “Come swimming with me. You’ll enjoy it, I promise.”
    Fen looked at the brilliant blue of the water behind him, the sun glaring off it so brightly that it shone like a mirror. “It’s too bright.”
    “If I ask you later, you’ll say it’s too dark.”
    “Well, then it will be too dark.”
    “Or too salty or too chlorinated or too cold or too warm…” Luke flopped down on the sand next to her chaise lounge.
    “Or too wet,” she said. “Always too wet.”
    “You’re so silly.” Luke sighed with a melodramatic heave of his chest and Fen looked back at her book, smiling.
    Wrapping her head around the alien thing hadn’t been easy. But in the two days since Gaelith and Kaio left, Fen had come to a couple of conclusions.
    First, these aliens couldn’t be regulars on planet Earth. Luke, like his siblings, talked like someone out of a romantic play. The last time they’d visited must have been at least a couple of hundred years ago.
    Second, the reason they were here couldn’t be to conquer or destroy. No way was that Luke’s thing. He was… gallant. Insanely polite. Completely sweet. And excellent company.
    Fen liked him.
    She liked him a lot.
    Luke put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun and squinted up at her. “Cards?”
    She waved her book at him. “Reading.”
    “You’re always reading.”
    “So not true. Didn’t I watch an entire episode of that ridiculous television show with you less than two hours ago?” she protested.
    “How can you not love it?” He sat up again, arms encircling his knees with lanky grace. “Vampires, werewolves, gorgeous girls?” The flash of teeth held pure mischief.
    “Pretty boys?” she answered him flippantly.
    “Prettier than me?”
    Fen fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Is there such a thing?”
    Kaio, now, Kaio might be prettier than his brother. But Luke was young, he’d catch up. And he was far more fun than Kaio. Fen never had to wonder what his words meant or what hidden meaning lay behind his actions.
    “Alas,” Luke said dolefully, “I am but average among my cousins.”
    “Seriously?” Fen peeked over the edge of her sunglasses at him. “How many cousins do you have?”
    “Too many. I shall endeavor to be sure that you meet none of them.”
    Fen laughed. “It doesn’t seem likely.”
    “Oh, little you know my cousins. Were they aware I had such a lovely guest, you may be sure they would be visiting. Dropping by, one after another, and then before one knew, crowds of them until the house veritably overflowed.”
    Fen shook her head at him. He was such a goof. “Don’t tell them then.” She opened her book again.
    “The game with the clubs?”
    Fen chuckled, snuggling into the chaise lounge, book in front of her. “You and I together are the world’s worst tennis players. We can’t even get the ball over the net half the time and we’ve never managed to hit one back. I can’t imagine why you want to keep trying. And those aren’t clubs, they’re rackets.”
    “Rackets, yes,” Luke said. “But does not racket mean crime?”
    “Yeah, it can mean something illegal, but it also means…” She pantomimed a swinging motion. “That thing. It has other meanings, too. Google?”
    “Google.” Luke nodded. “I shall return.”
    He bounded up and took off running toward the house. Fen watched him go, a half-smile curving her lips, and then turned back toward her book.
    She’d found the laptop in the office next to the library and