I was still staring at Rhys when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. A warm, salty breeze hit my fae senses immediately.

"Welcome to the Summer Court exhibition."

The rectangular room was painted completely in white. There was one long, panoramic painting that wrapped around the room, only breaking around the elevator we had just exited. The painting was in perpetual motion, depicting an ocean capturing the glint of the sun on smooth waters. The sun itself was not in the painting, but I felt the warm light reflected off the surface of the waters onto my face.

When I turned around, I could see the shore in the distance with sunbathers. Surfers laid face-up on their boards, not riding waves, simply floating in the waters, napping or tanning in the sun. Their wings hung off the sides of their boards, feathers soaked on the edges from the blue waters.

"Imagine the life..." Rhys thought aloud. I tried to picture him as one of the surfers and immediately sent him an image of what I thought he would look like: Rhys, tan, but still paler than these men, burning easily from the sun, struggling to lay down on his wings. He would be uncomfortable with the minimal surface area of the board with his large wingspan, yet unable to risk dipping them in the water. "Alright alright. I got it," he laughed while rolling his eyes in response to my mental image of him. "I'm more of a night-time kind of guy, anyways."

I snickered.

"I would agree." I closed my eyes and basked in the warmth of the room. After spending this much time with Rhys, I had realized I was never particularly a fan of the daytime. I liked the cover of the night, especially Velaris' night which offered just enough starlight to see in the shroud of darkness.

I felt Rhys' rough fingers slip into mine. I peeked my eyes open at him and he tugged me into the elevator after him.

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