A Garden of Flowers and Bones [Lloyd Garmadon x Reader]

Chapter 6: Charmed

"If I graduate within ten years, it'll be too soon," Ingrid stretched her arms above her head as she yawned.

"You'll have to get enrolled first," Balthazar replied as he jumped down from the back of the wagon after moving the rest of Ingrid's luggage inside.

Last night hadn't been so bad for Y/N. She found a lot of comfort in the fact that she wasn't, well, dead, so she figured that the Fae wouldn't spontaneously break in because he changed his mind about leaving her alive- or, in a more likely scenario, just to keep her on her toes.

The 'hullabaloo', as Thazar had so accurately put it not long ago, had not necessarily ended simply because it was the next day. Because today was the day in which the magic users departing for the capital, taking the only wagon in town (which had been maintained at the stables). Simon, the guy who ran the stables and a magician with superhuman strength, would be going with them, leaving the stable boy in charge until the foreseeable future.

So, things were changing very quickly in Summerville, to say the least.

"Don't remind me," Ingrid rolled her hazel eyes, and Y/N was once again struck with a disconcerting sensation.

Right. Every thought led back to the Fae. It was less out of whimsy and more out of bone deep dread. She hadn't seen him on the way to work, thank the Goddess. Maybe he had gone back to the Fae realm to change into another one of his flimsy fabric outfits. Despite how different they were from the bland but practical clothes humans wore, all the sheer materials and vibrant colours were extremely captivating.

She remembered how the cropped short had draped over his skin, how it cut off before the soft expanse of his stomach, and how the smouldering light of the sunset caught his glimmering skin like a smooth rock at the base of a river bank. And she was caught up in another moment of dissonance, like a rope rabbit trap had sprung around her leg, snapping around her ankle and pulling her off her feet, the world turning and changing as she was left hanging upside down, disoriented.

He didn't have a belly button.

Such a strange thing to notice. But it kicked off another train of thought, as if she were lost in the Fae's pace. Did Fae mothers not have umbilical chords? Did they even have children the way humans did? Did Fae have wombs, or were children made rather than birthed? Like with magic or something...

"Hey, Glory??" A palm lighter than the rest of a sun-kissed arm waved in her face, calling her to attention, "You alright in there?"

It was Malik. Right. That's right. She was seeing Ingrid off as the wagon was preparing to leave. She wanted to slap herself, by the Goddess.

Getting curious about the Faer Folk would only prove troublesome later. If she started having questions, she might start asking them if she ever saw him again. And if she asked, she might never stop asking. Just like how he kept bothering her. She couldn't afford to want to see him out of her own curiosity. It was dangerous. He was dangerous.

With that final thought, she squeezed her nails into her fists and turned to Malik again.

"Sorry- yeah, I'm fine, mate. I was just thinkin about somethin."

"Woah, slow down, Glory," Ingrid's eyes widened a touch, "The first time's always the most difficult."

"Yeah, you'd know a lot about that, wouldn't you?"

"Cheeky," Ingrid shot her a glare, but there was hardly any bite to it when she was smiling.

"I was gonna say," Malik laughed, warmly, "You're gonna say that to Ingrid? She's leaving, doesn't she get leaving privileges?"