The Wellspring by M. Frances Smith Page B

as she choked on her tea. “Croissant?” he inquired
demurely.

Chapter Four
    Hermes wasn’t alone in his misgivings about
the sensibility of Yule’s accepting her vacation temp position.
Marc, having listened to mere minutes of her story about it via her
vanity mirror, winded his way to her living room to personally
deliver his qualms.
    “Taking this job over your Retreat doesn’t
sound like a sensible use of your time, Yule. I know you feel you
owe him something for what he’s doing—”
    “It’s a trip to Atlantis , Marc. I’ll
never get there any other way and I’ll probably never get another
opportunity. I’d rather be his slave for three weeks in Atlantis
than go to a Retreat that won’t teach me more than I’ve already
learned.”
    “His slave? What kind of repayment is he
expecting?”
    Yule blushed. “I didn’t mean—I meant as far
as work, a lot of work.”
    “Fine, I understand...” He rubbed his
forehead with his right index finger appearing uncommonly
concerned. He eyed her steadily. “You’re such an innocent, Yule. I
can’t help thinking there’s more to this than work. You could be
getting into something that will spiral out of control.”
    “Come on, Marc, what could happen?” She
smiled confidently. “Don’t start to worry about me now. You’re
beginning to sound like Hermes. He’s convinced there’s something
suspicious going on because he thinks it’s illogical for Magus
Teomond to hire me. Free labor isn’t illogical, it’s smart, but
Hermes likes noir.”
    “It might make sense to you, but I still
smell something strange about it all and I wish you’d turned him
down.”
    Yule gave a little chuckle. “Come on, Marc,
it’s not like the Magus is luring me off for some illicit seduction
scenario.”
    Marc didn’t smile, he frowned. “I don’t know
why you wouldn’t think he might. I wouldn’t be surprised by
anything a Magus did.”
    “I guess that’s just more of my innocence
showing through,” she tried to lighten his expression.
    He tilted his head and yellow light from one
of Hermes’ Tiffany lamps cast a glow on his face that revealed an
intensity in his eyes she’d never seen before—not directed toward
her anyway. “When we met you were so vibrant, enthusiastic about
everything and you just wanted so much out of the world—I couldn’t
help being charmed. Maybe our daily interaction blinded me to the
subtle changes in your attitude, but I’m looking now. There’s
a—mellowing to the vibrancy and something else I can’t quite put my
finger on. The innocence is there, but it seems to have
ripened.”
    “Are you comparing me to fruit?” She didn’t
want to hear this now, to see the light kindling in his expressive
eyes. Before the events of the past week, yes, she’d have fainted
at his feet or flung herself into his arms if he’d said these words
to her. But he was right, something had changed, she felt different
and it made everything around her change as well—even Marc.
    “Maybe a peach?” he teased, gently stroking
her cheek with the back of his left hand. She managed to smile at
that, but she saw he didn’t believe the smile and lowered his hand.
“You’re definitely going?”
    “Definitely.”
    He nodded and took a step back from her that
gave her heart a small tug. “I hope you have fun, but not too
much,” he cautioned and this time her smile was more genuine. “If
you run into trouble, send for me and I’ll drop whatever I’m doing
and wind my way to your side, fair maiden, to slay any dragons who
happen across your path.”
    “Seriously?”
    “How could I help myself? The heart of
Atlantis beats in all magic folk doesn’t it? Sharing that with you
would be—amazing, I’m sure.” He lifted a hand in farewell and
allowed the wind to take him from her sight before she say
something to stop him.
    Something about his words struck a familiar
chord in her, but she couldn’t think of the reason why and she
started toward