Adrian Sweetums -- Mr. Sweet to the students -- has just about given up finding love. Scatter-brained, forgetful, and always feeling slightly out-of-place, he feels asking someone to love him would be too much. But he has this very distracting crush on the school’s caretaker, Mister Achilles ...
Nikos Achilles is just the caretaker, as he himself likes to point out. But he used to be the Chosen One, the most powerful magician of all. He fought against the forces of evil but returned a broken man, riddled with guilt, and has turned his back on the magical realm.
But when someone casts an enchantment on the unsuspecting Adrian, it’s up to Nikos to face the magic once more and figure out what’s going on with the gorgeous teacher he is so smitten with.
But just as things seem to finally work out, Puck appears.
I like this island. It is teeming with magic, of course, and I wouldn't have come here by myself. Because I'm done with magic.
It’s an ancient spell that is protecting this place. Fae magic. A very powerful sorcery that seems to have grown stronger with time. No one is allowed here except those invited by the fae. If Adrian hadn’t brought me with him, I wouldn’t have been able to set foot on it. I wouldn’t even have seen it. The fog surrounding it protects it from view.
It feels strangely familiar, but I can’t place the feeling, and I put it down to me being off my head a little.
Adrian said the island belonged to his mother’s side of the family. They must have had strong ties with the magical world, or maybe they had friends or relatives in the Queendom.
It makes me wonder about Adrian. The man remains a mystery. A gorgeous, sexy mystery that I am in no hurry to solve.
With Adrian the place is magical in a good way. It reminds me of all the decent and beautiful things that existed before the war. Well, still exist, I guess. This is what it was before the war, everywhere. Untouched, pure.
There really is a Ceffyl Dŵr in the well. I heard kem sigh when we walked past: a sigh like gurgling water at the bottom of a well. And I saw unicorn tracks in the damp soil. Adrian pointed them out, saying there must be deer or goats on the island but he's never seen any. I'm glad he hasn’t met the unicorn, and I hope he never does -- they're fierce creatures and very territorial. Like polar bears, but with even more magic.
I'm actually not entirely sure this would be a safe spot to bring human tourists to. The Ceffyl Dŵr alone could have wreaked havoc among them, not to mention the water sprites I heard splashing in the waves as we moored the boat. I'm glad Adrian hasn't stepped into his father's footsteps.
Part of me wants him to not come here all by himself, but when I look at him here it feels like he's at home. He's happy here. Less fidgety, not as nervous, just quietly content. He doesn't need to function as a human here. He can just be. Maybe that's the reason.
I wonder what that means.
So his parents thought him a gift of the fae world, huh?
I wonder.
We sit down amidst the ruins of an ancient structure. From what I can tell, it was a castle, and again it feels fairly familiar. I shrug it off. I decidedly do not want to dwell in old memories.
Adrian asks me to tell him a story, and I rack my brain to come up with something. I remember one from school and tell him that. A love story, because Adrian loves romance.
Sitting on this rock on top of a faery castle, holding him close, feeling him breathe, I never want to leave this place. I never want to leave Adrian's side.
Maybe I don't have to.
I hope I don't have to.
Involuntarily I draw him closer. He sighs blissfully und curls into me.
