All my life I’d been warned of the other folk. Told never to walk in the woods alone, and never follow a voice I didn’t recognise. I ignored all I was ever told about them on that fateful summer’s night. 

I wondered in the forest, heard the strange music, and I followed an unfamiliar voice as it called me by my name to a mighty oak tree. That’s how I found the most beautiful male I’d ever seen, with hair of spun gold, eyes of bright silver and wings that shimmered in the full moon.

He beckoned me forward, and offered me food and wine. 

“Is it safe?” I asked.

I’d always been warned not to eat food or drink wine offered by the fare-folk, but they cannot lie, any answer he gave would be the truth.

“It will do you no harm,” he assured, in soft tones.

I feasted on strange fruits and drank sweet wine, and then danced the night away, but I had to leave before sunrise, incase my someone noticed my absence. 

The fairy held me by my wrist as I bid him farewell. “You cannot go, you ate my food and drank my wine.”

“You said it would do me no harm,” I reply.

A sly smile spread across his face, and his grip tightened. “I did, and it didn’t, but you are now mine.”

Thinking quickly I replied, “I love my family and my home. By keeping me from them you do me harm.”

He considered my answer and said, “You can go, but you are mine. You must come back here every full moon. You may never touch a male who is not your kin, unless it’s me under this tree. If you break this promise you will be mine always.” 

I made the bargain and returned home before anyone knew I was gone, but I kept my word, and returned each full moon where we would eat and drink and dance beneath the mighty oak.

I took to wearing gloves when away from my house, knowing that the merest brush of skin risked forfeiting my freedom, but then one day I met a man. He didn’t have the beauty of my fairy lover, but his smile was kind, and his manner gentle. I fell in love, but never touched him, though I often craved it.

Then one night he asked me for a single kiss. What would be the harm? How would my fairy know? My heart pounded as I leaned forward and brushed his cheek with my lips. His skin was smooth and warm, his scent musky, and I longed for more.

As I pulled away his smile became devious. That was what I noticed first. His blue eyes brightened to silver, as his features sharpened and his straw coloured hair turned to pure gold.

“My love, you’ve betrayed me.” His shimmering wings splayed out behind him as he pulled me close. “Now you are mine. Always.”